Six years ago today on October 23, 2001, the very first iPod was brought to life. At the time of the announcement, Steve Jobs (who looks nearly the same today as he did back then, minus a few hairs on the top of his head) talked up music and how there was a large target market around the World for it. He said, “Music knows no boundaries,” and at the time, there was no market leader for a digital music device. Jobs said that while there were some companies that offered devices, no one had found the perfect recipe but he was confident that Apple had concocted it. It turns out they did!
Lets take a look back at the very first iPod (pictured above) and some of its features:
- 5GB hard drive (compared to the recently launched iPod classic with a 160GB hard drive and can hold 40,000 songs or 200 hours of video)
- Capable of holding 1000 songs in 160-Kbps MP3 format
- Firewire port only – no USB
- Original iPod compatible only with MacOS 9.2.1 and MacOS X 10.1 (or later)
- Featured mechanical scroll wheel (touch-sensitive came in 2002)
In case you’d like to relive the moment when Steve Jobs introduced the iPod to the “i” family, view the YouTube video below:
After the original launch in late 2001, Apple launched a 10GB and 20GB version in 2002 which was finally compatible with Windows using Musicmatch. iTunes for Windows hadn’t yet been released. It also featured the very first touch-sensitive wheel and was priced at $399 for 10GB and $499 for 20GB. What a difference those prices and models are compared to what’s available today!
Apple truly changed the world of digital music devices and has done a great job of dominating the market. It’s certainly been a great 6 years for the iPod, and here’s to many more!
Source: TechBuzz
And on 25th October, it’ll be Windows XP’s 6th anniversary.
My fiance still has a first generation ipod mini, which outlasted my much newer ipod nano. If only they were all as reliable
I would buy a ipod touch in a second if I think it would last me 6 years 
Creative invented the iPod interface and their first mp3 player came out in 2000, before the iPod. In fact Apple ask Creative to make the player for them. They refused saying they had the upper hand.
The Zen line of players are great players, better than the iPod and get no recognition.
That’s pretty crazy…seems like only yesterday I was testing out the release candidates for it.
The screen on the iPod Touch and iPhone is what worries me. It just seems like it would be prone to scratches.
I guess it is left to marketing then. Apple must have done a better job of marketing their products, and they were smart for making the iPods white. It makes them more distinguishable when you see them in public.
You’re not the first person I’ve heard comment on how great the Zen line of players are. I’d love to try one some time!