Apple’s iPod has turned or will turn 6 years old, depending on which date you choose: the October 23rd introduction date or the November 10th availability date. Happy Birthday, iPod! In the first six years, Apple has sold over 120 million iPods.
Here’s Apple’s original iPod press release verbatim:
Apple Presents iPod
Ultra-Portable MP3 Music Player Puts 1,000 Songs in Your Pocket
CUPERTINO, California—October 23, 2001—Apple® today introduced iPod™, a breakthrough MP3 music player that packs up to 1,000 CD-quality songs into an ultra-portable, 6.5 ounce design that fits in your pocket. iPod combines a major advance in portable music device design with Apple’s legendary ease of use and Auto-Sync, which automatically downloads all your iTunes™ songs and playlists into your iPod, and keeps them up to date whenever you plug your iPod into your Mac®.
“With iPod, Apple has invented a whole new category of digital music player that lets you put your entire music collection in your pocket and listen to it wherever you go,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “With iPod, listening to music will never be the same again.”
Next Generation Player
iPod represents the next generation of portable music players that store music on an internal hard drive, yet are only 20 percent of the volume of today’s hard drive-based players. iPod stores up to 1,000 CD-quality songs on its super-thin 5 GB hard drive, and features up to 20 minutes of shock protection for nonstop playback when running, biking or other activities.
iPod’s built-in FireWire® port lets you download an entire CD into iPod in under 10 seconds and 1,000 songs in less than 10 minutes—30 times faster than USB-based players.
iPod plays up to 10 hours of continuous music, powered by its rechargeable lithium polymer battery, and recharges automatically whenever iPod is connected to a Mac, using power supplied over the FireWire cable. Every iPod comes with a compact, FireWire-based power adapter for traveling. iPod’s high-capacity 5GB hard drive doubles as a portable FireWire hard drive for storing presentations, large documents, graphic images and digital movies.
iPod plays music in the popular MP3, MP3 VBR (variable bit rate), AIFF and WAV formats and can support MP3 bit rates up to 320-Kbps. Its upgradable firmware enables support of future audio formats. For CD-quality sound, iPod is equipped with a high-output 60-mW amplifier that delivers 20 to 20,000 Hz frequency response for deep bass and crystal-clear highs. iPod’s earbud-style headphones are built with neodymium magnets for enhanced frequency response and high-fidelity sound.
iPod also features a 160-by-128-pixel high-resolution display, with a white LED backlight to give clear visibility in daylight as well as low-light conditions.
Legendary Ease of Use
Apple has applied its legendary expertise in human interface engineering to make iPod the easiest to use digital device ever. Simply rotate iPod’s unique scroll-wheel with your thumb or finger to quickly access your entire music collection by playlists, artists or songs. The scroll-wheel makes it possible to hold and operate iPod with just one hand and features automatic acceleration when scrolling through long lists so you can find your music in seconds. iPod also features customizable settings such as shuffle, repeat, startup volume, sleep timer and menus in multiple languages including English, French, German and Japanese. iPod can display song data in any of these languages, enabling users to mix and match songs from all over the world.
Auto-Sync
iPod’s revolutionary Auto-Sync feature makes it easy to get your entire music collection into iPod and update it whenever you connect iPod to your Mac. Simply plug your new iPod into your Mac with the supplied FireWire cable, and all of your iTunes songs and playlists are automatically downloaded into iPod at blazing FireWire speed. Then just unplug and go. Whenever you plug iPod back into your Mac it will be automatically updated with your latest iTunes songs and playlists, usually in seconds. There has never been a faster and easier way to always have your up-to-the-minute music and playlists with you wherever you go.
Pricing & Availability
iPod will be available beginning on Saturday, November 10, for a suggested retail price of $399 (US) from The Apple Store® (http://www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. An iTunes 2 CD, earbud-style headphones, FireWire cable, and FireWire-based power adapter are all included. iPod requires iTunes 2.
Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings.
I’m a-givin’ three for Christmas but will hold out personally for the 128GB flash iPhone.
Awesome! I had mine on November 10th. That device is still amazing.
…and it’s exactly 6 years ago today that I first bought AAPL. =)
MW: ‘means’
Oh…missed that picture of gen-1 – which still works nicely.
I miss the Chicago font. it brings back older memories.
iPod, Bitch!
i still have mine but the HD doesnt always boot up, i have considered replaceing it myself just for the coolness factor of having a working model, but the new nanos are just so much cooler
“I’m a-givin’ three for Christmas but will hold out personally for the 128GB flash iPhone.”
currently the memory alone is £1400 so hold on a couple of years there lol you could have finished an 8gb contract by then
No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame.
Raise your hand if you have iTunes …
Raise your hand if you have a FireWire port …
Raise your hand if you have both …
Raise your hand if you have $400 to spend on a cute Apple device …
There is Apple’s market. Pretty slim, eh? I don’t see many sales in the future of iPod.
~LoudMusic
Was the iPod the real CD killer?
macdailynews podcast. why not?
“Was the iPod the real CD killer?”
Well it certainly wasn’t DAT tapes.
I finally got an iPod at Gen-3. It was awesome, until replaced by my iPhone. I remember being so excited when I showed that old Gen-3 to friends that I was shaking, and they laughed at me. It was the coolest thing ever, and even my iPhone didn’t freak me out as much — not sure why, because it is obviously way more awesome.
MW: makes, as in, “Apple makes the best toys!”
thats almost 55,000 ipods a day for 6 years. unreal
This was the reply. Neat, even back then.
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Since when is Apple concerned about market share? They do what capitalism was born to do. Cater to a small market, and do it the right way.
I don’t have an OSX box, and consequently, no firewire and iTunes, but if I /did/ (and many do/will have OSX within the next year), this piece of gear was BORN for that market. All while keeping Apple gear at the front of the pack in terms of usability, transfer speed, and respectable battery life.
Apple has never been about selling the most number of units. Just look at the market leaders for cars, OSes, books, movies, CDs .. you’ll understand why having a big market share essentially garauntees tha you you have to give up innovation. Heck, Intel shipped their latest chip with features /disabled/ .. so I, for one, am glad that apple is content to own just a small slice of the pie, because its the most /delicious/ slice.
And no, I dont own any Apple gear. I wish I could justify it tho; unfortunately, MS keeps underselling quality, thus keeping wk2 on the the corperate desktop, and *nix just happens to serve the ‘net industry better than anyone else.
[ Parent ]
*
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Re:LAME? WTF?!?
(Score:4, Funny)
by Doktor Memory (237313) on Tuesday October 23 2001, @03:24PM (#2467813)
(Last Journal: Tuesday March 25 2003, @05:35PM)
Raise your hand if you have iTunes
Bundled for free on every Mac sold in the last 18 months, and installed retroactively on god only knows how many other ones. Easily in the high hundreds of thousands, possibly in the millions.
Raise your hand if you have a FireWire port…
Every iMac, PowerMac, iBook and Powerbook sold in the last two years, plus almost every Sony VAIO and a good chunk of Compaq and HP’s product lines. Easily in the millions.
Raise your hand if you have both.
See above.
Raise your hand if you have $400 to spend on a cute Apple device…
Looking at the sales of (picking three examples) Pilots, Rios and Digital Cameras, I’d say the number of people willing to spend $200-500 on a “cute” electronic device is “lots and lots.”
There is Apple’s market. Pretty slim, eh? I don’t see many sales in the future of iPod.
I guess you don’t. This is why Apple is a company with $4 Billion in the bank, and you’re trolling on slashdot. Want fries with that?
Just for fun, here is the web address of the above comments and more.
“http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/10/23/1816257&tid=107”
I thought it was very interesting.
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I have the original which I bought within the first couple months of them coming out. I still use it all the time and it works perfectly. I have never replaced the battery and though it only has 5 GB, I have filled it and replace content over and over. Yeah, it looks like a brick compared to todays iPods but it’s perfectly fine with me. Funny thing, I’ve bought about 8 more iPods for friends and family but they have all had issues with batteries or failures but mine never has. Strange?
Anyhow, it’s probably the best tech product I’ve ever owned. I also bought 250 shares of AAPL for my kids as soon as I got it. Now I have 500 shares and my kids will pay their own way to college. Thank you Apple!
Looking Back in Time,
The same thing gets said everytime Apple releases something new and amazing. I remember the general dissent among Mac faithful when the iPod was released, as well as the flaming it got by the mainstream press. The same thing when the opened the iTunes Music Store (what it was called then). Same thing when Apple opened their first retail store. Same thing when they released the iPhone. Same thing when people have declared Apple dead as a company many, many times over the last 15 years.
You would think the press would catch on that they don’t know what they are talking about and completely underestimate the pull of these products.
My 3 cents (I feel generous today).
I still have my original 5GB iPod. Sadly, the hard drive in it died a couple of years ago.
I have a 20GB iPod Photo and it still runs strong.
I still say it’ll never take off until it has an integrated FM tuner and subscription music model. Duh.
according to the latest 10-k, aapl sold 10,200,000 in the latest quarter. So they may be selling more than 120,000 per day now…..
I was an early adopter, and owned the first-gen iPod. It’s still running strong, tethered to a power supply in my office because the battery has lived its life.
Before iTunes, I owned SoundJam, iTunes’ daddy. The iPod and iTunes have fundamentally changed the way I enjoy music – for the better.
Today, in addition to my old iPod, I own both generations’ Shuffles and an iPod Video. Here’s to the next 6 years!
Just imagine what the iPhone/touch tablet pod will look like 6 years from now.
“Just imagine what the iPhone/touch tablet pod will look like 6 years from now.”
You will be one with the iPod. The memory for storing files will be limited only by your intelligence quotient, age and drug habits.