The iPod revamped digital music two decades ago [Video]
As Steve Jobs said many years ago, music is part of everyone’s life. It has always existed and will always exist. Apple found an opportunity 21 years ago when it unveiled its latest creation – the iPod.
As the company announced today that it was discontinuing the iPod Touch, let’s look back to that day in 2001 when Steve Jobs first announced the device.
When the iPod was announced, there was no market leader in the digital music space. In this pre-iPhone era, Apple decided to pounce knowing it could reign supreme in this market.
The device fits in your pocket and is more economical than a CD player, Flash player, MP3 player or hard drive. Combined, it’s an MP3 music player with CD-quality music that plays popular open formats of digital music. The original iPod was amazing because it had 1,000 songs, more than most people’s complete music library.
In the keynote, Jobs also highlighted major advances in the iPod. This ultra-portable device featured a 5GB hard drive with a diameter of 1.8 inches and a thickness of 0.2 inches; the entire device was about the size of a deck of cards, showcasing a stunning stainless steel back. Another feature we don’t think about these days is that the iPod had 20-minute skip protection. Hard to beat back then.
The iPod was also the first music player to work with FireWire, which was the cable that charged the device and let you transfer songs. In just 5-10 seconds, a user can download an entire CD album – you can even fill the device by downloading 1,000 songs in less than 10 minutes. With FireWire it could fast charge up to 80% capacity in an hour and was 30 times faster than any MP3 player at the time.
With up to 10 hours of continuous music playback, the most advanced rechargeable battery at the time, the iPod was an instant hit.
Farewell to the digital walkman
As we draw to a close this era, it is time to reflect on how far we have come in two decades. What do you think of Apple’s withdrawal of the device? Did you own the original?
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