25 years ago today, Apple released iPod. It wasn’t the first MP3 player nor would it be the last, but it was the best.
The digital music dynamo changed Apple’s fortune. At the time of its release, Apple was in recovery mode. Steve Jobs had only returned to the company he created just 4 years earlier. The iMac and iBook were wildly popular, but OS X was brand new, and Apple was just starting to open retail stores to much fanfare and a bit of pessimistic criticism. But here, 6 years before the iPhone would change the face of technology forever, Apple was placing its bets on a $400 hard-drive-based, FireWire-connected MP3 player that only worked with Macs.
The bet paid off. In 15 years, Apple has sold about 400 million of the digital music players. You probably have two or three of them stuffed in a drawer or in the glove compartment of your car. What started as an expensive product for Mac geeks eventually became the mainstream way that everyone consumed their music. iTunes became the most popular piece of software in the world, and white earbuds became ubiquitous.
I was in training to work at Apple when Steve Jobs announced the iPod twenty-five years ago today. We paused training to read about the device for a bit before resuming training. There was some excitement but a lot of questions. I’m writing a book about my time at Apple hopefully to be released in 2027! Stay Tuned! -Rich
One of my first official tasks at Apple was demoing the iPod to the crowd gathered at the Grand Opening of the Apple Store in Cincinnati on November 3rd, 2001. Apple sent a prototype with 4 songs on it, brief instructions on the “click wheel,” and clear directions that customers were not to touch it. I showed off the device to the bemused crowd. I also took a list of names of people interested in the new device; the list was short. Most were unimpressed.
I still have my original 5GB Mac-only iPod. Employees at the time of its launch were able to purchase the device at 50% off.
I loved it. I meticulously curated my iTunes library (something that still pays dividens in my Apple Music algorithm!), stuffing it full of all of my CDs. Gracenote queried the web and populated official CDs, but I had to manually enter the metadata for my bootlegs and indie bands. This was fun for me. That music library, once imported into a 667MHz 15-inch PowerBook G4, has swelled over the years to 22,501 songs now living in iCloud thanks to iTunes Match. Though I rarely listen to my physical library anymore thanks to Apple Music, I am still proud of that carefully curated collection.
The iPod would eventually fade into obscurity as the iPhone era dawned in 2007. While the iPhone originally replaced the iPod’s base functionality, eventually streaming would take over-making the idea of a dedicated music device somewhat quaint. Though in recent years, there has been a resurgence in interest in unconnected devices and analogue music. The vinyl resurgence prompted interest in CDs and now many people are longing for the simple days of listening to music and getting lost in the songs, not doomscrolling and doing 1,000 other things while listneing.
I dragged out my trusty iPod on the occasion of its 25th birthday to see if I could still use it as my primary music device. I charged it up in the morning. I had 447 songs on the iPod. (“1,000 songs in your pocket” was the tag line for the iPod when it was released.) A far cry from the 43 million I can stream from Apple Music, but it will do.
The. Scroll. Wheel.
Wow. I had forgotten how cool the original physical scroll wheel was. Apple quickly replaced this physical part with a touch-sensitive wheel on later models. But there was something very satisfying about spinning that wheel and hearing it click through your songs. I went right to Van Halen’s 5150. It’s the first album I play on any new music delivery system: iPhones, new speakers, new headphones, etc. It was definitely the first album I played on the iPod 25 years ago. Sounded great. Sounded like 2001.
Did you have an iPod? What are some of your favorite memories of the music player? Remember Zune guy?