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Fun Club On this day in 2001, Apple introduced the iPod

MissingNo.

MissingNo.

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On 23rd October 2001, twenty-two years ago on the day, Steve Jobs introduced the world to the iPod.

ipod-say-hello.jpg


To some, it was nothing more than a glorified MP3-player. To others, the 5GB hard-drive in such a small device, and up to 10 hours of battery life were revolutionary.
People flooded Apple Stores to buy the product in masses, excited to download Belgian techno anthem Pump Up The Jam.
 
I had the one with the touch wheel / click wheel (can't even remember what they called it). Maybe 3rd or 4th gen, ~20 GB. I loved that thing.
 
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I owned 3 different iPod models over the year, great device!

But it also cemented that I would never buy another apple product in the end.
The hate I have for Itunes is integrated in to my DNA and I dont think anything could ever change that :p
 
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I think there’s absolutely space in the market for a new iPod model. It’s not a big space, but I think there’s a market that’s going unserved for a dedicated distraction-free listening device.

Here’s my pitch for the completely hypothetical iPod (2024)

1) At minimum 128 GB internal flash storage, with sizes up to 1 TB.
2) Black and white e-Ink screen to maximize battery efficiency. No album art, no videos. Single-purpose device.
3) Click-wheel. No touch screen.
4) DAC that pleases audiophiles. Not a “best on the market” DAC, but a good one. This obviously includes a headphone jack, but also supports Bluetooth.
5) Entire unit is designed to be opened/repaired to extend life. Not an “upgrade every other year“ product.
6) Fast charging via MagSafe or USB-C
7) Games? None. Not even Brick. Sorry.
8) High-speed wi-fi chip for syncing user’s entire Apple Music library. You can stream music too, but search is slow because typing with clickwheel is hard. But, it syncs your saved songs/playlists from Apple Music as if it was your iTunes library circa 2006.
9) It’d be nice if it supported Spotify too. Probably legally required in the EU or something.
10) Just put out a new model when there’s reason to. No yearly models.
 
Derachi said:
I think there’s absolutely space in the market for a new iPod model. It’s not a big space, but I think there’s a market that’s going unserved for a dedicated distraction-free listening device.

Here’s my pitch for the completely hypothetical iPod (2024)

1) At minimum 128 GB internal flash storage, with sizes up to 1 TB.
2) Black and white e-Ink screen to maximize battery efficiency. No album art, no videos. Single-purpose device.
3) Click-wheel. No touch screen.
4) DAC that pleases audiophiles. Not a “best on the market” DAC, but a good one. This obviously includes a headphone jack, but also supports Bluetooth.
5) Entire unit is designed to be opened/repaired to extend life. Not an “upgrade every other year“ product.
6) Fast charging via MagSafe or USB-C
7) Games? None. Not even Brick. Sorry.
8) High-speed wi-fi chip for syncing user’s entire Apple Music library. You can stream music too, but search is slow because typing with clickwheel is hard. But, it syncs your saved songs/playlists from Apple Music as if it was your iTunes library circa 2006.
9) It’d be nice if it supported Spotify too. Probably legally required in the EU or something.
10) Just put out a new model when there’s reason to. No yearly models.
Click to expand...
this probably wouldn't be very Apple-y but this thing having an AirPods case built in would be a slam dunk
 
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I know there were earlier MP3 players (I had a friend with a Rio), but I'm not sure if younger folks realize how much the iPod changed the entire personal music landscape, at least once it got released for Windows. It was a true sea change.
 
Derachi said:
I think there’s absolutely space in the market for a new iPod model. It’s not a big space, but I think there’s a market that’s going unserved for a dedicated distraction-free listening device.

Here’s my pitch for the completely hypothetical iPod (2024)

1) At minimum 128 GB internal flash storage, with sizes up to 1 TB.
2) Black and white e-Ink screen to maximize battery efficiency. No album art, no videos. Single-purpose device.
3) Click-wheel. No touch screen.
4) DAC that pleases audiophiles. Not a “best on the market” DAC, but a good one. This obviously includes a headphone jack, but also supports Bluetooth.
5) Entire unit is designed to be opened/repaired to extend life. Not an “upgrade every other year“ product.
6) Fast charging via MagSafe or USB-C
7) Games? None. Not even Brick. Sorry.
8) High-speed wi-fi chip for syncing user’s entire Apple Music library. You can stream music too, but search is slow because typing with clickwheel is hard. But, it syncs your saved songs/playlists from Apple Music as if it was your iTunes library circa 2006.
9) It’d be nice if it supported Spotify too. Probably legally required in the EU or something.
10) Just put out a new model when there’s reason to. No yearly models.
Click to expand...
I'd probably get one, to be honest. Battery life on smartphones gets pretty shitty fast if you only upgrade every 5-7 years like I do, so a single-purpose device would be great to take a load off my iPhone.
 
It's incredible to me that Apple discontinued the brand instead of pivoting it into a new direction. The iPod mindshare was on the scale of the Game Boy for most of my life, and then throughout the 2010s it just became this forgotten relic.
 
Sony still has their Walkman line around, as far as I know, but they are pure audiophile devices that go for a shit ton of money.
 
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yeah its pretty nutty how expensive literally every dedicated music player is these days, and from what I understand a lot of them are just shitty & sluggish android devices with solid audio hardware.

I still use my 160gb “iPod classic” from 2012 as the main way I listen to music when I’m away from my computer—the battery is still going strong and, even though I’m always butting up against the storage cap, it is still pretty incredible how much music can fit on there at once. it has some minor issues (charging connector is finicky, has randomly gotten corrupted a couple times) but I hope it’ll last me awhile longer

can’t see Apple ever making a new one as they continue pushing further into the streaming nonsense realm, but if some other company decides to come forward with a music player that
  • supports lossless audio
  • has large, quick storage
  • has buttons
  • fits in the pocket (no toblerone)
  • isn’t bogged down with non-audio-related software
  • has multi-day battery life
  • costs somewhere in the lower half of the three-figure range
i’ll be first in line
 
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I never owned one, and I never had any desire to own one, but this was objectively one of the most important devices in our lifetime. Changed how people experience music forever, and led into the iPhone which fundamentally changed how the world worked.
 
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Would buy a new iPod in a heartbeat. I can't disagree that streaming is convenient (and I've found lots of new artists with it), but I'd like to have a dedicated device again (especially for the stuff in my music collection that aren't on Spotify). My old phone's battery just doesn't have it anymore.
 
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I never ended up getting one, but I did love my Walkman to death.

For people wishing for a new one, second hand iPod Touch (2019) is a good choice, but it's not the only one. Sony still makes dedicated Walkmans that are... Acceptable. FiiO makes a range of products that are quite decent. Their M3 line of devices was probably what a lot of people seem to want, with no apps and a reasonable price, but that seems to be gone. Still, their other M series devices are supposed to be great and yeah, I know, they have Android, but they have a dedicated music mode that turns all that off if you like, and... Android really isn't that bad? People like to rag on Android, heck, I'll gladly rag on it, but it's... Android? It's fine, and it's been fine for a number of years. If you're not installing a bunch of crapware yourself, your device isn't going to slow to a crawl over time barring boneheaded OEM software updates. And yeah, the other hurdle is price, but I've seen the 11 drop below 500$ before, so that's ticking someone's box!

For myself, I'm quite happy with where my music stands, and I don't have a want for a dedicated music player when I can use software for a close enough experience on my phone (DND, distraction free modes, etc.). The one device I definitely plan on getting is the FiiO BTR5. It's just a great value and a way to enhance my music experience without it becoming cumbersome. And hey, when the batt dies I can stick it to my desk as a USB DAC/amp.
 
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kvetcha said:
I know there were earlier MP3 players (I had a friend with a Rio), but I'm not sure if younger folks realize how much the iPod changed the entire personal music landscape, at least once it got released for Windows. It was a true sea change.
Click to expand...
The hardware itself wasn't even there half of it. iTunes was an absolute game changer for the music industry, especially the iTunes store:- while there was and is a bunch of behind the scenes bullshit, this was the first time a mainstream digital store allowed people en masse to buy songs and albums without needing to find them in a brick and mortar shop. And as digital music took off, this meant more and more indie artists were able to establish themselves and make a living making music through online sales of their albums, without needing the backing of a major label.

The mp3 era was the last time people in the indie scene were still able to make good money and cultivate record sales through selling records on digital storefronts. That's partly why the early 2000s saw such an explosion of independent talent into the mainstream. Once streaming took over, those revenue streams for indie artists pretty much died, and making a living as a musician has been exponentially harder ever since.
 
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