Hard to believe it, but a half decade ago today Steve Jobs stood up in front of a small crowd and introduced an "MP3 music player... that plays all of the popular open formats of digital music, MP3, MP3 VBR, WAV, and AIFF," a device that changed the consumer electronics industry forever. Of course, that device was the
iPod. Love it or hate it (we tend to have mixed feelings about it 'round Engadget HQ), the iPod helped to make consumer electronics cool again, and managed to be a huge step forward for the CE industry shortly after the tech bubble had burst -- and during a time when the country was in turmoil after the attacks of 9/11, no less. No, the iPod wasn't the first digital music player -- not even the first with a portable hard drive -- but we're not going to wax on about what it was that charmed tens of millions of consumers out of their hard earned cash. So we figured it'd be enough to present to you an iPod family tree, do a little groundskeeping to make sure the
iPod family cemetery is in good shape, and let you blow out the iPod's birthday candles whichever way you like.
P.S. - Check out Steve's original introduction to the iPod after the break. Ah, memories.
posted October 23rd 2006 12:19PM
I love how Jobs' gone from speaking in front of a small crowd to speaking to thousands.
Not having an FM tuner is part of the reason I haven't bought a iPod. I think of all the times I have been listening to something on NPR and wished I could just set my radio to record the rest of the program for later. It could be a whole new market for digital audio recorders. Seems like a natural extension to me.
I can honestly say I don't hate iPods but I do hate the iTude that seems to infect the owners of Apple products.
tell me why do i need a FM radio if i can carry 7,500 songs? i mean at least on my city the radio stations sucks! i dont even listen top 3000 songs, and if you still complaining about the FM thing go and buy an mp3 that has it!!!
Inside account of the creation of the iPod, especially in reference to the existing hard drive music players such as the Creative Nomad:
http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,64286,00.html
what I'd like to see in the next 5 years:
1) native USB Mass Storage drag-n-drop without reliance on iTunes (tho it will never happen). Sorry, but *uploading* songs to *any computer* with no extra software having to be on it just makes sense, and so does downloading from PC to portable (which is the only thing iTunes lets you do). Until then, the competition will get my money.
2) integrated radio (and the ability to record from it). Not as an overpriced add-on. This is so cheap to implement it's insanity not to be included as standard on all models. Creative's backtracking on the ability to record from radio should be giving Apple even more incentive, but who knows what large bodies are affecting this decision? Contrary to popular opinion, adding radio does not "complicate" things or ruin a "winning formula". It's called improvement.
3) user-replaceable batteries. Imagine mobile phones, laptops and video cameras with embedded batteries? I honestly don't understand why and how this trend was started, but to have batteries embedded with no option to swap them out makes no sense to me whatsoever. They lose their useful life after about 500 charges; they should always be replaceable, whether you want to keep using an 'old' model or not. Nothing should be tossed out (or replaced with an overpriced Apple battery because most Joe Users don't know how to open their out-of-warranty iPods - there are no visible screws, after all).
4) far better codec support (FLAC & Ogg Vorbis) http://www.vorbis.com http://flac.sourceforge.net (again, very unlikely)
There are others (like no FairPlay Digital Rights Restrictions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FairPlay ), but those are the main things preventing me from taking any interest in any iPod.
If Steve Jobs thinks he has a winning formula, he has no idea what a little improvement could do to his sales, IMO.
I SWEAR THAT WAS A SHOT OF WOZ @ 5:31!!!
For all those ppls hu want so many functions in their DAPs...
'Slow and steady wins the race' and thats exactly whats happening~!
Maybe it's an antenna issue or something, but I'd be happy if any tiny player offered AM radio for when I get tired of music and want to hear news, traffic, weather, and sports.
Has it really been that long since I bought my 2g iPod mini? And still going strong. Unlike cars, they seem to INCREASE in value with age. My green mini is a hot item. Someone offered me $300 for it, since you can't get vintage iPod anymore. I just hope the hard drive and battery hold out.
Got myself a silver 2G mini as well, I think they look great!
That Steve video gave me fuzzies.
And I think anyone who's said it has said it right: they've done it, they've done it right, and with their market share, who gives a shit about gimmicky extras.
So, does that make it the iPod 5G U2 G2?...
just curious, is there anybody who has a still functional 1G iPod? And a 5.5G iPod?
And cares to share his/her view on past and present?
My Brother does. The battery on the 1g doesn't hold a charge, bu tit did up until a couple of months ago, so thats like 4 years, which is pretty good. He recently picked up a 80gb black, and loves it. Basically, he's just keeping it for sintemental value.
Mike, you mean:
"The iPod is clearly a failure because it doesn't let me send an mp3 file that I have bought in the Zune marketplace to a friend that they can listen to 3 times within 3 days before it expires.
The Zune songsharing DRM is CRAP. That's right, you can ONLY send songs you've bought from Zune marketplace, no other songs.
Sentimental value? Hmmmm... I just sold mine at BeyondthePod for cash. Check it out: http://beyondthepod.com. Okay I'll be quiet now...
@ whiners: clearly we don't see much breakthrough changes in iPod as the competition is still trying to catch up. Why change a winning concept? As soon as we see some real competition we'll see that Apple has some great stuff lined up. But come on: even a Zune isn't packing ANYTHING new.
I watched the video and when Jobs said "because Apple is a brand you trust" I almost died of laughter. Apple is one of the brands I trust the least, especially after the fucking MacBook troubles. I mean seriously, Apple's warranty scheme is one that just steals the money out of your pockets.
"Plays all open source digital music" why not anymore? Persoanally I despise itunes & except for the 60/80 gig releases the battery life has been pretty lame. My 40gb zen I bought well over a year ago & constantly use still gets close to 20hrs while my 30gb brand new video iPod doesn't quite get its 14hrs in. I think iPod is pretty sweet but still could use some refinements. & why doesn't ship with the wall outlet adaptor anymore? Or the dock? Or all the other goodies they systematically cut out?
Does anyone know the tune being played on bbc news 21st oct when it featured the ipod's 5th birthday - there was a girl running in a park and this tune was playing on her ipod, or where i can find out about it
thanks