#TBT In 2001, Apple launched an MP3 player that would eventually shape the landscape of today's mobile computing market, and the product that put Apple on the path to become a dominant tech player.
Apple iPod: The First 10 Years of the Ubiquitous Media Player
- Thread starter Julio Franco
- Start date
3DCGMODELER
Posts: 307 +18
coolness
I got very early into MP3 players, I remember Diamond was very happy to send me their latest Rio players to review and send feedback, so I had a bunch of those, all flash based.
Then came the iPod but I didn't have my own until the 4th or 5th generation, so I was quite late to the whole thing. After that I've bought a Classic, Touch 3rd Gen and a few iPhones.
My wife has always favored the smaller Nano models, so I've bought at least a couple of those for her, but for me it's always been all about having my entire music library available in a single device. I didn't really use any video playback functionality on any of the iPods until the Touch which is a more usable device for quick YouTube look ups, and that sort of thing.
Then came the iPod but I didn't have my own until the 4th or 5th generation, so I was quite late to the whole thing. After that I've bought a Classic, Touch 3rd Gen and a few iPhones.
My wife has always favored the smaller Nano models, so I've bought at least a couple of those for her, but for me it's always been all about having my entire music library available in a single device. I didn't really use any video playback functionality on any of the iPods until the Touch which is a more usable device for quick YouTube look ups, and that sort of thing.
G
Guest
My 512MB Shuffle still works, but i mainly rock the Unlocked iPhone 4 32GB.
R
RH00D
I owned a SanDisk Sansa MP3 player and had problems with it. One of the biggest problems was that when I put songs on the device through Windows Explorer, they would either not be recognized by the device at all or said the files were corrupted. The files were not corrupted, they played on my computer just fine. I also tried everything to fix the problem, trying alternate USB ports, resetting the device entirely, reinstalling software/drivers, reboots, different files, nothing worked.
I've owned iPods over the years also. I never actually paid retail for an iPod but I currently have a 80GB hard drive based iPod that was handed down to me, used, and it works great. I use iTunes *only* for syncing music to it. I use foobar2000 for playback on my computer.
I also owned other iPod models like the 2005 iPod shuffle. Never had issues with that until the battery eventually died.
Also, there are lots of ways to sync music to an iPod without using iTunes. One of the ways I liked best was to download a very simple .dll plug-in for foobar2000 which would add a little menu for syncing music/playlists to your iPod.
I've owned iPods over the years also. I never actually paid retail for an iPod but I currently have a 80GB hard drive based iPod that was handed down to me, used, and it works great. I use iTunes *only* for syncing music to it. I use foobar2000 for playback on my computer.
I also owned other iPod models like the 2005 iPod shuffle. Never had issues with that until the battery eventually died.
Also, there are lots of ways to sync music to an iPod without using iTunes. One of the ways I liked best was to download a very simple .dll plug-in for foobar2000 which would add a little menu for syncing music/playlists to your iPod.
G
Guest
its unfortunate that they're not continuing the iPod touch gens anymore 
aj_the_kidd
Posts: 555 +0
iPod was definitely a game changer but iTunes annoyed the absolute fricking sh1te out of me and still to this day, i try to avoid it as much as possible. 10 years is pretty good, bought the Sony version of the iPod many years back, no idea where that is now.
"Without fawning over Apple's every endeavor"
Wasn't the prior paragraph exactly that?
Never actually had an iPod. I already had a Diamond MP3 player when the iPod came out, and there was no way in the world I would pay that much money for it. By the time I did, I already had a smartphone, and didn't need a dedicated MP3 player anymore.
But everyone around me who was not a computer nerd eventually got one, as much for being able to store their entire music collection as anything else. Most of them though just stuck with that one, never buying later than the 2nd gen, as most of them got smart phones as well by that point and didn't see the point.
Wasn't the prior paragraph exactly that?
Never actually had an iPod. I already had a Diamond MP3 player when the iPod came out, and there was no way in the world I would pay that much money for it. By the time I did, I already had a smartphone, and didn't need a dedicated MP3 player anymore.
But everyone around me who was not a computer nerd eventually got one, as much for being able to store their entire music collection as anything else. Most of them though just stuck with that one, never buying later than the 2nd gen, as most of them got smart phones as well by that point and didn't see the point.
G
Guest
blah, blah , who cares !
G
Guest
The popularity of this mediocre device is beyond comprehension.
There ARE better devices out there !
*sigh*
There ARE better devices out there !
*sigh*
3rd gen and 5th(now lives in the car as I have all my music on 32gb MicroSD in my phone).
As others have said these are shiny gadgets for the masses as you can tell by all the people who use the tinny rubbish ipod headphones that come with the device. If you are really into music (I consider myself to be fairly into it as my in ear headphones cost more than my ipod) you will choose something else.
As others have said these are shiny gadgets for the masses as you can tell by all the people who use the tinny rubbish ipod headphones that come with the device. If you are really into music (I consider myself to be fairly into it as my in ear headphones cost more than my ipod) you will choose something else.
G
Guest
First was a 3rd gen shuffle, Now i've got a 8gb iPhone 4. I think that the iPod needs a rapid re-design as it will very soon shrink down to just the touch, and even that may well end up being outclassed by the iPhone not too far in the future.
I bought a 10GB third-gen iPod back in 2003. I had tried out a few mp3 players at the time but their limitations sucked big time (limited storage, ugly interfaces, etc.), so instead I was using a MiniDisc player from Sony which I really loved.
I hadn't paid much attention to Apple's portable music player and didn't have any expectations. I remember being completely blown away by the all-touch controls and simple UI. I've owned a couple more iPods throughout the years but now I've replaced it with an iPhone. My wife has a nano that died after three years of use and a second-gen iPod touch which she inherited from me.
I hadn't paid much attention to Apple's portable music player and didn't have any expectations. I remember being completely blown away by the all-touch controls and simple UI. I've owned a couple more iPods throughout the years but now I've replaced it with an iPhone. My wife has a nano that died after three years of use and a second-gen iPod touch which she inherited from me.
I've owned many players over the year. iTunes still s*ck big time even to this day.
Sensa clip - great but so limited, 1gig, AAA battery which was convenient when you were traveling and not needing a powersource to recharge.
Ipod 3rd G - that was utter crap, battery started to die to 5hrs after 6month and 3.5hrs after 1 year.
Sony mp3 player - it was big, had a cool touch interface, terrible software from sony but a decent 3rd party software. The only problem was it was just too freaking big. It's sitting somewhere... other downside, the docking was terrible.
Ipod Nano 3rd G - great player, battery time was excellent, form factor was great for snowboarding the entire day.
Blackberry Pearl (2007) - love the mail push of blackberry but the web browser was terrible.
Blackberry Curve - replaced the pearl, same as pearl...
Iphone 3G - great at the beginning, painfully slow at year 2.
Iphone 4 - the phone is what it should be, decent battery, fast processor for what I need. Yes it's restrictive compare to Android devices but the ease of use and it does what i need it to get done. I could definitely do without iTunes... but c'est la vie.
Sensa clip - great but so limited, 1gig, AAA battery which was convenient when you were traveling and not needing a powersource to recharge.
Ipod 3rd G - that was utter crap, battery started to die to 5hrs after 6month and 3.5hrs after 1 year.
Sony mp3 player - it was big, had a cool touch interface, terrible software from sony but a decent 3rd party software. The only problem was it was just too freaking big. It's sitting somewhere... other downside, the docking was terrible.
Ipod Nano 3rd G - great player, battery time was excellent, form factor was great for snowboarding the entire day.
Blackberry Pearl (2007) - love the mail push of blackberry but the web browser was terrible.
Blackberry Curve - replaced the pearl, same as pearl...
Iphone 3G - great at the beginning, painfully slow at year 2.
Iphone 4 - the phone is what it should be, decent battery, fast processor for what I need. Yes it's restrictive compare to Android devices but the ease of use and it does what i need it to get done. I could definitely do without iTunes... but c'est la vie.
MilwaukeeMike
Posts: 3,216 +1,469
Same for me. Although I bought mine for the included radio. No radio always seemed like a blatent oversight for the iPod. I guess I can understand it though. Why would allow your users to listen to the radio for free when you can sell them music on iTunes?
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