In 2017, a majority of music listeners stream their favorite tunes through the internet using services like Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, and more. But, 16 years ago, things were quite different when it came to how mobile phones worked, without the necessary infrastructure to download media content while on the go, downloading songs using a computer and transferring those files was quite common.
Apple wasn't the first company to release a portable digital music player but it was the one that made it popular. The original iPod would debut on October 23 2001, with Steve Jobs at the helm of the presentation, offering the world something a little different. The iPod would be introduced as a compact product with the promise of holding 1,000 songs or most peoples entire music library. Now, by today's standards, that doesn't sound like much, but back in 2001, that was quite a feat.
The first iPod featured a 5GB 1.8-inch hard drive that was 0.2-inches thick. While a majority of portable music devices like CD players featured 10 or 20-second skip protection, Jobs promised the iPod to offer 20-minutes of skip protection. To transfer the songs in the fastest way possible, the device had a FireWire port on the top which was touted to load an entire CD in 10 seconds, compared to USB, which would take 30 times as long. To make things more attractive, the iPod featured a unique scroll wheel and display that would allow easy navigation through its library.
In 2017, we have nearly forgotten about carrying a separate portable music player, because our smartphones now act as one. But it is interesting to remember a time when things were a bit simpler and to pay a little tribute to it.
Source: MacRumors | Image via eBay, Video via EverySteveJobsVideo
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