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Next month will mark the 8th birthday of the Apple iPod, the mp3 player which revolutionised the music industry. In less than 8 years Apple sold over 160 MILLION of them, 60 million of which was in the last 18 months alone…
They began with just one model, available only in white and with a 5GB capacity it required a Macintosh computer in order to use it. Retailing at $399 it was considerably more expensive than mp3 players from the more established competition such as Samsung, Creative Audio and so on. But unlike the mp3 players which came before it, it was far easier to use. Transferring music from your computer to the iPod was practically automated, just plug it in. And navigating through 1,000 tracks required an easy to use interface that broke away from the CD player like controls found on most players.
The 3rd generation player of 2003 saw the introduction of Windows compatibility and with the trademark white earbuds becoming a (accidental) fashion statement sales really took off. TV and billboard ads capitalised on this, using silhouetted dancers sporting bright white earbuds.
As the years and generations have passed, battery life has increased massively and so has the memory capacity. However the physical size of the device continues to shrink and become more refined and elegant. The feature list continues to grow, first came music, then photos, then video, then games and now we have 3rd party applications, full web access and email.

The chart below highlights the different generations along with the price (at launch), storage capacity, battery life (max battery life is for audio use only, minimum battery life is for video playback where available), colour selection (all colours available during that generations lifespan)

This pre-launch video makes for a very interesting watch, my favourite quote is by Seal (from 5:15 in) who says something that sums it up:

“Everyone is going to want to have one of these”

Filed under: Gadgets
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