Original iPod turned 25 years old this week

Apple launched the first iPod on October 23, 2001, at a price of $399. The device featured 5GB of storage, a capacity that held approximately 1,000 pop songs encoded as MP3s at 160Kbps. At the time, that volume represented a user's entire music collection in a portable format. The release marked a strategic shift for Apple, which was recovering from the dot-com bubble burst.

CEO Steve Jobs introduced the product during a presentation where he teased a breakthrough digital device that was not a Mac. He positioned the iPod as a hub for a user's digital lifestyle, connecting cameras, camcorders, and DVD players to a Mac. Jobs argued that music was the optimal entry point into the portable device market because it was universally appealing and lacked a dominant leader.

Competitors such as Creative, Sonic Blue, and Sony already sold portable players. Jobs noted that these companies had not found the right formula for digital music. The market at the time included CD players, MP3 CD players, flash players, and hard-disk jukebox players. Apple selected the hard-disk format as its primary technology for the new device.

The hardware was built around a 1.8-inch Toshiba hard drive that was 0.2 inches thick. The resulting player measured 2.4 by 4 by 0.78 inches and weighed 6.5 ounces. Jobs described the weight as lighter than most cell phones of the era. The device included 20-minute skip protection and used a single FireWire 400 cable for both charging and file transfer.

Apple emphasized the speed of the FireWire connection. The company stated that the port could transfer a full CD in five to 10 seconds, compared to roughly five minutes over USB. Filling the device with 1,000 songs took about 10 minutes via FireWire, a process that would have taken five hours over USB. A rechargeable lithium-polymer battery provided 10 hours of continuous playback, and Apple claimed the battery reached 80% charge in one hour.

The user interface relied on an accelerated scroll wheel with a piezoelectric clicker for tactile feedback. This design allowed users to navigate by playlist, artist, or song with one hand. The first track played on stage during the launch event was Sarah McLachlan's "Building a Mystery." The device also synchronized automatically with iTunes 2, which launched the same day and added MP3 CD burning capabilities.

The iPhone arrived in early 2007, more than five years after the iPod debut. The two products coexisted in Apple's lineup for over a decade before the iPod's popularity declined. The last model released was the seventh-generation iPod Touch in May 2019. Apple officially discontinued the iPod line in May 2022.