Apple's New Thing (iPod) - Oct. 2001

"I have a cd walkman and a burner already, and besides that now that I don't have a dotcom job anymore I need that $400 to pay car payments and rent."<p>This forum post practically dates itself.

The iPod was not revolutionary, iTunes was. Everything posted about the first iPod was spot on. The iPod didn't become a revolution until a) iTunes was released for the Windows environment and b) it had a USB dock. Before those two events, the iPod was a marginal product.

My favorite comment on there:<p>"I still can't believe this! All this hype for something so ridiculous! Who cares about an MP3 player? I want something new! I want them to think differently! Why oh why would they do this?! It's so wrong! It's so stupid!"<p>Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

"...or are you really aiming to become a glorified consumer gimmicks firm?"<p>priceless

Damn, digging for iPod articles from 2001 is fun! (For those who want to join the fun, October 23 is the exact date.)<p>“Apple’s Musical Rendition: A Jukebox Fed by the Mac”, New York Times (David Pogue, no less): <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/25/technology/state-of-the-art-apple-s-musical-rendition-a-jukebox-fed-by-the-mac.html?scp=3&#38;sq=ipod&#38;st=nyt" rel="nofollow">http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/25/technology/state-of-the-ar...</a><p>“Apple doesn’t change the world (yet)”, Der Spiegel (sorry, German): <a href="http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/tech/0,1518,164056,00.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/tech/0,1518,164056,00.html</a><p>“Apple enters the hi-fi market”, heise (sorry, German): <a href="http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Apple-entert-den-HiFi-Markt-Update-47282.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Apple-entert-den-HiFi...</a><p>What a strange world in 2001, though: no Gizmodo, no Engadget :)

I think this is the best comment there.<p>"I really wanted to like it. Really. But do the math: 20GB hard drive: $199 from APS tech. MP3 player: $50 from Best Buy. You save $150 plus get an extra 15 Gig of storage! "

Sweet:<p>"All that hype for an MP3 player? Break-thru digital device? The Reality Distiortion Field™ is starting to warp Steve's mind if he thinks for one second that this thing is gonna take off."

No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame.

Slashdot panned the iPod back in 2001, too - <a href="http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/10/23/1816257&#38;tid=107" rel="nofollow">http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/10/23/1816257&#3...</a><p>"No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame. "

Yeah, there were ipod haters, iphone haters, hater haters...

The comments, of course, are priceless. Thanks!

And I still don't understand what anybody would need an iPod for (MP3 Player I mean). Unless you are a commuter with &#62; 45 min time per direction. I like music, but I have decided that it's silly to shut out the world while being outside.<p>Have iPods really changed the world, or have they just sold well?

I wonder what the guy who asserts that "awsome" technology won't exist for 6000 years now thinks of the iPad.

I needed this bit of nostalgia humor. Thanks for the link.

It's sad that things have changed so little in 10 years.

I'm tired of the comparison to the iPod or the iPhone. The iPhone had tons of innovations on day 1. The iPod had some innovations to begin with (your music library in your pocket), but other key ones -like the click wheel and the iTunes store- came later. The iPad doesn't really have anything innovative in it today.<p>Yes Apple may add more innovations later, and it may succeed even without them (coz of iPhone users moving up, Apple's brand &#38; marketing, etc.) but the 'Apple will succeed because the iPod+iPhone did' argument is getting old.<p>I absolutely believe in a simpler less-general-purpose device for casual home computing, and a lightweight tablet seems like one of the top contenders for the form factor, but the iPad itself is a pretty weak product.