Nothing lasts forever, and all good things must come to an end. It’s important not to be sentimental about technology because it’s an industry that is the ultimate embodiment of out with the old and in with the new. When the smartphone became commonplace throughout the world, the writing was on the wall for the humble iPod. People can now bank, stream music, stream movies and play amex online casino website platform games on their handheld devices.
However, even though it may be nothing more than a museum piece now, it’s important that we celebrate the legacy of the iPod. It was an incredible little device that allowed millions of people to experience music in a new way. As one of the defining technology pieces of a generation, we figured that it was only right that we celebrated its legacy in the right way.
Having been originally launched by Apple in 2001, the device was on sale for 20 years, a time period that would be unthinkable given the shelf life of modern technology. When you start to crunch the numbers, the IPod starts to boggle the mind. It’s estimated that Apple sold approximately 450 million units throughout the lifespan of the device. That is simply crazy. When you consider that the average iPod costs hundreds of dollars, then it’s clear that the revenue generated from the sale of iPods played a major role in establishing Apple as the colossal tech giant that they are today.
You might be asking yourself, what was it that made the iPod such an incredibly popular device across the world?
Well, it would be no exaggeration to suggest that it was a truly revolutionary piece of technology at the time. First of all, it was smaller than the other MP3 players on the market, meaning that it was the first which could be comfortably held in the hand of the user. It also boasted an initial storage capacity of 5GB, which roughly equated to 1000 songs worth of music. Whilst it may not seem like very much now, it opened up a whole new world for music lovers at the turn of the century.
As with all the products designed by Apple in Silicon Valley, the iPod was a device that managed to combine style with substance. The ability to navigate through a playlist by rotating your finger around the circular middle button proved to be a big hit. The general consensus was that it felt responsive, sleek , and modern. It was a feature that ended up being one of the device’s symbolic features.
The early years of the iPod were characterized by the implementation of fantastic marketing campaigns by Apple. Everybody will remember the famous black silhouettes dancing in the background as some of the best songs of the era were played across the TV speakers. These advertisements remain some of the tech giant’s most memorable.
Over the course of subsequent years, the iPod continued to get better and better. It was gradually equipped with more memory that would store more songs than you could ever hope to listen to. It also became smaller and lighter, to the point where you wouldn’t even know that you were carrying it in your pocket at all. Improved battery technology ensured that the times between charges dramatically increased, and the incorporation of an innovative touchscreen around 2014 kept the device relevant in the technology space.
Whilst the smartphone and services like Spotify may have been the death knell of the iPod, it was an incredible device that should be celebrated where possible.