When Steve Jobs took to the stage in Cupertino on 23rd October, 2001, he unveiled Apple’s first portable device: the iPod. As ever, his pitch was simple and on-point: "1,000 songs in your pocket."
But the iPod wasn't Jobs’s creation. Its concept came from Tony Fadell, an amateur DJ who’d grown frustrated by lugging his music collection to gigs. Apple saw the potential for a hardware system that could work as an entry-point to iTunes. By the time the iPod was eventually discontinued in 2022, over 450 million products had been sold, forever changing how people consume music.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly recall a world of "skip protection", CDs and FireWire cables; reveal how Jobs’ showmanship was just the tip of his deep involvement with the product; and explain how Apple delicately danced around concerns of music piracy…
Further Reading:
• ‘Apple’s ‘Breakthrough’ iPod’ (Wired, 2001): https://www.wired.com/2001/10/apples-breakthrough-ipod/
• ‘Apple Presents iPod’ (Apple Press Release, 2001): https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2001/10/23Apple-Presents-iPod/
• ‘iPod Launch Event’ (Apple, 2001): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN0SVBCJqLs
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