Filed under: iPod Family, Found Footage
Blast from the past: 1st generation iPod review
Ah, the simpler days: before the iPhone, before the iTunes store, and before Apple killed FireWire in favor of syncing via USB. Yes, we're talking about the birth of the iPod. This video is one of the very first reviews on TechTV (wow, anyone remember that television network?).
The original iPod came in 5 GB and 10 GB models, and sold for $399 and $499 respectively. The battery life was 10 hours, and first generation iPods were Mac-only, running on Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X 10.1 (Puma). Over the past few years, the iPod has definitely changed, and this video is living proof.
On an iPhone/iPod touch? Click here to watch this YouTube video.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Dave said 11:11AM on 8-08-2008
"BeepBeepBeep" Good heavens these people were obnoxious. And apparently forgettable... .
"This is not a new innovation..." Hey, one mp3 player is just like the next, right? These people are soooooo Windows people. Some get it, some don't. And it lacks a command line prompt. It'll never catch on.
Reply
dastranger said 11:33AM on 8-08-2008
The irony in your comment though is that Brett Larson (the guy who is reviewing the original iPod) is a huge Mac guy.
Lerxst said 1:52PM on 8-08-2008
You might want to think otherwise but, truth is, no one except maybe Jobs and Ive would think that the iPod would become as iconic as it id, at that time. So there was nothing wrong thinking at the time that the iPod was just another (albeit cool) mp3 player, especially when two hugely variables were not present yet, which are iTunes and Windows compatibility.
dastranger said 11:17AM on 8-08-2008
I miss firewire for iPods.
Reply
adisor19 said 11:24AM on 8-08-2008
I second that. I miss FireWire too. :(
Adi
Pete Zich said 11:53AM on 8-08-2008
I was so upset when I got my 5th gen iPod and it said firewire wasn't supported for syncing, took so much longer to copy all of my music...
dandaman said 10:35PM on 10-29-2008
I do not. I already have an iPhone, before that an iPod Video - I've given it up.
drewsky said 11:22AM on 8-08-2008
Think of this... if you took the $499 at the time and instead of buying the 1st gen iPod you invested in Apple stock it would be worth over $8,000 today.
Reply
required said 11:54AM on 8-08-2008
Extreme exaggeration.
Aron T said 12:19PM on 8-08-2008
It is exaggeration, but not extreme - unfortunately it is a low-ball.
Oct 23, 2001 - $9.07/share
Aug 07, 2008 - $163.57/share
If you invested that $499 in APPL it would now be worth
...
...
...
$8,999.06
harrywolf said 1:25PM on 8-08-2008
I wish you had not reminded me of how much money I could have made on Apple - especially as I told ALL my friends that the stock was going to go sky high.....but I didnt buy any myself.
Somebody kick me, please.
On second thoughts, thanks for the reminder - and if any of you who did make out like bandits want to send me some cash, feel free.
harrywolf said 1:25PM on 8-08-2008
I wish you had not reminded me of how much money I could have made on Apple - especially as I told ALL my friends that the stock was going to go sky high.....but I didnt buy any myself.
Somebody kick me, please.
On second thoughts, thanks for the reminder - and if any of you who did make out like bandits want to send me some cash, feel free.
Michael May said 6:05PM on 8-08-2008
Didn't it split as well, so you'd have twice as many shares?
pokey said 11:51AM on 8-08-2008
http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/10/23/1816257&tid=107 Never Forget!
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Tony said 12:38PM on 8-08-2008
Funny.. lots of people saying that apple would *never* release a PC version of iTunes :p
The option of expanded codecs that never happened.. people complaining that their macs didn't support firewire and apple should have provided USB support...
I'm actually surprised it did so well. Apple definately know their marketing.
Chris said 11:28AM on 8-08-2008
The first generation iPod came in 5GB and was $499. There were no other flavors.
And, yes, I had one.
Reply
Chris said 11:35AM on 8-08-2008
My bad, it was $399. But no 10GB model was available at launch.
khedron said 11:21PM on 8-08-2008
I still have one, and I still use it, and it lasts through the work day, which is long enough. Rockin' machine.
Johnny said 11:34AM on 8-08-2008
I like how they call having the headphone jack on top a 'design flaw'. Good thing that guy didn't work for Apple. Why the hell would you want it on the side? Even at the gym it doesn't make sense. A decent review otherwise, except that annoying woman.
Reply
ben471 said 11:49AM on 8-08-2008
I agree. What kind of gym bag does this guy have? I would like to see him put an iPod in his pocket that has the jack on the side...