I just heard today, on one of those "10 years ago" deals that they do on news shows once in a while, that it was in late 2001 that the original iPod was released.
When it was first unveiled, the iPod was about as big as a deck of cards, had a black and white screen, text only, no album artwork, no video, no pictures, with a mechanical click wheel (not touch sensitive). It had a 5 GB memory, so it would hold maybe 1000 songs. And it was revolutionary. Hundreds of songs with you at all times, all easily accessible. Do you remember this? That iPod was an incredible technological leap. For the magical price of $400.
This was less than 10 years ago.
Now, the classic iPod has, at it's most basic, an 80GB memory. The newest iPod nano (the most basic of the line) is 8GB at it's smallest, is barely over 1-inch square complete with a touch sensitive screen and no click wheel at all, with full color.
And of course there's the iPod touch, complete with wi-fi internet connectivity, and the iPhone, both of which give you the ability to download whatever music you want from practically anywhere, along with the mind-numbing variety of apps available to simplify/complicate your life.In less than 10 years, this amazing device, the simple iPod, has evolved into something even more amazing, a contraption you'd expect to find Spock using, not Grandma Edith as she's working on those baby booties for her newest great-granddaughter.
There have been over 220 million iPods sold in one of their various forms. That's enough for 3/4 of the population of America to each have one.
Does this freak anyone else out? I can't believe that in TEN YEARS this little music box that was so spectacular, and rare, has become a an even smaller music box that is so ubiquitous I'm guessing you'd be hard pressed to find a single person in America who doesn't know what an iPod is, and probably has one in their home.
It begs the question: What thing that seems fresh now is going to advance to some unimaginable incarnation by 2021?
I'm going to go read a book. Not on a Kindle. The original, you know, with pages.
But I'll probably have my iPod on.
