iPod Memories: A Device That Changed Our Relationship with Music

It's official: Apple's groundbreaking portable music player is no more. All we have left now are memories of the iPod, perhaps the last model some plan to keep forever.

This decision is inevitable. Most of us now use our iPhones and streaming music services to listen to music. Another role that the iPod Touch played - providing a device for kids too young to have phones - has been largely replaced by the iPad. Still, it's a slightly sad moment... Last year a group of us at 9to5Mac shared our early memories of the iPod on the occasion of its 20th anniversary. I thought it would be fun to expand on my experiences with this device over the years and invite you to share your experiences in the comments.

Life before iPod

I have always loved listening to music, and although the first Sony Walkman stretched my meager budget to the extreme, I had to Own one.

It’s hard to imagine now how revolutionary a device it was. For the first time we had a small and lightweight portable music player that could be taken anywhere, and that's what I did.

Of course, the biggest drawback is that it's limited to one album at a time. Still, it's more than enough for everyday use, and I do use mine every day. I later upgraded to Discman as CDs took over.

As an early adopter of gadgets, it didn't surprise anyone when I bought my first mp3 player: the MPMan F10 (above right). The measly flash memory means I can only play one album at a time, and changing music isn't as easy as changing tapes, but it's smaller and lighter, and hey, it's a gadget.

Buying an iPod on launch day 2001

As soon as the iPod was released, I knew I had to have one. A thousand songs in my pocket? That's irresistible!

I happened to be in New York the day it was released. I had always promised myself that one day I would fly Concorde, and managed to get the last two discounted tickets before British Airways announced it was discontinuing the service, and only full-price ($5,000 one-way!) tickets were available. When I got the deal, I tasked my then-girlfriend with finding a good hotel deal and she managed to get a room at the Waldorf Astoria. A mix-up with our booking resulted in a prompt apology and an upgrade to a suite. The trip went well! Adding an iPod to the mix would be the icing on the cake.

I remember we had to trek halfway across Manhattan to find a place that had it in stock, and actually getting one felt like a victory. Despite only being in town for five days and having a lot of sightseeing on the schedule, I spent several hours playing music to it in our hotel room, much to the confusion of my tech-savvy better half. Traveling with her, I won't be listening with my headphones on until the return flight (not on Concorde!), but I still have this incredible new device and I want to set it up and at least test it out.

The user interface is simply genius! Having a thousand songs on the device (I certainly had to test that claim!) and still being able to quickly select the song I want works like magic to me. Somehow I did manage to resist the temptation to ditch my girlfriend in my music collection but listened to it non-stop on the flight home. After that, I really rarely left the house without it - and I think it took a few months before it stopped feeling like magic.

2003 30GB iPod Classic

My next upgrade was in 2003 to the 30GB model. At that time, I was very greedy. A thousand songs didn't feel like enough, and being able to store a large portion of my music collection on the device was overwhelming.

This model has also changed the way I listen to music at home. Instead of playing CDs, I connected it to my hifi system, giving me instant access to my favorite music while on the move.

This is also the point where I have to admit that I am not an audiophile. The quality of the mp3 files available at the time was significantly lower than CD quality. When I listened to the same track back to back in each format, the mp3 version sounded noticeably muddier. However, while I can easily tell and choose CDs for active listening, my daily background music is played on my iPod.

RESISTANCE OTHER MODELS

Other models also appeared. iPod mini. iPod Shuffle (so cute I want one, but I have no reason to since I still have my Classic with me). iPod photos. iPod nano. However, Apple did manage to sell me one more...

2007 160GB iPod Classic

In the end, Apple provided more than enough for my entire music collection Model of storage space! This is the Holy Grail. Instead of having to decide what music I might want to listen to on the go, I can access any of it anytime, anywhere. I can't begin to tell you how happy this makes me!

I have maintained this model for many years. In fact, even when I switched to an iPhone for listening to music—the convenience of a single device and easy(ish) music swapping eventually outweighed the pleasure of having all my music all the time—I still kept it. It became my car music player, permanently connected to power and the car stereo AUX port. Then I put all my music in the car.

I did eventually sell it, and when Spotify became my main source of music, I could once again listen to anything, anywhere. Part of me still wishes I hadn't, though!

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