iPod is now 6 Years Old. Happy Birthday!

Six years ago today, on October 23rd 2001, Apple released a truly revolutionary MP3 player, iPod. It was a $399 hard drive-based digital audio player that sports a unique mechanical scroll wheel that lets you navigate easily on mile-long playlists by moving your thumb in a circular motion. It was also the first player to fully support iTunes (not sure what version it was back then), and most importantly, put FireWire in the spotlight. Despite its long list of features, the iPod remains very pocketable.

Six years later, Apple went to no where it has gone before with its successful iPod-series. Some hundred and twenty million units were sold. Macs has become mainstream PCs from just expensive niche novelty. Most importantly, AAPL skyrocketed to $184 from just $9, even after stock splits.

As for iPod itself, iTunes/iPod support came in the third gen. iPod. Apple has since dumped FireWire in favor of USB 2.0 starting with the fifth generation iPod video. And despite that most iPods remain a DAP, the entire series except for the screen-less shuffle now has evolved into a movie player and handheld game device. Scroll wheel has also moved on to touch sensitive. As for capacity, the latest flagship iPod classic players are equipped with 80GB and 160GB, compared to 5GB and 10GB of the first generation. Rest of the iPods (eg. nano, shuffle, touch) went with NAND flash.