3 iPod fashions now etched in gadget historical past

Apple introduced earlier this week that the iPod Contact—the final scion of the iPod line—has been discontinued. The transfer marks the tip of an period of devoted devices for transporting your tunes. Steve Jobs launched the unique iPod greater than 20 years in the past, on October 23, 2001, and in some ways, it helped begin Apple’s rise to the multi-trillion greenback firm it’s as we speak. With out the iPod, there may very well be no iPhone. 

That first iPod was groundbreaking—who can neglect the “1,000 songs in your pocket” advertising and marketing—but it surely wasn’t essentially an important or revolutionary mannequin. It was a superb MP3 participant, nicer and simpler to make use of than what Apple’s rivals have been making on the time, however it could take just a few years to turn into a real pop-culture icon. 

Now although, for the reason that age of the iPod has actually come to a detailed, let’s replicate on just a few of these revolutionary fashions—those that we really feel actually carved the iPod’s place in historical past. 

iPod mini (1st technology)

The touch-sensitive Click on Wheel with the built-in Menu, Play/Pause, Subsequent Observe, and Earlier Observe buttons is without doubt one of the defining options of the iPod, however didn’t debut with the primary iPod line. As an alternative, it was a part of the primary technology of the iPod mini. (The primary-generation iPod had an precise rotating scroll wheel and 4 {hardware} buttons; the third-generation iPod accessible on the time had a touch-sensitive scroll wheel however devoted buttons alongside the highest.) 

Introduced on January 6, 2004, the iPod mini was a playful shot throughout the bow of the business. Accessible in silver, blue, inexperienced, pink, and gold, and actually pocket sized, it didn’t matter that it may maintain fewer songs than the third-generation iPod. 

The Click on Wheel would proceed for use in second-generation iPod mini, the fourth, fifth, and sixth-generation iPods, and the primary by way of fifth generations of the iPod nano. The one iPods to not use it have been the Shuffle line, the iPod Contact, and the touch-screen generations of the Nano.

iPod Basic (sixth technology)

Till 2007, the iPod was simply known as the iPod (or iPod by Apple, with out the particular article earlier than it, which has at all times sounded bizarre). It wasn’t till the sixth technology that it could get the moniker “Basic,” and that will be retroactively added to all of the previous iPod fashions. 

Launched two months after the primary iPhone, the iPod Basic was radically old-fashioned even because it debuted. Positive, it had a colour display screen and will play movies, but it surely was principally simply the system Apple had introduced in 2001 with a bigger arduous drive. It’s no surprise that it was—apart from some battery and capability tweaks in 2008 and 2009—the final Basic iPod made. 

For all that, it caught round. The iPod Basic was offered primarily unchanged for seven years, earlier than Apple discontinued it in 2014. It took a surprisingly very long time earlier than smartphones bought to the purpose that folks actually didn’t desire a devoted MP3 participant. 

iPod nano (sixth technology)

For all its cultural affect, the iPod mini line lasted lower than two years—it was formally discontinued on September 7, 2005, and changed with the iPod nano.

Whereas the primary by way of fifth generations of the iPod nano repackaged the normal iPod expertise in quite a lot of small and colourful designs, it was the sixth-generation, launched on September 1, 2010, that made a real assertion—and was miles forward of its time. 

The sixth-generation iPod nano was wild. It principally took an iPod Shuffle and added a 1.5-inch multi-touch display screen, like a smaller model of that discovered within the iPhone or iPod Contact. What attainable use was there for such a sophisticated touchscreen on an iPod Shuffle? Subsequent to none, it appears: The one actual multi-touch characteristic was that you possibly can rotate the display screen utilizing a two-finger twist. 

But it surely wasn’t what the sixth-generation iPod nano may do (or didn’t do) that made it necessary, however what it hinted at. It had a pedometer, a health app, and built-in with Nike+. It had clock faces, together with an unique Mickey Mouse one. You can even get a third-party strap and put on it in your wrist. Sound acquainted? Sure, the sixth technology iPod nano was a completely terrible precursor to the Apple Watch. But it surely additionally confirmed simply how hungry some folks have been for an excellent smartwatch. They have been simply 5 years too early. 

In the end, wanting the iPhone, nearly no different gadget has so dominated popular culture within the final twenty years. Goodbye, outdated good friend: The instances we shared positive had a pleasant, pocket-sized soundtrack.