12 years ago: iPod announced. Forumites jaded, unimpressed.

[crazy canuck]

Not sure BB's thesis that Jobs pulled the wool over the music industries eyes holds up to scrutiny.

Itunes was a huge success well before the introduction of the IPod.  Windows systems could run it around the time the first IPod was released.  Throughout that time and after Apple continued to enter into licencing agreements with various content providers.

[garbon]

Not sure BB's thesis that Jobs pulled the wool over the music industries eyes holds up to scrutiny.

Itunes was a huge success well before the introduction of the IPod.  Windows systems could run it around the time the first IPod was released.  Throughout that time and after Apple continued to enter into licencing agreements with various content providers.

iTunes store didn't exist until the 3rd gen of iPods if wiki is to be trusted.

[derspiess]

And IIRC the first gen iPod was not Windows compatible at all.

[Sheilbh]

I still don't really get the appeal of the iPad or any other tablet

[Malthus]

I remember when the iPad came out. Again, failure was widely predicted. As I recall, people were complaining that the device name sounded like something used for menstrual sanitation. 

I don't recall anyone thinking it would flop (though there were sani pad jokes a-plenty).

My recollection was that people thought it fell between two stools - not convenient to the pocket like an iPod and no keyboard/screen combo like a laptop.

[garbon]

I still don't really get the appeal of the iPad or any other tablet

I didn't either but my kindle fire has grown on me. I like how cheap books are often priced. And makes for easing ready while standing on subway train as you only need one hand to flip pages.

Much lighter/portable than netbooks / doesn't suffer from how netbooks had those tiny keyboards and had to be flat to be usable.  That said, I find the iPad bulky and so doesn't have the advantages of the smaller tablets or a computer.

[Sheilbh]

I love the Kindle. Mine's broke unfortunately and I get the appeal of an e-reader. It's the rest of stuff a tablet does and the way it doesn't that I don't really understand.

[garbon]

I love the Kindle. Mine's broke unfortunately and I get the appeal of an e-reader. It's the rest of stuff a tablet does and the way it doesn't that I don't really understand.

An easy and quick way to be online that is convenient for when you are on the go. Not much different from why people go online with their phones, except that it is large enough to actually see things clearly without squinting.

[crazy canuck]

Not sure BB's thesis that Jobs pulled the wool over the music industries eyes holds up to scrutiny.

Itunes was a huge success well before the introduction of the IPod.  Windows systems could run it around the time the first IPod was released.  Throughout that time and after Apple continued to enter into licencing agreements with various content providers.

iTunes store didn't exist until the 3rd gen of iPods if wiki is to be trusted.

Not according to this article which states itunes came before the IPod.

at Macworld San Francisco in 2001, Apple debuted iTunes alongside iDVD and the CD-RW-enabled Power Macs. While it wasn't exactly a show-stopper (though 275,000 copies were downloaded in the first week), the "world's best and easiest to use 'jukebox' software" definitely raised the bar for music players on the Mac, which were relatively sparse and rather pricey (SoundJam cost $40). By offering iTunes as a free download and installing it on every new Mac, Apple essentially cut down the competition at the pass--or at least put a good scare into them. "Apple has done what Apple does best--make complex applications easy, and make them even more powerful in the process," said Steve Jobs at the time. "iTunes is miles ahead of every other jukebox application, and we hope its dramatically simpler user interface will bring even more people into the digital music revolution."

For many Mac users, iTunes was an introduction to digital music, and Apple strived to create a straightforward jukebox that needed little or no instruction to get started. Popping a music CD into your Mac automatically launched iTunes, which loaded the disc, collected track data from Gracenote and added them to your library. A clean interface split into boxes kept everything neat and always within reach of a mouse click.

Conspicuously missing from iTunes 1 was the ability to burn a CD on an external drive, a deficiency compounded by Apple's mostly CD-RW-less line of Macs. Apple answered the cries a month later at Macworld Tokyo with the introduction of new iMacs and Cubes with write-able drives, a 1.1 update that added third-party support, and the launch of the controversial "Rip, Mix, Burn" campaign.

After racking up more than a million downloads in just a few short months, it quickly became clear that iTunes was every bit as revolutionary as Apple hoped. What all those users didn't know, however, was that the music player was merely the first part of a strategy that would redefine the company as more than a Mac maker. in October 2001, Steve Jobs showed us the next piece of Apple's digital hub in the form of an oddly named, undeniably sexy hand-held device. Built exclusively to leverage the popularity of Apple's music app, iPod came bundled with a brand-new version of iTunes that allowed it to seamlessly integrate with the songs and playlists stored on our Macs.

[frunk]

iTunes was released in 2001, the iTunes store came out in 2003.

[Sheilbh]

I love the Kindle. Mine's broke unfortunately and I get the appeal of an e-reader. It's the rest of stuff a tablet does and the way it doesn't that I don't really understand.

An easy and quick way to be online that is convenient for when you are on the go. Not much different from why people go online with their phones, except that it is large enough to actually see things clearly without squinting.

So maybe it's because of my great eyesight that I don't see the point of the iPad

[merithyn]

The iTunes App came out in January 2001. iPod in October 2001. The iTunes Music Store came out in April 2003.

http://www.apple.com/pr/products/ipodhistory/

That may be what Wiki is talking about, g.

[mongers]

Not ever owned an ipod nor even ever used/touched one. 

I like older discreet mp3 players, particularly the faglighter shaped creative ones that take AAAs.

[Barrister]

The iTunes App came out in January 2001. iPod in October 2001. The iTunes Music Store came out in April 2003.

http://www.apple.com/pr/products/ipodhistory/

That may be what Wiki is talking about, g.

And of course from the same link, iTunes Music Store became available for Windows users in October of 2003.

[CountDeMoney]

I can hold my iPad with my left hand and jerk off with the right.

I like how you can turn it to landscape, and with the case I have, fold it back to sit on my chest.  That way, I can get the balls action as well.