On this day... 2001

[Chrono212]

"The iPod (pictured), the line of portable media players designed and marketed by Apple, was launched."

[Wikipedia]

I thought it was interesting how the iPod and Apple have changed and then dominated the modern music industry, changing it into something almost unrecognisable from the days of vinyl.

Personally, I started out with a Nano and...didn't get it. In fairness I was 9 and music was something in ads or in cartoons, not something you'd just listen to.
But then I got the 1st Gen iPod touch in 2008 (from NYC woo!) and that was the start of the slippery slope.
Now with the iPhone 4 I am almost god like.

So, where were you on this day how much has the iPod effect you and your music listening?
What was your first one?
Or are you one of those who still don't get why you'd want all of the music ever created in your pocket?

 

[Nouw]

I love my I-Pod Classic! I first got a second-hand 2nd Gen Nano, now I have a second-hand X Gen Classic.

iTunes can be a pain but my I-Pod is very useful.

 

[Monsterfurby]

Huh, I never owned an iPod. The first (and only) Apple hardware I have ever owned is my iPhone 3GS, and that only because I wanted a specific piece of software that only existed on the iPhone. There's no reason to get an iPod anymore now, though.

 

[Esotera]

Pretty much none. I got a 4GB philips mp3 player back in 2006 for about £50, and in my eyes it's superior to the ipod. Sure it's plastic & doesn't look as nice but it's brilliant for sports and hasn't broken once. Can't say that about ipods.

 

[Kekkles]

MP3, this madness makes me sick. Producers, such as I (sometimes), go through a lot of time making things sound perfect- then it goes mp3... I'll let you listen to the chopped up, half quality mess, whilst I listen to my lovely .FLACs.

I still have no idea why people still use MP3 when .FLAC is sitting there in the corner feeling left out.

That's one thing I KNOW that fandangled iPod does not do, unless altered. And even then I'm not sure if it's even compatible with your 'There's-an-app-for-that' friend.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Meh I bought my first Ipod (Nano) four years ago. Of course I was still listenning to music via mp3 players before it, just not an Apple brand.
My first three (which the third was a lame giveaway from the bank which broke easily) were those 250mb usb port and you have to manually edit the names to add a number so it play in order while my fourth was a Sony brand (can't remember what it's called but it was 6GB and look like a shiny pebble). That serve me well during my time in University and it broke down which lead me to buy an Ipod.

 

[FamoFunk]

Never owned one and never will (or any other Apple products) didn't realise it was that old, though!

I've had the same MP3 player for years and it's still going strong

 

[thiosk]

The horrifying thing in this thread is that the OP was nine in 2001.

I was acing organic chemistry at the time. I now have my doctorate in chemistry. And I still have the same nano he possessed at 9.

I listen to generally the same music now that I was listening to when I was 15, with a little classic jazz and classical thrown in there for sexy parties. Not on my ipod, though-- via Pandora.

 

[SPARTANXIII]

I would just like to point out, today on 1963 is also the day Stevie Wonder recorded his first single for Motown Records, aged just 12!

Today is....very music based.

 

[Cheesus333]

When I was 11, my brother gave me a very varied mix of music and set me up an iTunes library with it - it pretty much completely shaped the music I like today, despite containing no MUSE. Still set me up to like them though.

A couple of years later, when I started finding my own music to enjoy, I upgraded from my amusingly-named iPod Mini to a Nano v3, which still works now. I should be getting an iPhone soon though, when my current contract runs out.

 

[IamQ]

I must be honest here. I've never owned an apple product, and my first and only mp3 player that I got was back in 2006, and I still use it. Yeah, it can only have like 50 songs in it, but it bloody well works!

But despite that I must congratulate apple for revolutionizing music like this in just 10 years.

 

[Astoria]

I recently got a 160 GB classic and I absolutely love it. It's just so much easier to search for particular songs on an iPod rather than MP3 player and they have a good look as well. The iPod nanos are a great size but just don't have enough storage for me which is why I upgraded. Having to go through iTunes is a little annoying but not enough to put me off.

 

[Russian_Assassin]

I discovered the concept of listening to music when I was 4. I developed my own taste when I was 14, which was also the time I bought my first mp3 player. Since then, my taste in music has evolved and so has the quality of my mp3 players. There hasn't been a period in which I did not own one, since I have become somewhat addicted to the concept of "portable music". However, I never owned an iPod, or any Apple product for that matter.

Want to know why? Because they fucking COST MORE THAN ORGAN TRANSPLANTATION!

By the way, I only now realized how much Apple affected the music industry in the past years. Just never really thought about it before, I guess.

 

[Yopaz]

I've never owned an Apple product except for the iPod that I found on the street and never found the owner for (nor used).
I've had generic mp3 players with the ability to play open source file formats and never had to go by iTunes or any other software to simply put files from my computer on to my mp3 player.

Although lately I've become smitten with Archos. Still open source, still no software to transfer files. All the good of an iPod, none of the crap.

 

[StBishop]

I didn't even know iPod's existed until 2003. Mid 2003 at that.

By the time I knew anything about them I was in a very anti-culture phase and I adopted an iriver which still works to be honest.

I also have a newer iriver which isn't as good but does play movies so it's sort of cool.

When my brother pushed me in the pool while my phone was in my pocket and my phone subsequently died he gave me his old iPhone which is actually awesome. So I think I'll continue to use iPhones for convenience.

 

[srm79]

My first iPod was a 4gig nano. It broke down 6 months later. My second was an 80gig video iPod that I won in a competition. It worked for about 8 months then the battery just wouldn't hold a charge.

I've used my Nokia 5800 Music Xpress and now my Sony Ericsson Xperia mobiles for my music players ever since without any problems.


OT - Also on this day, and far more important than anything by Apple:

2002: The Moscow theatre siege begins.
1993: The Shankill Road bombing.
1972: Operation Linebacker ends.
1965: 1st US Cavalry begins operations in Viet Nam
1946: The UN convenes for the first time.
1944: The Red Army enters Hungary.
1942: The second Battle of El-Alamein.
1929: The Wall Street Crash begins.
1917: Lenin calls for the October Revolution.
1911: First use of an aircraft in war.
1864: The Battle of Westport.
1707: The first parliament of Great Britain meets.
1641: The Irish Rebellion of 1641 begins.
1295: The first treaty forming the Auld Alliance between Scotland and France is signed.
42BC: Brutus commits suicide following defeat at the Second Battle of Philippi.

 

[Pinkamena]

iPods haven't changed the way I listen to music at all. I owned mp3-players well before Apple made their ipods, and I've never bought an apple-product.

 

[Littaly]

It has had more of an indirect effect on me than anything else. During the last ten years I've had three MP3 players, none of them were iPods, but at least two of them wouldn't have existed if it wasn't for it. The first one was some 250mb player of a brand that I can't remember. The second one was a 2Gb Zen V, and my third and current one is a 32Gb Zen X-Fi (which I still haven't filled up halfway).

I guess the reason I've been so resistant towards iPods (and Apple products in general) without having had anything against MP3 players in general is the same reason I've generally been resistant to fancy brand clothing. Once one of the main reasons to buy something becomes the logo that is attached to it, I start to distrust it. I want something because I think it's good, not because "it's the thing to have", even if it's of an outstanding quality.

 

[Soviet Steve]

Well I tend to view apple as a company driven by the purest form of hate and evil, and Steve Jobs being a sub par marketer who figured out that nerds can't market their products properly and that therefore he had a chance in that area.

Hence why I've stayed well away from any and all apple products - The Chinese mp3 players you can buy for next to nothing have served me quite well. Functional USB sticks for school and college work, plus there's no hassle with third party software being required.

Never used an apple product in my life and I hope the day will never come to pass.