Summary

Apple iPod and packaging with iTunes software on a CD. A digital music player and storage device (with 5 GB disk) with mechanical scroll wheel, white ear plugs and connection ports for head set. The product was released in October 2001 and discontinued in April 2003. It was a hard drive based MP3 player. It allowed its users to easily download an entire music collection onto a small portable device.

The term iPod has now entered the vernacular (2007). The popularity of the iPod was due to innovative design (aesthetics, feel and way it was operated), ease of use of iTunes software to transfer songs from computer to iPod, and the later availability of the Apple Music Store from which songs can be purchased (each song costs the same amount).

This particular item was one of the first in Australia. The donor was a journalist who received the iPod from Apple for review purposes and subsequently purchased it from Apple. The donor reviewed the item in The Age newspaper before public release in Australia.

The iPod featured a 5 GB hard drive able to store 1,000 songs encoded as MP3 files. Its small size was due to the use of 1.8 inch hard drive, whereas competitors were using larger sizes. Navigation was easy using a mechanical scroll wheel, a central select button, and buttons around the wheel. iTunes software managed legal downloading of music from the internet to a computer and from there to the iPod. iTunes also was used to manage and play from the music library on the iPod.

Part of a representative collection of hardware, software, trade literature and promotional material that documents the history of the Apple company, and its contribution to, and impact on the computer industry and society.

Physical Description

Apple iPod and packaging with iTunes software (v.2.02 for OS9 on CD).This is a digital music player and storage device (5 GB) with mechanical scroll wheel, white ear plugs and connection ports for head set and 'Firewire' port.

Significance

The iPod became very popular, so much so that its name became the generic term for portable music players. Its popularity was due to an innovative combination of miniaturisation, easy-to-use navigation and a legal way of obtaining music online at low cost. At the time, much music was obtained illegally.

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