The iPod. A device that has changed the world, created cultures, defined a generation, influenced a new society is now ten years old. Originally slated, no body thought the iPod would catch on. How wrong they were. I don't need to go on to say anymore about the success of the iPod. Everyone knows.
But now, ten years on people are moving on from the iPod with it's predecessor the iPhone. It's kind of sad really. The original iPod, which became the iPod classic, is exactly that, a classic. A design icon. I was just old enough to experience and remember the beginning of the iPod revolution. I can't imagine being a kid today and not having been around for the first iPod. Kids today are coming in at iPod 6th gen or more and have no idea where the iPhone came from.
For a product that is ten years old and has gone through numerous iterations the iPod isn't all that different from when it started life. Even the design of the packaging for the original iPod is very similar in style to the current packaging. Nothing seems out of date. Timeless from the time it was released. This is the incredible thing about Apple. They always seems to know exactly what is going to happen down the line, they know exactly what is going to be the next big thing and then they get there before any other company has begun to real what is happening.
Apple hasn't killed the iPod classic as of yet, it is still available in the Apple Store. However there haven't been any updates to it for a long time, it's never mentioned anymore. There really seems to be a trend of moving completely to touch screen devices. I am not against this, but I don't look forward to the time when the Classic is discontinued. Ten years is a long time, but the iPod still seems young. Even the early models are still fresh and better looking than most other current portable music players. The 3rd Generation iPod for example, my personal favourite, the precursor to the click wheel revolution, although touting extra 'buttons' above the touch sensitive wheel; the all white facade, white wheel (unlike later models), backlit buttons and no moving parts on the front give it a beautifully clean appearance only matched by the simplicity of recent buttonless shuffle.
The iPod plays music, and in a world moving towards completely integrated multi-use devices it is becoming harder for single use devices to find a home. This is clear when we see the new direction of the iPod family with the touch and the new nano becoming more featuristic. Don't get me wrong, I love my iPhone, it's practically indispensable now, even for listening to music, but perhaps in some ways I am becoming more like my Dad and want to just hang on to the simple things that just work well. There is nothing better than carrying your entire music collection with you and just being able to tune out with it no-matter where you are. The next big thing is going to be storing your entire collection in the cloud and dragging down the songs you want, caching locally for offline playing. This is nice and works great for multiple devices and social integration etc but there is something still to be said for simple offline devices that just do what they are supposed to. I suppose offline devices are becoming pretty archaic now really, perhaps Apple should refresh the classic one more time, but then again it might be kinda awkward trying to use an internet connected iPod with only a scroll wheel for navigation.....hmmm.
Anyway, Happy Birthday iPod. It's a pity Steve wasn't able to see the iPod to ten.