Share the Memories: Happy 8th Birthday iPod
8:54 am, October 23rd, 2009, Nicole Martinelli
The first iPod launched on Oct. 23, 2001. It had a scroll wheel, cost $399, could store 1,000 songs and looks like a yoga block compared to later models.
This promo for the first-gen iPod is charmingly dated (only 6.5 ounces, over 10 hours of battery life! ) — though there must be a portrait of Jonathan Ive in an attic somewhere, he looks the same as he talks about it as one of his “most personal designs” at Apple.
Also stumping for the product, among others, are Moby (“I’m having a hard time getting my head around the fact that you can transfer a whole album on this in 10 seconds.”) and Steve Harwell from Smash Mouth (“You’ve got your own record store on this damn thing.”)
Unlike an 8-year-old human, an iPod that age doesn’t enjoy an increase in stamina or conversation at an almost adult level.
Mine (the best Christmas present I got the year it came out) is still in the graveyard drawer of iPods I Have Loved, however.
What do you remember most about your first iPod?
Anyone got a first gen that still works?
Posted by Nicole Martinelli in News, Vintage Tech, iPod | Comment on this article
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I was a sophmore in high school and had gotten a first gen ipod for Christmas. I remember sitting on the bus to cheer at a basketball game and all of the players asking me what the heck I was listening to music on.
Melissa, on October 23rd, 2009 at 9:00 am
My first was a 1st generation 4gb nano. I got it for christmas 3 years ago. I new I was getting one so my iTunes was ready with songs so I just plugged it in and voilà!
I have since gotten a 1 generation 32gb iPod touch ( which I am using to post this review) and a 1gb nano.
C, on October 23rd, 2009 at 9:04 am
I remember the first I pod and actually have a working version sittng on my desk. I remember the ipod being the Jordans of the geek world. Once I had my hands on this baby I knew I had arrived.
Jaime, on October 23rd, 2009 at 9:10 am
In celebration of the iPod’s 8th birthday, I got my old first gen iPod out and used it on my commute to work. A pleasure to reacquaint myself with an old friend.
Tom, on October 23rd, 2009 at 9:25 am
I remember showing it to my girlsfriend at the time and say this can hold thousands of CD and she said where do you put the CD in ?
scott, on October 23rd, 2009 at 9:28 am
I donated my working 1st Gen to the Science Museum in London, together with all the original packaging AND unopened earbuds and software.
It’s sits on a huge display on the 3rd floor.
I have pics if anyone wants to see.
joe, on October 23rd, 2009 at 9:33 am
Haha. Yes my first iPod is the first generation iPod nano. And yes it has been kept in the graveyard of drawers for iPod. Well now I moved to the 2nd generation iPod touch and it rocks just as the iPod nano. And also it still works only the battery life sucks.
Aidil, on October 23rd, 2009 at 9:33 am
As strange as this might sound, despite having an iPhone along with other iPods, I still use my 1st Gen iPod the most. It’s still nestled away in a sports sleeve I picked up from Marware and it still runs (no pun intended) like a charm. It’s loaded with various music but predominantly full with audio books as I’m driving quite a bit. I guess I feel like I should use it until it dies out, but that’s not showing any signs of happening soon.
Shane, on October 23rd, 2009 at 9:54 am
My original 1st gen iPod was covered by CompUSA’s warranty, so when the battery got weak it was traded for a iPod Photo with no additional cash spent. A few years later, that fell out of my pocket and was run over by a truck – a rather traumatic event. I eventually purchased an iPod Video which still works. Later still, I bought two working 1st gen iPods off of Craigslist – one for me to use as a utilities drive for my various Macs; the other for my wife, new to the ways of Apple. (She’s still learning how to rip and download, however).
Matt, on October 23rd, 2009 at 10:14 am
I got the first gen iPod from Apple as soon as it came out – they DHL’d it to me next day – as I did Marketing/Sales for them back then… it still works.. 3 batteries later.. and I totally remember the initial pitch was it was a FW Drive that ALSO played Music!
Adam, on October 23rd, 2009 at 10:31 am
I held on to mine until the latest iphone came out this summer. Finally was a good replacement for my needs. The old one still works, and I am my kids now use it.
MrJones, on October 23rd, 2009 at 10:48 am
I got my first iPod for Valentines in 2005. It was a 4th Gen 2GB black and white screen!. My wife got it for me because she had really screwed up with Christmas just prior to that. I was one of the best present I ever got! Since then my Best Buy extended warrantee replaced that 4th Gen with a 30GB 5th Gen. My wife has a 1st Gen 1GB Nano and I have an iPhone. I love iPod and will never use anything else!
Jeremy, on October 23rd, 2009 at 11:04 am
That was supposed to say 20GB, not 2GB
Jeremy, on October 23rd, 2009 at 11:05 am
Model M8541, 2001.
Batt’s dead but it still turns on when I plug it in using my FW400 cable.
Charge lasts for about 2 minutes…
I guess it’ll still work if I just change the battery inside.
Eujin, on October 23rd, 2009 at 11:12 am
I received a first gen iPod from my employer as a Christmas gift/bonus in 2001. I was thrilled. And it still works! It currently does light duty in my car, filling in when I don’t feel like dealing with the infernal speaker buzzing caused by my first gen iPhone. I still think it works better than all the subsequent models.
Mark, on October 23rd, 2009 at 11:19 am
I friend of mine gave me his 1st gen. I still have it and I’m keeping it for my little personal musesum. Not sure how much he used it, but this one still works!
Jason, on October 23rd, 2009 at 12:32 pm
Mine still works and it came in handy when I lost everything on my hard drive. I don’t normally use the hard drive except to recover old songs and nothing on the original Ipod is on any of my current ipods/iphones. I could never replace those songs if I had to.
Bonnie Rottstin, on October 23rd, 2009 at 1:31 pm
I use my first generation iPod every day, playing audiobooks on my commute to work. I replaced the battery a year or so ago and everything’s copasetic.
Only problem is its hypersensitivity to cold; it freezes up (hah!) and has to be reset if left out for a few hours in less than 40F temps.
Mark Schulman, on October 23rd, 2009 at 2:05 pm
We still have a 1st generation iPod which is in use at least weekly. It’s big, clunky and wonderful. We bought it in the first few days it was actually in the shops – the (then new) Apple store in the Mall of America but I can’t remember the exact date. The first time I went through airport security with it, I was pulled aside by the National Guardsman they had everywhere around that time as I guess it looked dodgy. We still have the original box.
Ged, on October 23rd, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Check out Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein in the video!
Lawrence, on October 23rd, 2009 at 5:45 pm
I still have one with the original software AND I still have parts to fix them. As a matter of fact I probably have one of the biggest boneyard collections of 1G and 2G iPods. Just cant seem to throw the little guys out LOL
iPod Fix It, on October 23rd, 2009 at 7:36 pm
Jonathan Ive is pure Genius!
iPodzPWNZUne, on October 23rd, 2009 at 8:45 pm
Mine was a 60GB third generation Ipod Photo… It was fat and heavy in comparison with the actual ones.. and not ideal for go running
… but I loved it!
Lisandro Grassini, on October 23rd, 2009 at 10:43 pm
Oh, the nostalgia! How I miss my first iPod. I got a 2gen iPod for a Christmas present completely out of the blue (had barely heard of them and yet my dad knew I wanted one). Once I went back to school after break it seemed that everyone had gotten one too. Oh how I miss it with it’s scroll wheel. Even though it died, I wish I had saved it, even just to hold it and play with the scroll wheel. I bet now I could have fixed it, but back then I was new to the whole fixing hardware thing.
kb, on October 24th, 2009 at 6:49 am
My first one was the first generation Shuffle. I initially bought another mp3 player with the same (or even greater) storage size for half the prize only to realize at home that its horrible user experience won’t make me happy.
So I went back to the store and said it doesn’t work and bought my Shuffle. Not only I loved the simple design and blindly clickable buttons. When I installed iTunes I realised that there is something called Podcasts. Video-Podcasts made me buy my second iPod 32GB with Video.
And this christmas I will buy my first mac. It will be a 27” iMac and I will use it with EyeTV as my main tv set. I’m still hating Apples pricing policy, but I sure love their hardware. I have surrendered.
Jan from Berlin, on October 25th, 2009 at 9:01 am
I remember the first gen ipod i had. I was always in love with mac products, so when it came out, I knew I had to try it out. I always enjoyed the moving wheel. Now on my ipod classic, the wheel just does not give me the satisfaction the first gen did. I can’t believe I got around with only 1000 songs in my pocket, instead of 11,000.
Jenny G., on October 25th, 2009 at 11:47 pm
Wow, 8 years has surely made a big difference in the world of music lovers. And the iPod has surely evolved for the better! Thanks for posting this article, it brought back memories
iPod Classic Round Up, on October 27th, 2009 at 1:02 am