Tech: Ten Years of iPod

Yesterday, the Apple iPod had a birthday. This little "deck-sized" music device that went on to change the world in more than one way, turned 10 years old. The magnitude of this birthday can be felt in digital media, recorded music and home video. But none more than through the lens of the recent death of Steve Jobs.

Those ten years ago on October 23rd 2001, in a low-key setting on Apple Headquarters in their town hall, Steve set to redefining an entire industry. The iPod would allow anyone to carry music with them, transforming music from a group experience to a deeply personal experience. Along with the iPod came iTunes. Simply and easily you would connect your iPod to that software that Apple had developed, and just a few short years later would be home to the Music Store, Podcasts and the App Store.

I could go on for paragraphs about the importance this family of products has meant to Apple and to the world, that Steve brought us. But I think the ultimate revelation would be the simple realization that without the iPod, even more so than the iMac or Mac OS X. Without the iPod we would never have had the iPhone, iPod Touch or the iPad, something had to come first.