A Look Back On The Many Generations of Apple’s iPod Lines
Before the iPhones and iPads of today there were the iPods, who much like the Neanderthals that paved the way for homo sapiens the iPod paved the way for the iPhone. The reason why iPods have fallen out of the public mind is also similar to what happened to the Neanderthals of old. The iPhone and its many subsequent generations had more functionality while having all the functionality of the iPods. Although the iPod would not die out like the Neanderthals did instead it would evolve into many different things over the years alongside the iPhone albeit with much less of a spotlight that the iPhone was now enjoying.
In case you are unfamiliar with the original iPods or it has been a decade since you last used one it is important to remember why the iPod came into existence. Before the iPod, the main way of listening to music was in disc form on a much larger portable CD player. On top of carrying the CD player you also needed to lug around actual CDs of the music you wanted to listen to. This all changed in 2001 when Apple release the iPod for 400$ which had 5GB or 10GB of storage which for the time was a decent amount of space one of the marketing taglines was “1,000 songs in your pocket”. For context, the last iPod which released in late 2009 under the name iPod Classic had a capacity of 160GB. When I say the last iPod, I mean the last iPod with a similar shape and design to the original 2001 iPod, there were offshoots of the iPod which were cheaper and looked radically different. The 4 offshoots are the iPod Mini, which was a slimmer version of the iPod, the shuffle which had no screen, the Nano which was a smaller version of the iPod and, the touch which looked like an iPhone.
The jumps in technology and capabilities in the original line of iPods was quite impressive for the time. From generation 1 to generation 2 the storage size increased going from 5–10GB to 10GB-20GB. A year later in 2003 going up to 40GB, in 2005 it was increased to 60GB, and ending with 160GB in 2009. Of course, storage size was not the only major improvement that the generations of iPod included, from color displays to touch based controls each generation built off the discoveries of prior generations by refining techniques and menus. One of the most visibly noticeable changes was the slow increase of the screen size which culminated in the fifth generation which included the ability to play video an addition which would influence future devices like the iPhone and iPad.
Introduced in 2004 was the iPod mini which is exactly as it sounds a slimmer version of the original iPod. While being smaller its storage size was also smaller with the first generation only having 4GB to 6GB of storage and retailing from 200–250$. This was also the first time we saw apple create colored iPods which would become a staple of the brand in future products. The original colors were silver, gold, blue, pink, and green while the previous iPod Classics only came in black or white. However, the iPod mini is one of shortest branches on the iPod tree as it only saw a second generation a year later in 2005 which saw minimal improvements mainly in the buttons design.
The iPod shuffle in my opinion is the strangest of all the iPod offshoots which is mainly due to the lack of a screen and in the third generations case buttons. The original shuffle which released in 2005 was meant to be a cheaper lower budget option for people to use. Having only between 512MB and 1GB the storage was limited and relied on downloaded playlists from iTunes to play music. The TV remote shaped device was definitely a divergence from the device’s apple had designed up to this point. The second generation changed the shape of the shuffle to a small rectangle with a small increase in space to 1GB-2GB. Where things got weird with the shuffle was the third generation which came out in 2009 and increased size to 4GB, the third generation had one switch and a headphone port. The switch had 3 positions off, play in order, and shuffle and relied on the earbuds to pause and play skip and go back. The shuffle would see a fourth generation which saw a return to the second-generation shape although this time in a square shape and reduction to 2GB of space and buttons back on the device.
The last iPod which held the most similarity to the original iPod was the iPod nano which is also the one I used the most growing up having owned several personally. The Nano was also the longest surviving branch of the iPod tree going from 2006 to 2015 spanning seven generations of iteration and changes. The first generation looks like a cross between the shape of a mini and the design of the iPod while being smaller than the mini having 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB options. The second generation remained very similar although it had a storage size increase and color options. The third generation which released in 2007 had a few interesting changes including the ability to play video on its dramatically increased screen size due to the more square shaped device and, increase in storage space. For the fourth generation we saw a return to the rectangle shape although with a bigger focus on screen size as well as an accelerometer which was utilized by this generation’s “shake” feature. The 5th generation further increased the size of the screen while including a camera and microphone which 8GB and 16GB version available. For the sixth generation the team must have confused the nano with the shuffle as the 6th generation adopted the shape of the shuffle while replacing the surface of the device with a touch screen. Lastly the final generation of iPod nano which released in 2012 looks like a mini iPhone by having a one home button below a large screen with several apps. These apps included music, video, fitness apps, podcasts, photo and, radio.
After the iPhone launched in 2007 a year later Apple released the iPod touch which in essence it merely an iPhone with not cellular capabilities. While this device carries the name iPod it is more similar to an iPhone than any of the previous iPod products. The iPod touch is still an active product line with its last generation (generation 7) released in May of 2019.
On a more personal note when I think back to the days when I used to listen to my iPod nano on long car rides, I look back in fondness at how simple these devices used to be. While simple they were effective and easy to use devices that even an 8-year-old me could use them with ease. I recall exploring all the setting menus and learning cool little things hidden in the settings like how one of the iPod classic’s my dad had contained a secret brick breaker game in the settings that I loved to play.
