ipod turns five...

and now for a non-baseball related post...
apple's ipod turns 5 today. you don't need me to tell you that the ipod has completely revolutionized the entire music listening public, much like, but more so than sony's walkman did in the 80's. my 3rd gen 40 gb ipod converted my rack of nearly 1,000 cd's to something as small as a deck of cards (minus the slick "iskin" i purchased for it). the ipod has also evolved a lot in the last 5 years, from a mac-only, music only device, to a mac-windows crossplatform, music, video, photo, nearly all-in-one entertainment system. i have resisted for now the urge to upgrade from my original ipod as it still performs the task of kicking out the jams like a trooper, and i have never felt the need for video and photos' on an ipod, but that will probably change at some point down the road. i dare say i probably use it's little brother, the 512 mb ipod shuffle, even more than than the full-size pod. read more from ipodlounge...

The original iPod, which cost $399, had a cutting-edge 1.8” 5GB hard drive that could be filled with high-speed FireWire connectivity, and used a brightly backlit 2-inch monochrome screen and innovative Scroll Wheel for control. It was about the size of a deck of cards, weighed 6.5 ounces, and worked only with Mac computers. “With iPod, listening to music will never be the same again,” Jobs said at the time. Almost no one believed the man, or understood why the iPod’s design was importantly different from previously released MP3 players, but his words turned out to be spot on.

Five years later, the iPod is now a true cultural icon, and has in fact changed the way the world listens to music—more than 69 million iPods are now in the hands of music fans around the globe. The iPod accounts for over 75% of all portable music players sold in the U.S, and is the leading such device in several other major countries. Over 3,000 iPod accessories are said to be available for purchase, while approximately 70% of the 2007 model year cars sold in the U.S. will offer direct iPod integration as an option. Apple’s iTunes Store continues to ring up sale after sale of music, movies and TV shows, with iTunes accounting for 85% of digital media purchased and downloaded in the U.S, and leading each of the markets in which it sells music worldwide. And neither the iPod or iTunes show any sign of slowing down.

now i still believe that apple has some hurdles to cross, particulary with respect to their embedded DRM technology on all tunes purchased from the itunes music store, but the ipod remains without question the digital music player standard to which all others are compared.