Before we could stream any song off of YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Music, people had to physically bring their music with them. Listeners on the go would walk around with cases containing different cassette tapes or CD's. Strapped around their waist would either be a Walkman or Discman. The Sony Walkman TPS-L2 was released in July of 1979. The Walkman enabled people to listen to their music privately while in public. The Boombox was considered portable music, but it could be considered a pain to those who aren't a fan of what is being played.
Cassette were phased out after the invention of the CD. Sony released the Discman in 1984 allowing people who chose the alternative to cassettes to listen on the go. The MP3 Player was released in 1998, having a major impact on how we listen to music today. With the MP3, people didn't have to cary hardcopies of their music with them everywhere that they went.
The MP3, the Sony SPH-M100 (2000) or first mobile phone with music playing capabilities, and the iPod (2001) could be plugged into a computer and music could be loaded onto the device. Today, our Smart Phones carry all of our music, but prior to the iPhone there was one of Apple's highest selling tech devices: The iPods.
The iPod originally came out in October of 2001. Since the release of the 1st Generation iPod, there have been over 14 generations of iPods release. These iPods have different designs to meet each person's music device needs.
The 1st Generation iPod was a brick that held 5GBs worth of music. They then introduced the iPod mini in 2004 which was a more compact device that offered listeners more pocket space. Another model called the Shuffle was released for those listeners who wanted their music while exercising. This was a very small device that could easily fit in the pocket or on the waist band of a runner. The Shuffle was named so because it didn't have a screen, so you could only listen on shuffle.
The iPod Nano was another model. This one was smaller than the 1st Generation, could hold a good amount of songs, and had a screen. The Nano would become one of the more popular models and have several make-overs. The circular button on the front would later be replaced by a touch screen in its 7th Generation, and its 5th generation would have a video camera.
In September 2007 the iPod Touch was released. The Touch is an iPod that has a large screen and the ability to search the web. It would later get front and back facing cameras and upgrade on its storage and processing chips. In June of the same year, Apple had already released the iPhone. Today, 47% of cell phone users in the US are iPhone users.
I would consider the iPhone to be the new iPod, and I would believe Apple's innovators would agree. The iPhone is multiple devices in one. One of those devices apart of the iPhone is the iPod. On apple.com, there is no tab available to find the iPod. If you wanted to purchase one you would have to use the site's search bar.
The reason that I provided a brief history of portable music was to highlight the amount of innovation portable music seen in such a short time. We went from cassettes to CD's, CD's to MP3's, MP3's to iPods, and iPods to iPhones.
The iPod was only a short stint along this journey from the Walkman to the iPhone, but we still see so many features in our Smart Phones, iPhone or Android, that came from Apple's iPod. Obviously, the iPod is a feature within the iPhone via the music application.
iTunes used to be where iPod users could purchase music and other media using their desktop. This application still exists, but the streaming era has hurt this part of Apple because people can stream music instead of purchase the song.
Access to the internet as a feature in the iPod Touch is no doubt the most important iPod feature to be added. Even though the iPhone came out before and already had this feature, it gave kids who did not have a cell phone yet access to the internet from anywhere with Wi-Fi.
The biggest personal impact that the iPod and iTunes has had on me was its contribution to my taste in music. When I was really young, I didn't have money so I couldn't buy my own music. My parents iTunes libraries were available to me as well as their CD collection, but that was always their music. When my brother passed down his 2nd Generation iPod Touch, I used the internet to access YouTube and Pandora to find new music.
The iPod's internet feature allowed me to use Pandora to listen to a radio and stream artists full projects without having to pay for them. This was huge for me and many other kids around my age. While there are other major factors to why streaming is so big today, such as Napster, this feature of the iPod touch took listening to music to another level. Everybody streams music now. I couldn't tell you the last time I have actually purchased an album or song using iTunes.
As of now, streaming music on our iPhones seems like a pretty good resting point for the journey of portable music. I know change doesn't come over night, but I truly don't know how my music listening experience can improve looking at the device specifically.
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