iPod 25th Anniversary: The $399 Storage Cost

Apple marked the 25th anniversary of the first iPod on October 23, 2026. Steve Jobs introduced the device to the public on the same date in 2001. He described it as a breakthrough digital device that was not a Mac. The player sold for $399 and offered 5GB of storage.

The hardware relied on a 1.8-inch hard drive from Toshiba. The drive measured 0.2 inches thick. The full unit measured 2.4 by 4 by 0.78 inches. It weighed 6.5 ounces. Jobs noted that this weight was lighter than most cell phones of that era. The device included a rechargeable lithium-polymer battery. This battery provided 10 hours of continuous playback. An empty battery could reach 80% charge in one hour.

Jobs selected music as the primary market for the product. He stated that the market lacked a clear leader in digital music. Companies like Creative, Sonic Blue, and Sony already sold portable players. Jobs argued that none of them had found the recipe for digital music. The iPod supported MP3, WAV, and AIFF file formats. It offered CD-quality sound. The 5GB storage capacity held approximately 1,000 pop songs encoded at 160Kbps. Jobs called this amount equivalent to a person's entire music library.

The company emphasized speed and design in its marketing. The player connected via a FireWire 400 cable. Jobs claimed this connection transferred a full CD in five to 10 seconds. USB connections of the time took about five minutes for the same transfer. Filling the device with 1,000 songs took about 10 minutes over FireWire. The same process took five hours over USB. The interface featured an accelerated scroll wheel. This wheel used a piezoelectric clicker for tactile feedback. Users could navigate playlists, artists, or songs with one hand.

The launch included the release of iTunes 2. This software version added MP3 CD burning capabilities. It also supported automatic syncing with the iPod. Libraries curated on a Mac would match the player during data transfers. The device could also function as a FireWire hard drive. The first track played on stage was Building a Mystery by Sarah McLachlan.

The iPod remained a core Apple product for many years. The first iPhone arrived in early 2007. The two devices shared the product lineup for over a decade. The iPod line eventually faded as smartphones matured. Apple released the seventh-generation iPod Touch in May 2019. This was the final model in the series. The line sat unmaintained for three years. Apple officially discontinued the iPod in May 2022.