In the beginning, there was iPod. A mechanic scroll wheel, and four buttons surrounding it. A white plastic front, a chrome back. An uncovered FireWire port, a headphone jack and a Hold switch. A black and white screen. And a 5GB hard drive. The whole contraption was famously touted as being capable of holding “A thousand songs in your pocket”.
iPod certainly sparked something, something that began to grow as the second generation was introduced (touch wheel, Windows compatibility, calendar and todos, FireWire port cover) and especially later, when the third generation came. The third generation arrived in tandem with the (then US-and-Mac-centric) iTunes Music Store. In many aspects, it was unlike any of its predecessors. Every button and control, except for the Hold switch, was solid-state, and the primary buttons were outsourced to a row between the display and the scroll wheel. It had a conventional headphone jack with a few extra ‘remote’ pins, and the FireWire port was gone, in favor of the famed Dock connector, named for the standalone Dock that was bundled with the top model. The connector could take USB2 and FireWire at the same time - something that was needed for charging, as not many USB2 ports supplied the needed juice and so the FireWire AC adapter was used.
A third-generation iPod is what I have. I bought it just following Christmas 2003, and it took a long time to get delivered because Apple decided to bump all 10GB models to 15GB models at the MacWorld Expo early 2004. (Thanks.) It was the third generation of iPods that brought the iPod family across the one million mark.
In mid-2004, the, by some means, smallest iPod revision in history was announced. The fourth generation iPod looked mostly the same, but with two differences. The buttons were back in the Click Wheel contraption, tested and proved neat in the earlier iPod mini, and the screen highlight was a cheaper blue sort. Unlike the second generation iPod (the only other minor revision to warrant a new ‘generation’ before it), there was more or less one new software addition - the Shuffle Songs menu choice which ruthlessly shuffled through every single one of your songs, much to the dismay of owners of early FM adapters, whose frequencies were set by playing specific songs (two other minimal changes were made: speed adjustment of audiobooks and saving of multiple On-The-Go lists). No models included docks or remote controls - the first iPod line to do so after the introduction of docks.
Later that year, the iPod photo was introduced. A color screen first that could also show photos and play back slideshows on a TV or other external screen via a composite cable plugging into the headphone port (or the S-Video port on the supplied dock). This was in mid-2005 turned into the main iPod line, sans docks and cables and other goodies.
However, it’s now fall 2005 and our journey stops here. As you can see, the “classic”, big white iPod has seen some draught lately. Apple has been focusing on new branches of the iPod family - like the late iPod mini (just replaced by the easily-scratched and insanely small iPod nano) and the stick-shaped iPod shuffle, similar to a pack of gum both in size and functionality. But where does that leave the users of “white iPod”?
“Not satisfied” is one phrase coming to mind. “Waiting for more” and “neglected” are two more. The big iPod photo model, launched not yet a year ago, sported a 60GB hard drive. A lot of people have a lot more music than that (my family hawks 95GB just of converted CDs and LPs - no iTMS purchases, no “pirated music”). It’s easy to excuse Apple by saying that the iPod nano is “very very neat”, and that the iPod shuffle is “minimalist bliss”. However, that doesn’t change the fact that the white iPod seems to have been neglected lately, and it does nothing to increase the comparatively miniscule storage in any iPod.
The second and third generations broke new ground by being able to interface with Windows computers and having their own music store launched. With the latest big addition to the white iPod coming a year ago with the color screen - the only thing your newly bought iPod can do today that the iPod photo couldn’t a year ago is to play “Podcasts” - people are hungry for new features. Video. New games. Wireless synchronization. Improved Contacts display (photos). Much-needed support for other file formats, like OGG Vorbis and possibly WMA.
However, in an age where a “Shuffle Songs” shortcut item in the main menu is a bullet in the major improvements list on the Apple.com teaser, and the whole thing is justified by the slogan “The iPod. Remixed.”, expectations are gloomy.
Still, I’m holding out for a good reworking and a new top-of-the-line white iPod on Wednesday’s “Special Event”. Apple, do what you haven’t done since the iPod photo - wow me.