The first iPod

The iPod's only been around a decade, but its iterations and variations are numerous. Check out the iPod's most memorable moments.

October 2001 - 5GB, $399

A 5GB hard drive. Ten hours of battery life. A 160x128-pixel, LED-backlit black-and-white screen. Twenty minutes of antiskip protection. Back when Apple first debuted the iPod on October 23, 2001, those specs seemed pretty good, although $399 was pricey indeed compared with the Nomad and other MP3 jukeboxes. Also, this new iPod only worked with FireWire, and needed a Mac to pair with its software program, iTunes. I bought one because I thought carrying 1,000 songs in my pocket was exciting, at least more so than lugging my portable CD player around. If you were bored, spinning the physical scroll wheel around never ceased to be hypnotizing. It's a shame that giant FireWire port sat exposed on the top, though.