[Macworld]

Post your comments for The iPod as an iconic cultural force here

[kennethlawson]

A brief history covering a icon, very well done.
The Ipod is in a class by itself. There were Mp3 players, before the IPod, and they are largely forgotten by now, sitting in dusty collections in the bottom draws of desks of geeks gone by. The MP3 plays since then, have been for the most part, "Also Rans" and never quite got the respect and love the IPod had earned.
Ken Lawson

[hardmanb]

It seems that now the iPod cannot be mentioned without some comment concerning its "short" life, and/or declining sales. That may be true insofar as "stand alone" iPod units...but one must also remember that that the heart of the iPod...what makes it an iPod...is the iTunes software. And there is still an "iPod" inside every iPad, every iPhone...and technically, every Mac. In this sense, the iPod is still alive and doing well, and selling in ever increasing numbers.

[dominiquejames]

Here's one for the white buds!

[schmeli]

hardmanb, on 23 October 2011 - 09:27 AM, said:

It seems that now the iPod cannot be mentioned without some comment concerning its "short" life, and/or declining sales. That may be true insofar as "stand alone" iPod units...but one must also remember that that the heart of the iPod...what makes it an iPod...is the iTunes software. And there is still an "iPod" inside every iPad, every iPhone...and technically, every Mac. In this sense, the iPod is still alive and doing well, and selling in ever increasing numbers.

Last paragraph:

"The digital media revolution first promised—and delivered—by the iPod 10 years ago lives on in a new generation of world-changing Apple products. In that way, the iPod’s story will continue for years to come."

[Speed_Racer]

I think number 3 is a little unfair. Except for the capacity and perhaps battery issues, the "soundtrack of our lives" arrived with the advent of personal audio in the Sony Walkman two decades earlier. And portable CD players and presumably other mp3 players had a shuffle mode.