Apple's 2001 iPod launch priced 1,000 songs at $399

Apple set the price for a pocket-sized music library at $399 when Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPod on October 23, 2001. The device held approximately 1,000 MP3 songs on a 5GB hard drive. This pricing strategy positioned the player against a fragmented market of CD players, flash drives, and jukeboxes, where Jobs argued no competitor had yet found a successful formula for digital audio.

The launch coincided with a financial upswing for Apple following the dot-com bubble burst. The company had moved beyond its beige-box hardware era with the success of the iMac and Mac OS X. Jobs positioned the Mac as a central hub for digital media, including cameras and portable music devices. He identified music as the primary target market because it was universally popular and lacked a dominant player, despite existing products from Creative, Sonic Blue, and Sony.

The hardware relied on a 1.8-inch, 0.2-inch-thick drive manufactured by Toshiba. The resulting device measured 2.4 by 4 by 0.78 inches and weighed 6.5 ounces. Jobs noted that the weight was less than that of most mobile phones at the time. The player supported MP3, WAV, and AIFF file formats with CD-quality audio. A rechargeable lithium-polymer battery provided 10 hours of playback and could reach 80% charge in one hour.

Connectivity was a key differentiator. The iPod used a single FireWire 400 cable for both charging and data transfer. Jobs claimed this connection moved a full CD onto the device in five to 10 seconds. In contrast, standard USB connections of the era required roughly five minutes for the same task. Transferring 1,000 songs took about 10 minutes via FireWire, compared to five hours over USB. The interface featured an accelerated scroll wheel with a piezoelectric clicker for tactile feedback, allowing users to navigate by playlist, artist, or song.

The release paired with the launch of iTunes 2, which introduced MP3 CD burning and automatic syncing. Libraries curated on a Mac would synchronize with the iPod upon connection. The device also functioned as an external FireWire hard drive. The first track demonstrated during the presentation was Sarah McLachlan's "Building a Mystery."

The iPod line remained in Apple's catalog alongside the iPhone, which debuted in early 2007. The two products coexisted for more than a decade. The final model, the seventh-generation iPod Touch, arrived in May 2019. Apple left the line unmaintained for three years before officially discontinuing it in May 2022.