It's Official: Apple Announces Portable MP3 Player Called The iPod & iTunes 2 (With Pic)

by , 2:30 PM EDT, October 23rd, 2001

Well folks, it's official. Apple's "breakthrough digital device" is a portable MP3 player. Better yet, it's saddled with the silly name of iPod. The company also announced iTunes 2, the next version of its Mac-only MP3 player.

The iPod, according to The Apple Store:

Holds over 1000 songs

Weighs just 6.5 ounces - fits in your pocket

Plays up to 10 hours with 20 minute skip protection

Auto synchronizes all your music with iTunes

Transfer a whole CD in less than 10 seconds

Charge with the included power adapter or over FireWire

Breakthrough UI with an innovative scroll wheel

60 mWatt amp powers high-fidelity sound earbuds

Ultra-slim 5-gigabyte drive doubles as a FireWire disk

The unit is priced at US$399, with the optional power supply priced at US$49. The unit will be shipping in early November.

iTunes 2 will also ship in November and will include compatibility with the iPod, an equalizer, and other new features.

The Mac Observer Spin:

OK, what the heck is going on here? This should have been billed as a "breakthrough MP3 player," not a "breakthrough digital device!" Certainly this is the finest portable MP3 player on the market (not counting size, as there are several devices on the market already that offer 6 GB to 20 GB of capacity), but it is hardly breaking new ground.

It's certainly not breaking any new ground in terms of price, either. Creative Labs' 6 GB Nomad units are priced at US$249, while the company's 20 GB drives are priced at US$399, the same price as Apple's 5 GB unit (Nomad pricing page). The Archos Jukebox 6000 starts at US$249, and that company's 20 GB unit is priced at US$369 (Archos pricing page). Those units are physically larger, are USB only (transferring 6 or 20 GB of data over USB is a slow process), and don't have some of the other niceties and features of Apple's iPod, but the iPod still seems overpriced to us.

Be that as it may, Apple has made a profitable career in offering better devices that cost more than the competition. No doubt there will be lots of grumbling (as in this very story) from lots of places, but Apple will still sell a lot of these units. The biggest danger in our opinion from Apple making such an announcement and pre-billing it as a "breakthrough digital device" is that people, the press, and analysts are much less likely to give a hoot the next time Apple does so.

Apple