1,000 Songs In Your Pocket

10/23/24 • 12 min

1 Listener

When Steve Jobs took to the stage in Cupertino on 23rd October, 2001, he unveiled Apple’s first portable device: the iPod. As ever, his pitch was simple and on-point: "1,000 songs in your pocket."

But the iPod wasn't Jobs’s creation. Its concept came from Tony Fadell, an amateur DJ who’d grown frustrated by lugging his music collection to gigs. Apple saw the potential for a hardware system that could work as an entry-point to iTunes. By the time the iPod was eventually discontinued in 2022, over 450 million products had been sold, forever changing how people consume music.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly recall a world of "skip protection", CDs and FireWire cables; reveal how Jobs’ showmanship was just the tip of his deep involvement with the product; and explain how Apple delicately danced around concerns of music piracy...

Further Reading:

• ‘Apple’s ‘Breakthrough’ iPod’ (Wired, 2001): https://www.wired.com/2001/10/apples-breakthrough-ipod/

• ‘Apple Presents iPod’ (Apple Press Release, 2001): https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2001/10/23Apple-Presents-iPod/

• ‘iPod Launch Event’ (Apple, 2001): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN0SVBCJqLs

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When Steve Jobs took to the stage in Cupertino on 23rd October, 2001, he unveiled Apple’s first portable device: the iPod. As ever, his pitch was simple and on-point: "1,000 songs in your pocket."

Further Reading:

• ‘Apple’s ‘Breakthrough’ iPod’ (Wired, 2001): https://www.wired.com/2001/10/apples-breakthrough-ipod/

• ‘Apple Presents iPod’ (Apple Press Release, 2001): https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2001/10/23Apple-Presents-iPod/

• ‘iPod Launch Event’ (Apple, 2001): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN0SVBCJqLs

Love the show? Support us!

Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode each SUNDAY...

... Plus, get weekly bonus bits, and unlock over 100 bits of extra content.

Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Previous Episode

The Body in the Cellar

Arion, Rebecca and Olly investigate the story of Dr. Hawley Crippen, convicted of murdering his wife, music hall performer Cora Crippen, on 22nd October, 1910.

Cora’s corpse had been discovered in their Holloway cellar - but homoeopath Crippen had fled to America with his lover Ethel Lenev dressed as a boy. However, the Captain of the SS Montrose became suspicious of their behaviour, and wirelessly telegraphed Scotland Yard to arrest the pair upon arrival in Canada.

In this episode, the Retrospectors explore how it was Lenev’s love for Cora’s jewellery that initially raised suspicion; consider how technology enabled the media to closely cover the case, turning it into a sensational story as it unfolded in real-time; and question the description of the couple piously parroted in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography...

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rerun: Mr Blobby made his anarchic television debut on 24th October, 1992, in a new segment called “Gotcha” on the hugely popular BBC show Noel’s House Party.

The googly eyed, perma-grinning, yellow and pink character was an immediate hit, selling masses of merchandise to British kids and adults alike. At the height of Blobbymania, Mr Blobby released a No. 1 UK single and spawned four theme parks around the country.

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly defend Mr Blobby against the haters; speculate on how he became an inadvertent victim of his own success; and marvel at what can be achieved with a lot of alcohol and just five minute of doodling...