Updated 11022022-191407
https://davidblue.wtf/ipodfor a very, very brief moment, I thought the device in the preview image was actually an iPod Shuffle First Generation (the USB stick one,) which just so happens to still be *my* all time favorite Apple content consumption hardware product. https://t.co/ZJCJ2GqPOf https://t.co/ewfS0Ieo0y pic.twitter.com/yH5s3wV2Sj
— ๐ ๐ ๐ฉ ๐ข ๐ (@NeoYokel) November 3, 2022
for a very, very brief moment, I thought the device in the preview image was actually an iPod Shuffle First Generation (the USB stick one,) which just so happens to still be my all time favorite Apple content consumption hardware product. https://davidblue.wtf/ipod
Order Number: M9724LL/A (512 MB)
Sorry Iโm so late with this but I forgot I had something to contribute lol.
My first and only dedicated mp3 player was a first-generation iPod Shuffle - which was not only the most elegant looking USB drive one could find at the time, but - imo - remains the single highest-value mainstream consumer tech product Iโve ever owned. It was a 512mb stick with playback controls and a 3.5mm audio jack at one end. From what I remember, you could just freely store any combination of non-media files and media files in the root separated by a single directory. I was in 5th grade (11 years old) at the time (2005,) and public schools were just beginning to suggest students invest in a flash drive for carrying/storing digital school assignments.
I say highest value because got dang was that thing handy. Idk if I can communicate it, really, but it unified so many functions into one very high quality (and extremely tough) device. (I accidentally put it through the wash at least 3 separate times and it never actually stopped working.) It even came with a lanyard attachment!
Idk if thereโs something wrong with me or what but Iโm especially sentimental about this thing because I remember wholeheartedly believing and anticipating tech to progress along these lines - design priorities that especially made sense to me. Clever, lean permutations/amalgamations of once single-function products....
I took that photo during a tech podcast years ago - I was doing this same anecdote lol. I find it to be the best idea Apple, Incorporated ever had and yet looking at the everymac page now, I see it was discontinued less than 9 months after it came out. :cry: