I have a confession to make: my first mp3 player was not an iPod, but rather a 256MB Creative Muvo TX FM--it had FM radio! I eventually graduated to a 40GB Sony NW-HD5 Network Walkman. The hardware was great and the player lasted me a few years, but it was an absolute nightmare to get music to sync up with it because of Sony's inability to make proper software. Frustrated, I ditched it for a 60GB Creative Labs Zen Vision: M.
Then came the realization that I was doing it wrong. On my first day on the job here at Mac|Life, Reviews Editor Ray Aguilera made the comment that my mp3 player looked like a garage door opener. When I could no longer get the software to sync music to my device, I threw my hands up in the air, drove out to the Apple Store, and finally succumbed to a 32GB third-generation iPod touch. I haven't looked back since. The touch is my portable gaming and music-listening device, and I also have a hand-me-down 8GB nano that resides in my car. I'm eventually planning on upgrading to one of the recent generations of the touch, especially now that I'm starting to see some slow downs with the recent iOS 5 upgrade.
So, yes, I just took you on a walk down memory lane. But what I'm trying to say is this: the iPod is it. It's the portable music playback device that to has done it right from the get-go, much like how the original Sony Walkman and Discman set the precedent before. While I don't exactly have any cake or candles to celebrate the iPod's 10th birthday, I do have some free apps for you for hanging out with your iPod. Give it some love today. Remember that before the iPhone and the iPad, before iOS was even conceived, there was the click-wheel to rule them all.
I love this app. It scrobbles every song I listened to on both my iPod touch and nano while I was away from the computer, and it helps me keep a database of music I like to listen to. I still use Last.fm as my "station" when I'm nowhere near my own music, so this is a nice way to make sure that it stays attuned to what I'm listening to lately. Oh, and it's kind of cool to let my friends know what I've been listening to with an automatic weekly blog post published to my Tumblr page.
Zamzar is a web service that converts YouTube videos to files that you can upload onto your iPod touch (or other iOS devices). While it might not always be the best quality, it is a fun little utility to get that Corgie On a Treadmill video you're so obsessed with watching over and over onto your music device. At least this way you can watch it whenever you need a pick-me-up, without having to access it over the internet.
It takes a bit of trickery to set this up, but if you merely use your shuffle for working out, you might not want deal with the intensive application that iTunes can be. Once you set it up, iPod Shuffle Database builder (which is Unix-based) lets you add songs to your device by dragging them to the device without even firing up iTunes. You'll need Python to make this app work.
brucealan
April 12, 2012 at 4:33am
The 256MB Creative Muvo TX FM is still the MP3 player I use all the time - especially at the gym. I feel so cool strapping on that neat little white box and rowing away. It has held up fine for 9 or 10 years now, and I even ordered a second one a few years ago just in case... It still sits in the box, waiting. I do have an ipod touch, but why would I use it at the gym? How many songs do I need? And why would I risk getting it covered with gym junk? Does anyone know where I can get the original armband holder? I couldn't find that anywhere, and I really could use a new one, or at least one just in case...
jsnowbordr47
October 22, 2011 at 1:09pm
Oh the dark days of pre-iPod MP3 players.lol My first was the Rave MP: 2200 by Sensory Science. Honestly, I think it was one of the best MP3 players on the market at the time. It had USB, Smart Media, and came with a whole 64MB of onboard memory. I could easily fit an entire music cd if I compressed around 112kbps. I loved that MP3 player and I still have it today, sometimes I'll use it just to see what people say.
My next one was their next model, the Rave MP: 2300. It was one of two players at the time (and I think maybe ever) that used the Iomega Pocket Zip/Click disks. Finally I could carry a bunch of relatively cheap memory since the disks were only $10 a piece. Only problem is, each disk was $40MB and my MP3 player only had 1 slot (I believe the Iomega version had 2 disk slots). And of course, I was too lazy to actually go out and look for the pocket zip disks (since they were discontinued shortly after). Looking back, I didn't think that purchase through, but it was only $150 on eBay.lol
Next I ditched mp3 players and went with a MP3 CD Player. Finally, I could bring a lot of MP3s easily and cheaply wherever I went. This actually worked for quite a while, until I got tired of swapping CDs.
I finally got my first iPod in 2004. It was a used 1st Gen 5GB iPod I got off of eBay for $50. It was definitely a conversation starter.lol
Next was my 5th Gen iPod. I was one of the first on campus to own one, and everyone wanted to look at it.lol
Next was the iPod Touch. I still remember, I returned to my office in the campus center and I opened my Powerbook G4, the screen showed the all new iPod Touch (I had missed the keynote stream). I immediately called my local Apple store. They said it would be a few weeks, but that they were authorized to sell them before the official sale date. I was able to get an 8GB model 3 weeks before it went on sale. I still remember the looks on peoples face when they saw my iPod Touch. No one on campus had one, and many had never even heard of it. I had a friend who wouldn't speak to me because he was so upset that I got one before him.
It's amazing. The MP3 player existed well before the iPod, but it was the iPod that really got the market going. You had so many brands, Creative, Sony, Sensory Science, Diamond, etc. With all those heavy hitters you'd have thought one of those would be top dog, but it was the new guy, Apple that came to dominate.lol
