Apple's Best Product Ever

Cnet's Steve Guttenberg asks, "What is Apple's best product ever?", and nominates the iPod Classic:

[The iPod Classic is] "perfect" in the sense it can't really be improved. The Classic does exactly what it was originally designed to do: offer great sound in a small, easy-to-use design at an affordable price.

My vote? The 3rd generation iPod. It exemplified a near-perfect combination of usability, corporate philosophy, and futurism. Join me--won't you?--for a little Saturday reminiscing?

I'll be right back.
Growing up in the 90s, I experienced few technology revolutions. Everything that was had seemingly always been: color TV, portable gaming systems (Gameboy), CDs and portable CD players. Even DVDs were just the film equivalent of CDs. Technology had lost its magic. I don't recall the first Graphical User Interface inspiring the same sense of curiosity and revulsion in the general population as did, say, the first camera. It may have, but I doubt it.

LCD TVs were the first devices to capture the magic of technology. I still recall the late-90s Phillips commercial featuring the first flat-screen LCD TV. You could hang it on a wall! (Or the ceiling if you want to watch low-resolution fireworks and have more money than sense.) And I remember visiting Circuit City (am I showing my age?) and seeing a 10-inch, hand-held LCD TV with coaxial input that retailed for $999.  I had seen the future, and it sort of worked (so long as you were near a power outlet).

Then along came the third generation iPod. The first generation was Mac-exclusive, and the second generation was a cumbersome 5 GB brick. The third generation revolutionized the portable music world. It was compact. Its interface was touch-sensitive. The buttons glowed red. The back was a mirrored metal. No more skipping or scratched CDs; no more scouring the house for AA batteries; no more carrying your entire CD case for diversified listening. Turning the device on for the first time inspired a sense of having just received a device from the future. It was enchanting.

Granted, the bundled Music Match software dulled the futuristic illusion. At least, it dulled my expectations of the future: thinking that people of the future still had to deal with tedious software made the future less glamorous, like realizing future societies may live in glass skyscrapers with clean-running hover cars, but people still fart. (Unless our sentient homes discourage that kind of behavior. Do you think AI homes will call people out on that kind of thing? Or will they adapt to avoid Odd Couple-type scenarios? I can see the government mandating that AI software encourage ideal behavior in people--like saying 'please' to Siri or she won't answer you. But if Siri treated my farts the way my ex did, I would throw her out the fraking window!)

Back to the iPod. By Mr. Guttenberg's standard (which I agree is the best standard to use here), the third generation iPod was the best Apple product. Its monochrome display did what it needed to do: show you the contents of your device and let you navigate. The processor was sufficient to scroll through without lag (which cannot be said for later iterations). It was light, compact, and the 8-hour battery life was enough to get through the whole day while listening. And few casual listeners at that time had more than the iPod's 15 GB capacity of music.

And the extras! Apple bundled an elegant and functional carrying case, remote control, and dock with the iPod. Today, all you get is an Apple sticker and tiny piece of micro-fiber cloth as extras. This was when Apple cared more about the ultimate user experience than dollars and cents. At least, they don't achieve their present 40% margins by including unnecessary but desirable extras. I'm surprised they still include headphones.

My third generation iPod has long since given up the ghost. For portable listening I use my iPhone or a fifth generation iPod (which has outlasted two iPod touches). I overwhelmingly prefer the old iPod to any other listening device. Its un-networked nature prevents distraction while listening. Many blissful afternoons have been spent with a bottle of wine, the iPod, and a set of Audio Technica headphones (for the budget-conscious snob, of course).