The iPod Turns 10: How It Shaped Music History

Though the Apple Store memorials have since given way to long lines for the iPhone 4S, it's still difficult to imagine the technology company without Steve Jobs at its helm. And while much has been written about the gadgets that defined perhaps Jobs' most productive decade, it's tough to isolate one device for its impact above the rest.

But this Sunday marks 10 years since the keynote that announced the iPod—a device that started the chain of successes in an Apple renaissance, and one that completely redefined the experience of listening to music, as well as making it.

Jobs and his team at Apple seized a moment as much as created a culture with the iPod.

Though the specter of the internet and the high-speed connections that made MP3s available and largely free of charge had already reared its head by the late 1990s, the music industry itself had been slow on the uptake.

It wasn't until the year 2000 that record companies—and famously, Metallica—filed their first lawsuits against Napster, accusing the service of robbing musicians of their royalties. By that time, file sharing had become an unstoppable force, and the music industry was scrambling; but importantly, it was still an unwieldy process to steal music.

Mismatched file names and catalogs of thousands of songs almost negated the value of having a library larger than your record (or CD) collection.

Category: Android