![]() ![]() One of the realities of the iPad is that, for most customers, it is a personal video player for that particular use case the Apple Vision is superior in nearly every way. This little trip down memory lane offers one way to understand Apple’s latest product launch: one way to think about the Vision Pro is that it is the iPod to the iPad’s Diamond Rio. In fact, though, it was only five-and-a-half years before the iPod gave way to the iPhone: yes, Apple still sold standalone music players for a few more years, but one’s pocket only had room for so many devices, and the iPhone was not just an iPod but also a cellular phone and Internet communicator (whatever that was): ![]() It’s hard to imagine, now, but at the time the iPod era seemed to go from height to height, anchored by standalone Apple launch events for new models and iterations, complete with appearances from famous artists. That clarity was part of its allure: Apple had brilliantly paired the iPod with iTunes, offloading advanced playlist capabilities and library management to the computer, letting the iPod do what it did best. I did, like the nerd that I am, experiment with using my iPod as a hard drive, but even with the addition of video capabilities and basic games it was exactly what it promised to be: the best possible way to listen to music on the go. I can’t believe that I lived any other way! Two years after graduation I was in Taiwan and smitten with the recently released GarageBand, which led to my first Mac, and, not too long after, my first iPod. ![]() I certainly wasn’t going to pay $2,000 or whatever it cost to get a Mac and an iPod to have “1,000 songs in pocket”. Sure, I could only fit 20 songs or so (of course I bought the proprietary expansion memory card), but if I wanted more I could just sync with my computer. ![]() That Rio served me well all through college Apple shipped the first iPod my senior year, but it was Mac only, and besides, my Rio was good enough. My one small comfort in the cold Wisconsin winters, walking up and down Bascom Hill in the snow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was listening to music on my Diamond Rio. ![]()
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