Ten years ago, today, Apple introduced the iPod for sale.
Macworld magazine liked it. I remember not knowing if I wanted one or not… but my superintendent bought some on the first day at the computer store (Capitol Mac here in Richmond.)
He gave me one.
I carried the Capitol Mac bag home. It was a fond memory — I remember feeling well-cared for to be given one of these new gadgets. “What am I to do with it?”
“See what potential it has for education!”
And so I did.
In the photo above, taken today with my iPhone 4S (FaceTime camera isn’t as jazzy as the one on the back), I am holding the original iPod I received 10 years ago. It later got given back to the school division, and our media specialists used it as a backup drive.
One in particular told me it didn’t work anymore. “Should I throw it away?”
I took it from her.
It turns out her cable was bad. The iPod was fine.
I’ll have to find a 400->800 Firewire adapter to charge and sync it. 10 years. Wow. Time has flown. And so many things that fit in your hand just as easily have been developed.
If anything, being given this iPod was inspirational for me. I cared enough to keep it, ten years later. Sometimes objets d’technologie can be good investments if they inspire the end users. Building and designing things we want to touch, use, and own is a powerful enterprise. We shouldn’t ignore the affective nature of the tools we use. It can affect the work we do, for sure.