The iPod: 'A Quantum Leap in Listening'

The iPod wasn't the first player to offer music on the go- remember the Walkman? And it wasn't the firsr portable MP3 player. But the impact is undeniable. Lauched in 2001, the iPod represents one of the signal musical events of the decade that's coming to a close. When it was introduced, Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, stood in front of a San Francisco audience wearing hsi trademark jeans and black turtleneck, and said, " To have your whole music library with you at all times is a quantum leap in listening to music."

Despite its steep initial price and problems with its batteries the iPod took off, selling more than 225 million units to date. Now, when a candiate runs for office, he or she had better be prepared for the inevitable question. During the presidential campaign in 2008, both Barack Obama and John McCain were asked to reveal their IPod playlists. When Obama met the Queen of England, he gave her an iPod. But eight years after the first Ipod, this one included videos and photos. Now there's the iPod Touch and iPhone, which can cooncet directly to the Internet. And that just makes the regular old iPod as obsolete as the Walkman.

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