Yesterday, my dad picked up a new iPod. He called me to ask what sort of video files it can play. I wasn’t sure — outside of the movies and videos you can buy at the iTune store — because I haven’t bought a new iPod since July 2004. It’s true: I don’t even have a color display on the thing. Just 9,000 songs or so.
Dad went on to complain about the lack of “stuff” that accompanied the purchase. “There’s no dock, no cables, nothing! It’s just some slim little box, instead of that big one that folded out and had all the other accessories!”
I said, “Dad, tell yourself this: ‘I just bought a 30gig player with a color display, full video, and a 13-hour battery, for $249.’ Then ask yourself what $249 would’ve gotten you a few years back.”
He conceded that it was a mighty impressive amount of stuff for a lot less cash.
Just to keep things in perspective, here’s a piece from an article about Toshiba’s 100gb drive for iPod-sized players:
Toshiba first developed a 1.8-inch drive in 2000. The device, which was at the time the highest capacity such drive available, could hold up to 2GB of data and cost around $740. Today the drives have not only risen in capacity but also fallen in price to the point where an Apple iPod, which includes an 80GB drive and color screen, costs $349.