Apple's iPod was a digital media player (DMP) - a physical product with a screen and controls that integrated extraordinarily well with a desk top computer application and an internet service (iTunes). When it was released in late 2001 it quickly became the top selling device of its kind. By 2008 Apple's iPod classic and variations on it were generating 40% of Apple's total revenue before declining as Apple's iPhone and iPod touch made the iPod redundant.

The three iPod classics seen in conjunction with the first generation iPod classic (2013/101/1) illustrate the evolution of the product and the product interface; the changing method of activation from physically switched controls to touch and their arrangement on the face of the iPod from wheel to isolated elements and then integrated back into the wheel presents a neat study of the balancing act between using new technologies and restraining the form.

The iPod accumulated social cachet as it was avidly consumed by a new wave of digital admirers. It was incredibly attractive in its distinctive use of white and clear acrylic - it was also a joy to hold, touch and use. While there had been previous attempts to produce digital media devices, none had produced an elegant solution to the human / DMP interface. The astonishingly simple controls that Apple employed in their iPod resolved all the functions of the machine into five buttons and one scroll wheel which presented a friendly and intuitive interaction with the device. These controls facilitated easy access to music files through a simple organisation and display of the data hierarchy - allowing the user to locate and play a file in three steps.

Apple brought the iPod to market swiftly (developed within eight months of inception). It did so while the music industry flustered over peer to peer music sharing services which had sprung up in the late 1990s (Napster 1999-2001). With no solution to this new music distribution system - extraordinarily reticent considering the music industry had previously shown great savvy at adopting digital recording, mastering and product formats (Compact Disk) in the 1980s - Apple forged a deal with record companies to join their iTunes service to distribute files for iPods.

Looking at the way Apple develops products reveals their understanding of creativity and innovation, how existing ideas can be brought by refinement to perfection. While industry players were making attempts at portable media players, and music companies were struggling to accept and deal with new digital distribution models and systems, Apple took an idea and made it happen. Apple's diligence in perfecting and presenting an emerging technology to the public was again triumphant.

Campbell Bickerstaff, 2014