I don't think Apple ever claimed they were first. There were mp3-players in the late 90s, up against SONYs MD-players, for instance.

And the principle of operation was used by several mp3-manufacturers. The first mass produced one came in 1997, and the Rio came in 1998. Here's the 1998 Rio:

The iPod came in October of 2001, but something else came in January of that year, which was the true disruptive technology that would rocket the iPod to its category leadership position: iTunes Music Organizing Software, which was distributed for free, and which is the true innovation here.

January 2001 - iTunes Software

October 2001 - iPod

October 2003 - iTunes Store

The rest is history.

And you're also wrong there: iTunes wasn't terribly that innovative.  They bought it off another company and reworked the front, that's all. 

 I think it was really their organization and the way both products seamlessly worked together that made them popular.  Anyone who tried to use a mp3 player, even well after the iPod's debut, would know how frustrating/annoying it was.

greg

Sometimes one ends up discussing angels on the head of a pin, I guess.

I seem to remember writing that it was the interaction of these items that provided the innovation? The fact that Apple had the computer, the software, the music playback unit, and subsequently also provided the music download.

The rest is history.

To keep these posts short, there's little reason to go into nitty-gritty detail. Apple bought SoundJamMP and redesigned it, adding CD-ripping (which was the whole point, getting people to move their music into their computers), and also removing the recording feature, since that would be in contravention of the agreement Apple had/has with Apple Records.

Tomorrow, Apple launches a new visualizer for iTunes, also purchased from an outside source.