Apple changed the portable music player world in 2001 with the launch of the original iPod. It wasn’t the first portable MP3 player by a long shot – Internet folklore still remembers early criticism like this post on Slashdot (by CmdrTaco himself): “No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame.”

“Nomad” refers refers to Creative’s Nomad series of portable MP3 players. The Nomad Jukebox, the latest entry in the series at the time, had just come out in late 2000 and had 6GB of storage – one more than the iPod.
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