Don't look now, but the iPod—yes, the original, less-space-than-a-Nomad iPod—just turned 10 years old. That makes the device older than Facebook, YouTube, Crocs, Vibram FiveFingers, and the Motorola RAZR, to name a few brands and devices that have penetrated general culture over the last decade. But unlike old flip phones and tacky footwear, the iPod's overall design remains iconic and its effect on our consumption of music remains pervasive. It was not the first MP3 player on the market, but it was the one whose industrial and UI design would influence handheld gadgets for far longer than its product lifetime.

In fact, it's not hard to argue that the original iPod is still with us. It can be found most obviously in the iPod classic, but its influences are also found in iOS and even third-party smartphones and music players. Hell, even though the original iPod is 10 years old, you could almost still use it today as your go-to music player... or can you? Ars got its hands on an original 5GB iPod from back in 2001 so that we could re-review it with some 2011 flair—clickwheel and all.

Form factor and navigation

Let's face it: this thing is bulky. It was bulky in 2001 and it's still bulky now. Back then, the iPod was being compared against MP3 players with 4MB of built-in Flash memory and an external SD card slot. It was already bad enough then, but today, carrying around an original iPod in your pocket is almost akin to putting those velcro weights on your ankles and then riding a unicycle to work.

Okay, now we're just being mean. The iPod couldn't help being what it was in 2001, as hard drive based MP3 players were only starting to become popular. The thing is, aside from the obvious bulk in thickness, the iPod itself still feels decent in the hand—the width of the device is almost the same as an iPhone 4, a detail that makes us wonder whether Apple planned the iPhone this way.

The navigation on this thing is, well, very iPoddish. (iPodesque?) The click wheel, used to adjust volume and navigate playlists, was a new thing for Apple—and the rest of the music player world—in 2001 and despite its novel shape, it really appealed to the general public. Let's be honest: the click wheel is fun to play with. You can even flip the lock switch and then scroll around with abandon just for fun if you want to. (Not saying we did this but… we did.)

The idea that one might need to use the scroll wheel to navigate playlists was indeed novel when the iPod was first introduced and it worked well for many years—in fact, the iPod classic still does this (albeit without a moving click wheel), and up until 2010, so did the ever-popular iPod nano. Nowadays though, with the advent of fancy touchscreen music players built into our iPhones and Android devices, the concept seems old fashioned. That's okay though, because decade-old technology is allowed to be a little old fashioned as long as we can still use it intuitively, which we can.

Syncing

Shockingly, the latest version of iTunes (as of this writing) can still connect to and interface with the original iPod, assuming you have the right cable. I had to buy a special Firewire 800 to Firewire 400 cable (you can get one for $4.75 at Monoprice) in order to connect the iPod to my 27" iMac because, well, no one has Firewire 400 in a computer anymore. In fact, if I wanted to connect the iPod to an even newer and more minimalist machine—such as my 11" MacBook Air—well, it would be near impossible.

Regardless, when you plug in an original iPod to a modern version of iTunes, you can sync it just like you would a modern iPod, an iPhone, or iPad. In fact, the sync screen looks exactly the same, almost leading one to believe that the original iPod will continue to be supported for long after its current form factor (the iPod classic) is discontinued.

Durability

The word "durability" means something different today than it did in 2001. There were plenty of handheld electronics that could withstand a decent beating back then, but their moving parts still left them more vulnerable to disaster than many of their modern equivalents.

This is definitely the case with the original iPod. The device is a beast—it's near impossible to destroy to the same level as, say, a plastic Walkman cassette player—but its moving click wheel and "old fashioned" hard drive, spinning disk and all, mean that it can face some unpleasant realities. Over the years, we've seen many gunked-up click wheels and even more failed hard drives, so it's certainly a good thing that Apple has since moved onto static (if existent at all) click wheels and flash storage.

That said, a halfway-careful owner can keep an original iPod alive forever. The one we have in our possession was sent over by an Ars reader who took great care of his devices over the years, and this one is no different. Having spent its whole life inside of a leather case, there are almost no scratches on the front or back of the iPod and everything works as if it were still new. I have full confidence that, pending any catastrophic drops or possibly being run over by a car, this thing will easily last for another 10 years. Or until Apple ends iTunes support for it, whichever comes first.

Battery life and extras

"But Jacqui," you're yelling at the screen, "aside from the hard drive and click wheel, the battery is the next most likely thing to die over time!" This does tend to be true, especially of battery tech from 10 years ago. But the original iPod in its heyday was no wimp—Apple bragged of a 10-hour battery life, which was impressive by 2001 MP3 player standards. We hardly expected to get 10 hours out of a 10-year-old battery, but when messing with our little Apple artifact, we did manage to squeeze out a solid eight hours of music jamming before it petered out. Not bad, iPod, not bad.

Nowadays, the iPod classic can allegedly squeeze 36 hours out of a full charge, the iPod touch 40 hours, and iPod nano 24 hours. The original iPod does not fare too well by comparison, but if you're listening to music on an original iPod, you're likely not doing it for the advanced battery technology.

Lest you think that the original iPod can't do some of the fancy features of the newer iPods, this decade-old device can still sync your iCal calendar items and contacts from your computer—tethered, of course. And remember back when everyone used to use their iPods as pocketable Firewire hard drives that mount on the desktop? Mac OS X Lion graciously still recognizes the original iPod as such, so file away.

Conclusion

The original iPod wasn't the first MP3 player, but it's the one that will end up marking the point in history when MP3 players became all the rage. Its unique controls, playlist functionality, easy syncing ability with iTunes, and of course the iTunes Music Store helped to put the iPod and its successors into millions of hands. Even today, 10 years after its first debut, the original iPod can still function as a real, usable music player, even if it does lack the fancy touchscreen and wireless syncing capabilities of its more modern counterparts.

The original iPod set the stage for a decade's worth of Apple devices, and although we don't expect the modern replica of the iPod (the iPod classic) to stay around forever, Apple will undoubtedly continue to use the iPod as an influence when creating newer, even more popular gadgets.

Oh, and if you still have one of these original ones lying around, find a FireWire cable and plug it in. You might be surprised at how well it still works.

Listing image by Jacqui Cheng