Apple's first portable digital music player was the iPod. Apple introduced it on October 23, 2001, presenting it as a pocket-sized MP3 player capable of holding up to 1,000 CD-quality songs.
The original iPod used a 5 GB hard drive, a monochrome screen, and a mechanical scroll wheel. Its most important advantage was the combination of compact hardware and easy music management through iTunes, which automatically synchronized songs and playlists from a Mac.
The iPod was not the first portable music player overall. Sony's Walkman had popularized portable cassette music decades earlier, and other companies had already produced digital MP3 players. However, Apple's design, storage capacity, interface, and iTunes integration made the iPod unusually influential.
The iPod family later expanded to include the iPod mini, nano, shuffle, classic, and touch. Apple discontinued the final iPod touch in 2022, ending a product line that had helped shape modern digital music consumption.