Original iPod prototype was almost as big as a MacBook

Apple’s iPod was a big leap for music portability when it was initially unveiled, the company’s first mp3 player having been capable of holding around 1,000 songs at once. However, the iPod wasn’t always so pocket-sized and easy to carry around. Apparently it was once the size of a grocery store slab cake.

App developer Panic has revealed images of an original, early Apple iPod prototype, and it looks more like a paving brick than a portable media player. While you could still technically carry this sizable device around on your commute, it would not be comfortable and people would definitely stare.

Panic published the images in a blog post on Saturday to mark the 20th anniversary of the first iPod’s release on Oct. 23, 2001. Judging from the photos, Apple’s cumbersome prototype appears around three times the size of the actual iPod that went to market, making it roughly 12.06 by 7.29 inches.

It could probably double as a self-defence tool though, so there is that.

Don’t talk me or my son ever again.
Credit: Panic

iPod’s custardy granddaddy was probably light enough to swing, too. Panic cracked the embryonic iPod open to poke at its guts, revealing a significant amount of free real estate inside the gargantuan prototype. It’d be a fair guess that Apple was more focused on finalising circuitry than size at this point in development.

“Clearly, this revision of the prototype was very close to the internals of the finished iPod,” writes Panic. “In fact, the date [affixed to the internal circuitry] — September 3rd, 2001 — tells us this one was made barely two months before it was introduced.”

Head over to Panic for a peek the big guy’s innards.