Comment Leave us not forget that which came BEFORE iTunes (Score 1) 204
SoundJam MP was, perhaps, the first genuinely useful MP3 application for the Macintosh. One could easily rip CDs to MP3, mix songs as one wished in playlists, and then burn them to CD.
Rip. Mix. Burn. Where have we heard that before?
It even had support built in for the few MP3 players of the time.
Review of an early incarnation of SoundJam.
And, the ObWiki entry .
Without SoundJam MP. there would likely have been no iTunes, as Apple bought SoundJam MP, filed off the serial numbers, slapped a coat of paint on it and called it iTunes V1.0.
Well, yeah, there still would have been AN iTunes. Apple would have just bought Audion .
So, while the iPod was indeed a seachange for the portable music player (cassette/CD/digital) of the era, without the software to support it as easily and as elegantly as SoundJam, er, "iTunes", it was the software that made the iPod the success it was and remains to this day.