iPod \'life-changing\'

Apple's iPod made it to CNN/Money's "." Also on the list are the Screwpull corkscrew, the Sonicare toothbrush, the toll-booth E-Z Pass, and the TiVo video recording system. "Portable, handheld audio devices date back to the 1970s, even earlier if you count transistor radios... So how did the iPod -- which is, essentially, just an update of the long-forgotten Walkman -- capture about 70 percent of its market, and turn once-fading Apple Computer into the hottest company in Silicon Valley? Only by being brilliant in every way. Now, I walk for blocks each day through Manhattan with those signature white earbuds firmly in place. Seemingly every other pedestrian I pass, or nearly so, does the same thing. It's a little big idea that changed my life -- and set it to music. "

by MacNN Staff