Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just for fun, have a look at the comments about the iPod announcement: http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/apples-new-thing-ipod.50... There's always people with something to say.
In all fairness, the initial iPods were nothing to write home about and, as I recall, iTunes didn't even run on anything except Macs--then a rather niche hardware platform. Of course, iPods improved relative to the competition but it was really the iTunes store and Apple's ability to fundamentally change how music was sold that really had the impact.
The first iPod provided unprecedented amounts of storage in a form factor that actually fit in your pocket. They accomplished this by buying out the world's initial supply of tiny hard drives for over a year and change. This kept would-be competitors at bay, making every other 5GB MP3 player look like a giant brick by comparison.
Most of the people who were shitting on the iPod never held one in their hands.