Saehan Information Systems launched the MPMan F10 in 1998 as the world's very first mass-produced portable solid-state digital audio player, beating the Apple iPod to the market by three full years.

A closer look

Saehan Information Systems launched the MPMan F10 in 1998 as the world's very first mass-produced portable solid-state digital audio player, beating the Apple iPod to the market by three full years. It featured a staggering thirty-two megabytes of flash memory, which allowed it to hold roughly six average-length songs encoded at a terrible bitrate, ensuring the audio sounded like it was being broadcast through a tin can underwater. It cost hundreds of dollars to experience this magical portable convenience, effectively forcing early adopters to listen to the exact same Smash Mouth album on a continuous loop for months on end, all just to flex on their friends who were still lugging around bulky CD players that aggressively skipped every time they hit a minor crack in the sidewalk!