alt Hacker NewsThe iPod's click wheel was amazing. Grab one if you have the chance and play a bit with it. I imagine a lot of people don't remember or have never used. Such a great feel and UX, Apple at its best.
iTunes was also unrivaled in its first versions, before it became an everything app. And syncing was pretty great before ubiquitous internet was a thing.
I owned one for a very long time. I know people loved the clicky clack, but that thing was a UX abomination. The only thing it was good for was high speed jogging - not something that you typically do very often on a music player.
"Apple at its best" ... I sure hope not. But for sure, people LOVED that wheel. I would take a 4-way clicky from the Zune any day.