Today marks half a decade since the iPod arrived, with its ubiquitous white earplugs. Hindsight is always twenty-twenty, but five years ago who could have seen the huge success that this device would have, few people outside Apple, and maybe not even they were expecting it to be such a runaway success.

Before the iPod, the digital music market was a potpourri of devices and music in various stages of legality. Today, sales of digital music account for 11 percent of the overall recorded-music market and have surpassed $1 billion worldwide this year alone, while iTunes accounts for more than 80 percent of online music sales, and the iPod commands a similar share of the device market.

Five years is a long time in the fast moving technological marketplace, and the iPod itself has changed a lot over the years, however, while the latest generation of iPod might be full of new features, the heart and soul of the iPod has remained the same, and this perhaps is the one reason while competitors, despite their best efforts have never managed to create any true alternative to Apple's offers.

If the past five years are any indication, a lot can happen in the next five years; however, despite what the rest of the marketplace might do, Apple will be going strong with its second iconic product.