Twenty years ago today, Apple launched the first iPod. In hindsight, it seems like a home run, but back in 2001, this MP3 player was actually a huge gamble for Apple, which was far from being a trillion-dollar company.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the iPod, CNET asked Tony Fadell, the "father of the iPod," to share his memories of that time.

At the time, Fadel was running a startup company, Fuse Systems, with the goal of creating an MP3 player, which in 2000 was defined as a niche technology product, with total sales of MP3 players around 500,000 units.

With that in mind, when Fadel was invited to visit Apple with a prototype digital music player, he saw this as an opportunity to buoy his startup, but was not necessarily optimistic. Nevertheless, he built three prototypes out of Styrofoam and weighted each with his grandfather's fishing weights to give them a realistic weight.

Prior to the meeting, Fadel says he and former Apple employee Stan Ng created a bunch of documents to present - this was 2001, so it was not the era of slide shows.

Fadel presented the three prototypes in reverse order of preference, and that psychological trick Ng recommended worked. Steve took them and said, "We're building this and you can build it with us."

In 2021, this would sound obvious. But we must remember that in 2001, Apple was a company that had just posted a $195 million loss. And the last thing Fadel wanted was to fail to make waves in an instant and have his baby abandoned.

In his negotiations with Jobs, he succeeded in gaining commitment to a digital music player, an unusual feat for an unproven product. Apple's CEO promised a huge marketing budget and a commitment to bring in resources from his core business, the Mac, to promote the iPod. Even when the first two generations did not do well, Jobs kept his promise. He backed the business side, and the rest is history," says Fadel.

The final challenge Fadel faced was not that, as described in other parts of this excellent feature, but it was a major hurdle, a major step on Apple's road to profitability, and one that pointed the way to the iPhone and everything that followed.

Twenty years later, the iPod is no longer the jewel in Apple's crown, but it still exists. While the iconic click wheel has been replaced by the familiar iPhone touchscreen, no longer recognizable to the young Fadel, the iPod touch is quietly on display on Apple's site, essentially an obsolete, cellular connectivity-less iPhone.

What are the chances of a resurgence? One leaker speculated that Apple might refresh the iPod Touch with an iPhone 12-style look this year to celebrate its 20th anniversary, but that seems unlikely.

However, there is still a certain amount of nostalgia for the iPod Classic, including the click wheel. If you want to imagine what such a device might look like in 2021, these renderings should help you dream.

But don't get too carried away. Because even the artist in question admits that such a device is not feasible today; in 2021, it's just too niche. But the story does illustrate how confident Steve Jobs was in his vision and how adept he was at hiring the best people to make it happen.