Think about this for a moment: The iPod is only eight years old. In less than a decade, Apple's portable music and media device has become an absolutely necessary part of modern life. The first iPods hit the market on this day back in 2001, with five and 10 gigabyte versions available. The first iPods were hilarious looking, especially compared to current models. They used a clunky mechanical scroll wheel and weighed about ten pounds. They were so solid you could use them for masonry. But like all technology, the iPod evolved quickly. The iPod (and by extension the iPhone) is now not only a music device but also a video player, gaming system, personal organizer, Web browser, messaging system, navigational tool and on and on. Last month, Apple introduced an iPod that has a capacity of 160 gigabytes, enough space to store over 53,000 songs. Consider that in 2000, the best option for carrying around music you liked was to burn a mix CD, which meant that you had 20 or so tunes at your disposal.

Not that it really needed it, but the iPod was also supported by a tremendous marketing campaign, and to this day, getting your song in an Apple TV spot tends to do great things for a band's business. The first batch of iPod commercials featured a track from '90s big beat enthusiasts the Propellerheads, and a number of bands have used iPod commercials as jumping off points to launch new albums (U2, Coldplay) or their entire careers (Chairlift, the Ting Tings). The first group that catapulted to superstardom care of an iPod ad was the Black Eyed Peas, whose song "Hey Mama" propelled their 2003 album Elephunk up the charts. Along the way, iPod commercials have helped give a jolt to the careers of the Caesars, the Fratellis and Chairlift and helped extend the lives of hit songs by Feist and Jack Johnson. Check out the video playlist below that takes a look back at the songs that helped make the iPod into a part of everyday life.

We've actually been to the Virgin Mobile Festival (didn't it used to be called just the 'Virgin Festival'? Right?) in Baltimore before, and it's actually a pretty great time. It's a simple festival on the beautiful grass of the Pimlico Race Course, and if you get there a couple of days early, you can feast on delicious crab and catch an Orioles game and drive around the city pretending you're on The Wire (we don't actually recommend this last bit, btw).

The headliners for this year's festival - taking place on August 9 and 10 - have just been announced: Kanye West, Nine Inch Nails, Foo Fighters and a reunited Stone Temple Pilots (since that Velvet Revolver thing seems like it needs to decompress a bit). Oh yeah, and Jack Johnson, who is this year's festival slut. The full-lineup is expected in the next few weeks.

Here's the interesting question, though. Will people beyond the greater Baltimore/D.C. area travel for this? Lollapalooza happens the weekend before, in Chicago. And the new All Points West Festival, put on by the organizers of Coachella (and also featuring two days of Radiohead), actually happens ON THE SAME WEEKEND. Like if you live in Philly, where you gonna go?

The festivals are all a good thing but maybe folks could've spread them out a little more?

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· The Game will have a chance to add another tattoo to his face. He began serving a two-month jail sentence on Sunday.

· We kind of stopped counting around the time all those news hounds got rope-a-doped by the Lez Zeppelin / Bonnaroo announcement, but the rumors of a Led Zeppelin reunion appear to have been deep-sixed for good due to singer Robert Plant's overwhelming desire to turn down $200 million in favor of playing bluegrass versions of “Black Dog.”

· How do 900 pissed off Lil’ Boosie fans protest a no show in Omaha? By wildin' out on a ticket booth.

· Can it really be that Radiohead and Jack Johnson are the only headliners available for every major U.S. festival this summer?

· Russell Simmons has officially endorsed Barack obama's presidential bid, feeling that at this “transcendent and historic moment in American politics...I am obligated not to remain on the sidelines.”

· Bono, Fergie, John Legend and Eli and Peyton Manning have been added to the list of performers and presenters for the second annual "Idol Gives Back" charity show on April 9. They join a previously announced roster that includes: Brad Pitt, Miley Cyrus, Reese Witherspoon, Mariah Carey, Snoop Dogg, Daughtry and Carrie Underwood, but, sadly, no Gary Busey.

For a third-straight, utterly-uneventful week, during which a total of 13 new releases bowed, Jack Johnson’s Sleep Through the Static will once again lead next week’s Billboard albums sales chart, capping the top 200 after having sold another 105,000 units. Right behind Jack at #2, climbing one chart position, is Alicia Keys’ As I Am, which scanned 53,000-plus copies. Down one spot at #3 this week, and still coasting off of her recent Grammy successes, its Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black, which generated sales of nearly 51,400. After the jump, Kidz Bop, Fergie, Plain White T's and Jim Jones.

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