The first iPod's wheel would break and skip all the time. And so would the hard drive. And the OS was really simple, and the syncing was terrible.

The first iPad was ok only because it truly was "just a bigger iPhone". But they didn't really make features that were unique to the iPad and took advantage of its bigger screen for a few versions afterwards.

The os was simple, it played music, that's it?

It did, but finding your song wasn't easy when you had 1000s on the device.

I would say the main function of an iPod OS is finding what you want to play, not actually playing it.

Way back then it also competed against actual cassette and CD Walkmans. So just playing was a big part of it.

The first iPod had a wheel that physically moved and would get dirt and stuff stuck in it/have issues. The HDD would also freeze up. It was better than alternatives at the time, but it wasn't really until the click wheel it got really refined.

The first iPad was similarly expensive, thick and underpowered. It wasn't until a couple generations in that it was good.

They were both significantly better than alternatives and didn't cost 7x as much as this does vs meta quest 3.