So it's 2000, you've created a great MP3 player that runs on a Mac and...

From the article:

"The meeting fully booked with Apple, I contacted the AOL executives — whom we were still deep in negotiations with — so they could be involved. It only seemed fair; they came to us first, and maybe this Apple meeting would make them want to snatch us up all the quicker. Except, their schedules were booked. They couldn't make it — at all. Those crazy business people, I tell you! All those Palm Pilots and not a pixel of free time on the calendaring screen.

Thus, I had to cancel the meeting with Apple. AOL couldn't make it, I said. Maybe we can reschedule?

The meeting with Apple never took place. Hmm.. I wonder what it was all about?"

My jaw dropped at that point. Later in the article:

""You guys remember the last time we tried to meet with you? It was actually because we wanted you guys to make iTunes," explained Phil."

Now that's just painful.