Apple Discontinues Last iPod Model

[Zarathustra[H]]

aka, The Thread in which Hardforum Memebers Find Out Apple was Still Making iPods

Honestly, I kind of thought thy had stopped this a decade ago.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/apple...s-the-ipod-touch-the-last-ipod-in-production/

 

[Lakados]

aka, The Thread in which Hardforum Memebers Find Out Apple was Still Making iPods

Honestly, I kind of thought thy had stopped this a decade ago.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/apple...s-the-ipod-touch-the-last-ipod-in-production/

They have also been supplying them with OS updates.

 

[Sir Beregond]

 

[BlueLineSwinger]

It's kinda sad, but I get it. I can't imagine they were selling many.

Still. it would be nice to have a good option for a basic music player with wide compatibility. I still use an iPod Classic in my car via the head unit. Do modern head units even support that type of direct connection/control (be it 30-pin or lightning), or have they all moved on to wired/wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto?

 

[THRESHIN]

Out of curiosity, am I the only one that really didn't like the iPod from the beginning? They came out when I was in high school. I always hated how you had to draw circles on it as if it was a knob to change the volume. Sound quality never impressed me. Thought they were overpriced. Went with a creative muvo mp3 player of some sorts back then. Likes how it was smaller, simpler to use and doubled as a USB drive.

But hey just my opinion.

 

[rhkcommander959]

I was aware they still made them, but didn't see the point.

If anyone out there needs a music player, grab a pay as you go iphone and don't use the sim. Same thing but you CAN use it as a phone too.

 

[sharknice]

Out of curiosity, am I the only one that really didn't like the iPod from the beginning? They came out when I was in high school. I always hated how you had to draw circles on it as if it was a knob to change the volume. Sound quality never impressed me. Thought they were overpriced. Went with a creative muvo mp3 player of some sorts back then. Likes how it was smaller, simpler to use and doubled as a USB drive.

But hey just my opinion.

Nah, a lot of people didn't like it, especially the stupid knob.
I aslo had a creative muvo.

It was only 64 MB lol. But yeah, it was tiny which was awesome, and I could also use it as a usb drive for homework and stuff.

Also later on I got another Creative mp3 player with a full color screen that could play videos. I remember downloading a bunch to watch on a plane ride. And it had an SD card slot, and it also functioned as an SD card reader.


I'm not only surprised they're still around, but how expensive they are. It's basically a super low end iPhone without the phone capabilities.

 

[Zarathustra[H]]

Out of curiosity, am I the only one that really didn't like the iPod from the beginning? They came out when I was in high school. I always hated how you had to draw circles on it as if it was a knob to change the volume. Sound quality never impressed me. Thought they were overpriced. Went with a creative muvo mp3 player of some sorts back then. Likes how it was smaller, simpler to use and doubled as a USB drive.

But hey just my opinion.

Totally with you.

I liked the concept of a portable media player, but the click wheel drove me absolutely insane, and I hated that it managed the media library in some sort of database managed by iTunes, rather than just being able to drop mp3's on the thing like a USB stick and have it recognize them.

There were much better players IMHO, but as always, Apple got all the attention and wound up dominating the market based on the cool factor and RDF.

 

[Lakados]

Out of curiosity, am I the only one that really didn't like the iPod from the beginning? They came out when I was in high school. I always hated how you had to draw circles on it as if it was a knob to change the volume. Sound quality never impressed me. Thought they were overpriced. Went with a creative muvo mp3 player of some sorts back then. Likes how it was smaller, simpler to use and doubled as a USB drive.

But hey just my opinion.

I owned a Zune so ...

 

[sc5mu93]

In other news, Macbook wheel also discontinued.

 

[Zepher]

I still have a few iPods but never use them, an 8GB Fatty, 4GB Nano, and an 8 or 16GB Touch.
I still have a Zune that I don't use but recently put in a new battery since it wasn't turning on while plugged into my dock.
Putting in the new battery made it power on and work again. Not sure how to change the music on it since I don't have the Zune software anymore, guess I can check to see if MS still has it and if it works with modern Windows.
I would still need to find the sync cable as well, not sure where I put it, lol

 

[SamuelL421]

Out of curiosity, am I the only one that really didn't like the iPod from the beginning? They came out when I was in high school. I always hated how you had to draw circles on it as if it was a knob to change the volume. Sound quality never impressed me. Thought they were overpriced. Went with a creative muvo mp3 player of some sorts back then. Likes how it was smaller, simpler to use and doubled as a USB drive.

But hey just my opinion.

The original ones did suck, besides being a cool design.

The slightly later ones, like 4th/5th gen ipod classic, were the good stuff. Those ones had a really good DAC (wolfson), the best of its time in portable music devices. Awesome sound if you played back ALAC format or really high quality rips.

I think only the first gen ipod touch had a similar DAC, the newer stuff used (uses?) a cirrus chip and just didn't sound as good IMO.

 

[Red Falcon]

Over 20 years, that was a really good run.

 

[Grebuloner]

I owned a Zune so ...

I still have a few iPods but never use them, an 8GB Fatty, 4GB Nano, and an 8 or 16GB Touch.
I still have a Zune that I don't use but recently put in a new battery since it wasn't turning on while plugged into my dock.
Putting in the new battery made it power on and work again. Not sure how to change the music on it since I don't have the Zune software anymore, guess I can check to see if MS still has it and if it works with modern Windows.
I would still need to find the sync cable as well, not sure where I put it, lol

View attachment 472381

I still have 2 Zune HDs. A 32GB launch day that got the most use, and a 64GB I picked up cheap as a "just in case" spare that I've never used. Having to move to wireless headphones for exercise a couple years ago because of phones deleting the jack (and adapters don't last very long) was what finally stopped me using it on a day-to-day basis, but I still keep the 32GB in my car with a wired set for occasional listening.

You can still get the software, runs just fine on Win 10, though anything requiring a call to Microsquish's servers won't work.

Have an "HP" iPod, too.

 

[Aurelius]

Out of curiosity, am I the only one that really didn't like the iPod from the beginning? They came out when I was in high school. I always hated how you had to draw circles on it as if it was a knob to change the volume. Sound quality never impressed me. Thought they were overpriced. Went with a creative muvo mp3 player of some sorts back then. Likes how it was smaller, simpler to use and doubled as a USB drive.

But hey just my opinion.

There were certainly folks who didn't like it early on, but I'd say you have to be a certain kind of tech enthusiast to have hated iPods the entire time.

I'm in just the opposite camp: using the wheel to adjust volume was objectively better, since you had much finer-grained control than buttons. That and it was much, much better for scrolling through a large library. iPods were on the expensive side, but I'm not sure I'd call them overpriced as the alternatives tended to be either cheaply built or just clunky to use. I couldn't stand most low-rent flash players... terrible interfaces, near-unusable displays and usually storage so small you still had to choose which handful of albums you were going to listen to that day.

Apple dominated the market because it was the first to understand that an MP3 player had to be as easy or easier to use than the portable CD player you were probably replacing. Plug it in, give it a moment to sync and start listening. Yeah, official drag-and-drop outside of iTunes would have been nice, but you know what was nicer for most people? Never having to wonder whether or not you had that new album or all your favorites.

 

[Darunion]

I really liked my ipod nano 6th gen. small and easy to carry around when out doing yardwork without having my giant phone in my pocket.

Still have it actually, battery doesnt have as much life left though.

Had the original zune too, sound was better on the zune but the UI was horrible IMO.

 

[Aurelius]

I really liked my ipod nano 6th gen. small and easy to carry around when out doing yardwork without having my giant phone in my pocket.

Still have it actually, battery doesnt have as much life left though.

Had the original zune too, sound was better on the zune but the UI was horrible IMO.

I have a soft spot for the Zune, and the Zune HD was quite special, but I do think some folks oversell the early experience. It was the start of Microsoft's minimalist interface language that emphasized looks over functionality (culminating in Windows Phone and Windows 8), and the PC software was a mess for navigation. And don't get me started on "squirting!"

 

[THRESHIN]

There were certainly folks who didn't like it early on, but I'd say you have to be a certain kind of tech enthusiast to have hated iPods the entire time.

I'm in just the opposite camp: using the wheel to adjust volume was objectively better, since you had much finer-grained control than buttons. That and it was much, much better for scrolling through a large library. iPods were on the expensive side, but I'm not sure I'd call them overpriced as the alternatives tended to be either cheaply built or just clunky to use. I couldn't stand most low-rent flash players... terrible interfaces, near-unusable displays and usually storage so small you still had to choose which handful of albums you were going to listen to that day.

Apple dominated the market because it was the first to understand that an MP3 player had to be as easy or easier to use than the portable CD player you were probably replacing. Plug it in, give it a moment to sync and start listening. Yeah, official drag-and-drop outside of iTunes would have been nice, but you know what was nicer for most people? Never having to wonder whether or not you had that new album or all your favorites.

Well I can't say that I hate the iPod, but I never saw it as anything special. I just saw it as over hyped and overpriced. Just another fad. It did it's job and did it well, but there was plenty of other devices that worked just as well or better for less money.

I do concede that it was itunes that really made it stand out for most people. This was not something I was ever interested in, but that's me. There really wasn't anything like itunes at the time.

As far as worrying about losing my music....well I've always been good at backups. I still have things from 25 years ago or more. Just not a concern of mine.

 

[Verge]

Out of curiosity, am I the only one that really didn't like the iPod from the beginning? They came out when I was in high school. I always hated how you had to draw circles on it as if it was a knob to change the volume. Sound quality never impressed me. Thought they were overpriced. Went with a creative muvo mp3 player of some sorts back then. Likes how it was smaller, simpler to use and doubled as a USB drive.

But hey just my opinion.

I just hated iTunes, i've never understood why it's UI was such a crap-show.

 

[LukeTbk]

I am sure it was really nice for people ripping their CD collections and that ITunes made that process simpler for them, the success speak for itself.

But I never got to this day to be comfortable with Itunes and the syncing versus a simple drag&drop that I much prefered.

Specially back in the days of the 64-256 mb device, it was so much overhead for such little files/libraries that was not an issue too manually manage, it was not close to a single CD in storage.

The hardware was really well made

 

[Aurelius]

Well I can't say that I hate the iPod, but I never saw it as anything special. I just saw it as over hyped and overpriced. Just another fad. It did it's job and did it well, but there was plenty of other devices that worked just as well or better for less money.

I do concede that it was itunes that really made it stand out for most people. This was not something I was ever interested in, but that's me. There really wasn't anything like itunes at the time.

As far as worrying about losing my music....well I've always been good at backups. I still have things from 25 years ago or more. Just not a concern of mine.

It's a bit odd to call it a fad when it basically transformed how people listen to music. Not that anything was particularly magical, it just fixed a lot of core problems (easy interface, fast and simple sync, pocketability) before rivals managed to nail all of them. That and, yes, Apple managed to communicate the advantages in a cooler way that everyday human beings can understand. You could practically hear the nerd voice when Creative or Rio tried to explain why you should buy one of their players... "why, this lets you listen to music in the MPEG Audio Layer 3 format away from your computer, in just 19 easy steps!"

 

[Lakados]

It's a bit odd to call it a fad when it basically transformed how people listen to music. Not that anything was particularly magical, it just fixed a lot of core problems (easy interface, fast and simple sync, pocketability) before rivals managed to nail all of them. That and, yes, Apple managed to communicate the advantages in a cooler way that everyday human beings can understand. You could practically hear the nerd voice when Creative or Rio tried to explain why you should buy one of their players... "why, this lets you listen to music in the MPEG Audio Layer 3 format away from your computer, in just 19 easy steps!"

Honestly it was the simplicity of iTunes and the process that made it. There is a case to be made that iTunes and the success of the iPod are directly responsible for pulling Apple out of the gutter it was in.

 

[HeadRusch]

This is like when you go to Mexico and find they're still manufacturing brand new VW Beetles....only its 2003......ipad Mini is next for sure....if it hasn't already been killed, honestly no idea.

 

[Aurelius]

Honestly it was the simplicity of iTunes and the process that made it. There is a case to be made that iTunes and the success of the iPod are directly responsible for pulling Apple out of the gutter it was in.

Oh, no question. Apple was certainly doing better than before Jobs came back, but the Mac's recovery was sluggish in the early 2000s. The iPod took Apple from "that niche company making computers for artists" to "consumer electronics heavyweight" in the space of a few years. The iPhone had a blockbuster launch in part because the iPod gave Apple a much higher profile.

 

[Aurelius]

This is like when you go to Mexico and find they're still manufacturing brand new VW Beetles....only its 2003......ipad Mini is next for sure....if it hasn't already been killed, honestly no idea.

Apple gave the iPad mini a major revision late last year with the A15 chip, USB-C and a modern design. It's bloody expensive at $499, but then it's probably faster than a typical $499 laptop. I'd rather Apple aim it at the budget market myself (I would love an iPad mini for bedside reading).

 

[D-EJ915]

iPod being a fashion accessory had more to due with its success than anything to do with how itunes operated lol.

 

[Aurelius]

iPod being a fashion accessory had more to due with its success than anything to do with how itunes operated lol.

Nah, it wouldn't have succeeded if Apple hadn't made MP3 players more accessible. Marketing did play a part, to be clear, but it's not like Creative and other brands didn't have marketing budgets.

Besides, even if the iPod succeeded mainly by serving as a fashion accessory... isn't that a scathing commentary on how much Creative, Microsoft, SanDisk and others sucked at product design and marketing? A device you often use in public shouldn't be an eyesore.

 

[Lakados]

iPod being a fashion accessory had more to due with its success than anything to do with how itunes operated lol.

iTunes is directly credited with many innovations in digital product delivery and is directly responsible for how we now consume entertainment media.
Now that they have announced that they are killing iTunes, there are tones of articles explaining how it revolutionized Apple.
iTunes predates the iPod by almost a year, and was a massive experiment not only within Apple but with the Media companies as a whole because at the time nobody believed that consumers would want to purchase their music digitally, and when they added Movies and TV series they had the same thoughts there as well.
but iTunes was based on the SoundJam MP software which at the time was one of the reasons you bought a mac.
Here's an oldy from iTunes 10'th Anniversary.
https://www.cnn.com/2013/04/26/tech/web/itunes-10th-anniversary/index.html
In 2014 iTunes was credited with the success of its media platform which was the primary reason for the success of the iPhone and subsequent iPad
https://www.vox.com/2014/11/17/18076360/apple

 

[D-EJ915]

Nah, it wouldn't have succeeded if Apple hadn't made MP3 players more accessible. Marketing did play a part, to be clear, but it's not like Creative and other brands didn't have marketing budgets.

Besides, even if the iPod succeeded mainly by serving as a fashion accessory... isn't that a scathing commentary on how much Creative, Microsoft, SanDisk and others sucked at product design and marketing? A device you often use in public shouldn't be an eyesore.

Yes definitely, the other brands were very niche and marketed toward "PC users" if you know what I mean.

iTunes is directly credited with many innovations in digital product delivery and is directly responsible for how we now consume entertainment media.
Now that they have announced that they are killing iTunes, there are tones of articles explaining how it revolutionized Apple.
iTunes predates the iPod by almost a year, and was a massive experiment not only within Apple but with the Media companies as a whole because at the time nobody believed that consumers would want to purchase their music digitally, and when they added Movies and TV series they had the same thoughts there as well.
but iTunes was based on the SoundJam MP software which at the time was one of the reasons you bought a mac.
Here's an oldy from iTunes 10'th Anniversary.
https://www.cnn.com/2013/04/26/tech/web/itunes-10th-anniversary/index.html
In 2014 iTunes was credited with the success of its media platform which was the primary reason for the success of the iPhone and subsequent iPad
https://www.vox.com/2014/11/17/18076360/apple

People went out and bought Macs to use the iPod, remember that it did not even have a store then. The iPod was already successful and the most popular mp3 player by the time the store launched, it just was the final blow to everything else. iTunes being where it was when the iPhone came out definitely helped for sure, its app store ecosystem is still way better. That touch screen though, wow was it good lol, the other touch screen phones just were garbage there was no comparison lol.

 

[HeadRusch]

Apple gave the iPad mini a major revision late last year with the A15 chip, USB-C and a modern design. It's bloody expensive at $499, but then it's probably faster than a typical $499 laptop. I'd rather Apple aim it at the budget market myself (I would love an iPad mini for bedside reading).

Holy crap I had no idea, I thought their last revision was years ago and it was like...they offered it in teal, something like that.....the life-support upgrade as it were. Ok, guess there's a market for that thing still......thx for the info.

 

[D-EJ915]

Holy crap I had no idea, I thought their last revision was years ago and it was like...they offered it in teal, something like that.....the life-support upgrade as it were. Ok, guess there's a market for that thing still......thx for the info.

I remember them marketing it for kids since it lacks text or phone capability which made parents nervous.

 

[Mchart]

I remember them marketing it for kids since it lacks text or phone capability which made parents nervous.

Honestly, it was really good for that. It was basically an older-gen iPhone without the cell antenna, and much cheaper new. It was a great device for kids because they were largely fooled into thinking they had the same thing the adults had. (Because it basically was)

Not to say you couldn't just take your older iphone and remove the SIM and accomplish the same thing, but still.

Personally, I think Apple, like many tech companies, is making a mistake killing the iPod. They could absolutely rake in the cash by just selling nostalgia and selling an update older-gen model with a built in higher quality DAC, tons of storage, etc. Same thing goes with Nintendo missing a decent market by not just re-making stuff like the Gameboy with modern tech, but what do I know.

Either way, I think older classic iPod's, and the mini's, will become fairly collectable as time goes on. Anyone saying the iPod wasn't a big deal, or sucked, is just wrong. The original models were a game changer, and iTunes was also a game changer back in the early/mid 2000's. Other competing devices at that time were complete garbage in terms of construction, and generally didn't have the same amount of storage space. (1st gen iPod was 5GB. That was massive back in 2000. The Rio's of the time had FAR less) I also don't get the click wheel complaints. The click wheel was absolutely brilliant and a pleasure to use on the original iPod's.

 

[THRESHIN]

It's a bit odd to call it a fad when it basically transformed how people listen to music. Not that anything was particularly magical, it just fixed a lot of core problems (easy interface, fast and simple sync, pocketability) before rivals managed to nail all of them. That and, yes, Apple managed to communicate the advantages in a cooler way that everyday human beings can understand. You could practically hear the nerd voice when Creative or Rio tried to explain why you should buy one of their players... "why, this lets you listen to music in the MPEG Audio Layer 3 format away from your computer, in just 19 easy steps!"

Actually I had a Rio back in the day ...one of the first ones that transferred through the parallel port. Yeah the software was a little cumbersome, but it wasn't really much different than itunes when it came around for the sync side of things. It was slow as molasses however and yeah the UI was ass. Extra steps? Nope.

I will not deny that what apple had at the beginning was a little ahead of the competition. Same as the iphone. They were just saying the first to do it is all. If they hadn't, someone else would have.

And then we got to the era of a simple drag and drop in explorer. No software needed. Made itunes irrelevant unless it was your preferred way of buying music.

 

[Domingo]

I had one of the last models with the wheel and no touch screen. It had a huge capacity (50GB or something similar) for back in 2006'ish, and it did a killer job of integrating with my car at the time. Eventually it stopped holding a charge (even when it was plugged in) and Bluetooth got better and better, so I moved on. Still, I have fond memories of it. My wife and I owned several other MP3 players from various PC-centric OEM's and they were all trash by comparison. That's the first Apple product I ever really, really liked and it was my gateway to buying multiple iPhones.

 

[D-EJ915]

Honestly, it was really good for that. It was basically an older-gen iPhone without the cell antenna, and much cheaper new. It was a great device for kids because they were largely fooled into thinking they had the same thing the adults had. (Because it basically was)

Not to say you couldn't just take your older iphone and remove the SIM and accomplish the same thing, but still.

Personally, I think Apple, like many tech companies, is making a mistake killing the iPod. They could absolutely rake in the cash by just selling nostalgia and selling an update older-gen model with a built in higher quality DAC, tons of storage, etc. Same thing goes with Nintendo missing a decent market by not just re-making stuff like the Gameboy with modern tech, but what do I know.

Either way, I think older classic iPod's, and the mini's, will become fairly collectable as time goes on. Anyone saying the iPod wasn't a big deal, or sucked, is just wrong. The original models were a game changer, and iTunes was also a game changer back in the early/mid 2000's. Other competing devices at that time were complete garbage in terms of construction, and generally didn't have the same amount of storage space. (1st gen iPod was 5GB. That was massive back in 2000. The Rio's of the time had FAR less) I also don't get the click wheel complaints. The click wheel was absolutely brilliant and a pleasure to use on the original iPod's.

The click wheel was the one thing I was thinking would make it a lot more usable and it sure did. The original wheel design sucked, you had to scroll it too much and it was enormous, took more effort to actually move than should have been necessary and the buttons were spread out super far so it was a lot more inconvenient to use than it needed to be.

I've got one of the "square" nanos and honestly I still like it.

 

[The Mad Atheist]

Only owned a 1GB 2ng gen Shuffle for a short time in the mid 00s.
Needed a play with physical buttons so I could easily control it while cycling.

I miss having my Minidisks, Sansa Fuse/Clip+, and Zen Vision:M.

 

[Lakados]

People went out and bought Macs to use the iPod, remember that it did not even have a store then. The iPod was already successful and the most popular mp3 player by the time the store launched, it just was the final blow to everything else. iTunes being where it was when the iPhone came out definitely helped for sure, its app store ecosystem is still way better. That touch screen though, wow was it good lol, the other touch screen phones just were garbage there was no comparison lol.

I was working at a radio station in High School and I remember when one of the guys there discovered SoundJam they rushed out and bought a Mac for the station to better categorize the playlists and get it all cleaned up, I spent the next 2 years there doing data entry on the meta tags as they ripped over all the music over to MP3’s to save on space.

The broadcast software may have ran on REHL but the music was all controlled by a mac plugged into the audio Jack.

 

[OutOfPhase]

Still have one running in this house. Filled with Raffi and similar, plugged into an external speaker for the kids. They know how to work it, and I don't care if it gets broken. It works!

 

[D-EJ915]

I was working at a radio station in High School and I remember when one of the guys there discovered SoundJam they rushed out and bought a Mac for the station to better categorize the playlists and get it all cleaned up, I spent the next 2 years there doing data entry on the meta tags as they ripped over all the music over to MP3’s to save on space.

The broadcast software may have ran on REHL but the music was all controlled by a mac plugged into the audio Jack.

music software then was super rudimentary so anything with good organization must have been a godsend

 

[Lakados]

music software then was super rudimentary so anything with good organization must have been a godsend

REHL 1.x didn’t make it any easier… not gonna lie, it put me off Linux for a long while.