Apple’s once revolutionary music player is now officially obsolete in an era of smartphones and online streaming services

Launched in 2001, the Apple iPod changed the way we listened to music. Suddenly, we could have 1,000 songs in our pocket. I know we now have infinite options in our streaming apps on our phones, but back in the early 2000s when USB mp3 players had only just superseded Walkmans, this was a huge deal. 

The first generation of iPods retailed for about US$400, but prices steadily went down while storage capacities went up and more models—including the Mini, Nano, and Shuffle—were introduced in following years. By 2007, the first of the final evolution of the iPod, the iPod Touch, was released alongside an invention that would ultimately contribute to its demise: the iPhone. 

A black iPod Classic

The rest of course is history. While the iPod and its associated software, iTunes, changed not just the way we, as consumers, listened to music but the music industry itself, ultimately over two decades, a device that served only one purpose would be no match for a device that could do everything.

Apple stopped reporting iPod sales as early as 2015, and now they are formally discontinuing production. The iPod Touch will be available until the last one in stock is sold, and then we’ll never see it in Apple stores ever again.

But then again, who knows? The power of nostalgia can’t be underestimated. Millennials were able to bring back the semblance of MySpace with SpaceHey during the pandemic, and somehow vinyl and analog photography have made their way back into popularity. Perhaps give it a few years, and Apple will have to reimagine the iPod for future nostalgia.