Wondering if Apple revived the iPod today, would it actually take off? Feels like everyone’s trying to cut back on phone time.
Wondering if Apple revived the iPod today, would it actually take off? Feels like everyone’s trying to cut back on phone time.
I daily drive an iPod (currently listening to it on a flight). Some benefits:
- Listening to music doesn't drain your phone. Also it's offline, which is a bonus for hiking/biking/flights.
- Underrated convo starter. Set one down on a bar top as you sit down and i promise you'll be talking to everyone around you
- The battery life is unmatched, including by modern DAP's. Mine is running a stock battery (still!) and gets days of playback. Weeks/months when idle (use it too much to know for sure).
- iFlash [1] has replacement boards for $30-$40 that let you use modern nvme storage over spinning media. Simple swap and has been rock solid for me for years.
- Audio quality over 3.5mm aux ports is noticeably superior to bluetooth in most (older?) cars
Would they take off today? I think there could be a retro-y scene for them, especially if they had any wifi connectivity. The device remains one of the best purpose-built consumer devices, and that's hard not to appreciate. My 10yr old daughter thinks it's less cool than i do, though.
1. https://www.iflash.xyz/
Do you use some old version of iTunes to put music on it or are there other tools with better support for old iPods?
Original iPods (and early iPhones) weren’t locked down as much. There were a number of utils that could manage your library. ml_ipod plugin for WinAmp comes to mind.
All my music gets copied into OS X's Apple Music, which still supports iPods. Other repliees are arguably better alternatives these days.
on macOS you can still manage/sync iPods from the Finder (it was moved to there from iTunes when they killed iTunes).
Rockbox.
I believe there would be a market for it, but it wouldn't take off as such. I don't know if this is down to Apple stopping production of it or some other reason, but ipod sales dropped from a peak of nearly 60M sold / year in '08 to a final number of 14.4m sold in '14 according to [0]. The bigger number though is the percentage of Apple's revenue, which peaked in 2006 at 40%, down to just 1% in 2014.
By then, the iphone and associated app revenue had long taken over their revenue. But on the other hand, if they applied the same metrics to Mac they would've discontinued that years ago too, but they need Mac for people to build iPhone apps.
[0] https://www.statista.com/chart/10469/apple-ipod-sales/
Doubt it, there’s plenty of mp3 players out there including 2nd hand ipods. You don’t see them in use much. Ratio of for sale / in-use is probably a good indicator for a new product not to take off.
Also most watches can function as music players with wireless headphones nowadays. For a while I ran a low-notification apple watch purely for the time, nfc (payments and to enter the gym) and music functions.
I agree there are many options. I have a 2nd hand iPod, now replaced with a Tangara, which has USB C instead of the now flaky iPod connector with a chain of adapters.
A friend told me that in competitive climbing people are required to be in isolation before the climb. As https://climbingbusinessjournal.com/strategies-to-help-youth... says:
"Communication in and out of Iso is always prohibited because someone could relay pictures of the competition routes for climbers to preview, resulting in an unfair advantage. Therefore, all electronics with internet connection are not allowed. An iPod without internet capability is allowed for warming up, but you are forbidden from listening to music while you are climbing the competition routes. I guess this sentence should be obvious, but no walkie talkies, cans on a string, smoke signals, etc."
There's also parents who get internet-free music devices for their kids. I've even heard of a kid who could take an old iPod Shuffle with them to a "no screen" camp, as it has no screen.
They could call it... disconnectng pod... iDisco-pod.
I think the apple watch fills that role now. The watch is easier to carry for activities, while reproducing the core functions of the phone (music/podcasts, payments, messages/urgent notifications), leaving little reason to check the phone at all. Also the combination of not possessing the iphone's more distracting elements, and the way that it's tiring to hold the arm upwards+inwards for an extended period probably also help keep the wearer focused on their task.
I see the difference often in the gym. The people with smart watches for music aren't getting distracted from their workouts, while the people with their phones for music tend to take long pauses, or even get caught up watching tiktok/stories/reels.
The biggest barrier today would be that most people stream their music. So the new iPod would need 5G, which means increased price, carrier contracts etc. At that point it is close enough to a phone that it doesn't make sense as a standalone device.
And also, for people who really want to get away from their phone the Apple Watch is already a standalone music player.
It could only work as an internet streaming device.
It was released in a time that people bought mp3s, even ringtones!
Click wheel patent's expired I think, thought I'd see it on at least one not-Apple device someday...
https://www.innioasis.com/products/y1
Most people don't consider listening to music on your phone to count as "Screen Time".
It’s not about that, exactly.
If you need to grab the phone every time you change songs it’s likely you’ll check notifications or something of the sort.
The same goes for going for a walk with music but not the phone, to be unreachable. You could use airplane mode but there’s value in the added friction.