RiPod: Thoughts on the End of the iPod
It’ here. The time has finally come. Earlier this week Apple announced in a press release the discontinuation of the iPod Touch. It’s not surprising, all things considered. They haven’t done anything to upgrade it since 2019, and even then it wasn’t much more than a processor and color change.
To me, the prolonged death of iPod has been a sad thing to watch. The Touch always struck me as less of an iPod and more of a nerfed iPhone, because that’s exactly what it is. I’ve also heard it referred to (oddly) as a nano iPad, but whatever you call it there is no denying that it is the last in a long line of devices that defined an era for an entire generation.
TRANSFORMING PORTABLE MUSIC
Being born in the late 80’s I remember well the pre-digital music era. Cassette tapes and CD’s were a way of life long before vinyl records would make a comeback in popularity with hipsters everywhere. The Walkman, Discman, and their knock-offs ruled the 80’s and 90’s when it came to portable music and taking your collection with you.
I remember carrying around my portable CD player with a small book of CD’s everywhere I went for years until I got my first MP3 player. Then one day the guy who lived in the dorm across the hall from me showed me this cool new thing called an “iPod”.
It was the first portable music player that with an internal hard drive allowing you to carry “1000 songs in your pocket”. With it, Apple did what Apple does. Pick something that a lot of companies were doing mediocrely and do it better than anyone else. Even when our other college friend showed up with his Zune from Microsoft, it didn’t compare to the iPod of that day — if you disagree, feel free to comment below.
TRANSFORMING THE MUSIC INDUSTRY
Then there was the iTunes store. By the end of its life iTunes had become a slow and bloated piece of software, but in the early days it was a solid media player. The introduction of the iTunes store, however, changed the music game, and the music industry, forever.
For the first time it provided a way to get digital music — and here’s the keyword — LEGALLY and affordably. Like a song? Buy it for $0.99. Like an album? Buy it for $9.99. Want a deluxe edition with extra songs or music videos? Just pay a few dollars more. This was unheard of. Typically if you liked a song you would just have to spend $15 for the album with no guarantee that you’d like the rest of the songs on it. If you were lucky, they might release the song on it’s own disc as a single for $5 or $6, but there was no way to just get the songs you wanted without going with peer-to-peer sharing services like Napster or Limewire.
At first the industry resisted this change, but eventually they had to capitulate and embrace this change. The release of iTunes for Windows was the final nail in this coffin and there was no going back. Within a few short years we would see record labels release tracks and even full albums on YouTube, and eventually we would see the rise of streaming services like Pandora and Spotify.
THE END OF AN ERA
The death of iPod has been lingering for some time now. The iPod Classic line was discontinued in 2014. The iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle were both discontiniued in 2017, and now the iPod Touch is being discontinued. You can still buy them from Apple for now, but after that you’ll have to rely on third party sellers if you want one.
While it’s a little sad to officially see the end of this legendary product, it does make sense, and honestly I’m a little surprised that Apple held onto it as long as they did. The Cupertino company is well known for not being afraid to cut products and features that they feel should be deprecated in favor of their preferred new technologies. In 2022 we have Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, and more. Most people these days listen to music on their phones so there’s no real need for a dedicated music player. However, if you’re into that. be sure to check out my upcoming post Why Go Retro in 2022: Part 3 – Audio Players.
Much like other fondly remembered tech iPod’s has been surpassed by newer and shinier products from Apple and others, but there is no denying the role that it played in helping the music industry and the consumer media markets to mature for the 21st century. And at the end of the day, for people like me, it’s still the preferred way to bring your favorite music with you when you’re on the go.