The day the music died

[james]

Apple is discontinuing the iPod touch, the last version of the portable music player it still sells.

The announcement ends an era of digital music that Apple kicked off when it first introduced the iPod in 2001, boasting of its ability to hold “up to 1,000 CD-quality songs into an ultra-portable, 6.5 ounce design that fits in your pocket.”

The first version of the iPod touch, which more closely resembles the iPhone, was introduced in 2007. The latest version was introduced in 2019.

The $199 iPod touch can send iMessages and place FaceTime calls in addition to playing music, but can’t place phone calls. Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Greg Joswiak said in a statement that “the spirit of iPod lives on” through its many other products that integrate music-playing features.

Apple said the iPod touch will be available while supplies last.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/10/apple-discontinues-the-last-ipod-model.html

End of an era.

Also, fuck apple

Creative Zen and Zune for life.

[Nintex]

The $199 iPod touch

[Joe Molotov]

[james]

The $199 iPod touch

Using my Nintendo Switch Consumer Price Index model, that seems reasonable

[chronovore]

iPod Touch was a gateway drug for me. I had been using various PDAs, and then the color iPod and watched downloaded 3G movies on its puny screen. The day I was able to watch something on the iPod Touch without having to sync it with a computer, I was hooked.

I guess they’re just expecting people to buy the iPad Mini at this point, if a small form-factor data consumption device is needed.

[headwalk]

i piss on you.

[Potato]

This was my baby back in the day.



Then I had one of these things. Beautiful hardware, but Sony's software was atrocious.

[chronovore]

As I understand it, the hardware and software divisions at Sony are remarkably contentious and at odds with each other. It explains... a lot.

[remy]

(Image removed from quote.)

i piss on you.

Had the color screen version of this. godlike

[bork]

iPod Touch was a gateway drug for me. I had been using various PDAs, and then the color iPod and watched downloaded 3G movies on its puny screen. The day I was able to watch something on the iPod Touch without having to sync it with a computer, I was hooked.

I guess they’re just expecting people to buy the iPad Mini at this point, if a small form-factor data consumption device is needed.

That first iPod Touch was a game-changer.  It was so good and so much better than everything else available at the time.  Used it like crazy and it got me back into Apple products for the time.  Ended up getting an iPhone and a MacBook the following year. 

Dunno if I would call the iPad Mini a replacement for it- it's still a lot bigger than an iPod.  My guess is nobody is buying them since just about everyone has has a smartphone.

[HardcoreRetro]

Wait, what the fuck is this thread?

Where are Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper?

[D3RANG3D]

[Rufus]

My daily companion for quite a while. About the size of a matchbox, good sound, good battery life and 8GB was enough for my needs.

[Tasty]

My portable music player lineage.




Nomad MuVo (Creative, 2004)

Ah, when 30 songs seemed like a luxury. Being able to plug in via USB and drag+drop from my Windows PC was the main selling point here.




CD Walkman D-EJ001 (Sony, 2005)

My laptop had a CD burner and CD-Rs were insanely cheap, so I burned tons of custom playlist CDs for busrides to/from high school, in addition to backing up a ton of data on CD-R too (mostly BitTorrented anime).




Zune 1st Gen (Microsoft, 2007)

What a wonderful device. Version 1.0 of the Windows software was a mere Windows Media Player reskin, but 2.0 onwards had a industry-leading interface. 3.0 introduced custom apps and XNA publishing, and I loved tinkering with the SDK and C# as a teen hobbyist.




ODROID-S (Hardkernel, 2012)

Given as a gift for helping with a South Korean manufacturer's website, this served me well when I moved to Boston in the ~2 months before I finally got a smartphone.




Smartphones (Google's Nexus & Pixel lines, 2012-present)

Once you get cellular connectivity and apps, it's hard to go back. Streaming has been great too (I enjoy YouTube Music Premium).


My biggest MP3 desires back in the day...




iPod Video (Apple, 2004)

Mowed so many lawns saving for this... But I guess other things came up instead.




iPod Shuffle 1st Gen (Apple, 2005)

The definition of futuristic. Was in love after seeing this at my first YGO tournament.




Zune HD (Microsoft, 2009)

Despite debuting during my hype for Android smartphones, the Zune HD called to me. Amazingly designed even a decade later.

[chronovore]

The iPod Shuffle was seriously great for music in its time. Load it with whatever, hit play, like listening to a radio station that only played your favorite stuff. The design was spot on.
Listening to podcasts or audiobooks was... less desirable.

I had the iPod Video, and watched 3G movies on it which I think I downloaded off a dedicated LiveJournal channel with links to some sharing site. As an expat, getting even shitty copies of current TV series was pretty great.

That translucent Sony CD player is sexy as hell.

[Tasty]

The iPod Shuffle was seriously great for music in its time. Load it with whatever, hit play, like listening to a radio station that only played your favorite stuff. The design was spot on.

For some reason I prefer the dongle/monolith design to the square clip, even if the latter could be more practical...

I had the iPod Video, and watched 3G movies on it which I think I downloaded off a dedicated LiveJournal channel with links to some sharing site. As an expat, getting even shitty copies of current TV series was pretty great.

You can watch Lost! On your MP3 player! Anywhere!!

That translucent Sony CD player is sexy as hell.

Preteen years-onwards I've always had a huge soft spot for modern/minimalist/bauhaus designs.

[who is ted danson?]