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I love iPods that aren't touchscreen, they give a lot of value to those who want to disconnect but still have music.
What I don't understand about the iPod Touch is why they haven't updated it. Surely there's still $199 worth of value to have an iPhone SE without the cellular chip. Even the iPhone XR without cellular would make a great iPod Touch - and it had colors!
 
iPod touch was originally the entry apple product for young kids towards the ecosystem. Nowadays with parents willing to buy iPhone Pro Maxes for their kindergarteners, I would say iPod touch had accomplished its mission very well.
 
Not an Apple fan. But this is totally sad. I liked the shuffles for running back in the day. To me there is a case for the iPod touch, but that probably means holding up some manufacturing resources that could be spent on other things.
 
Truly and end of an era. Though not really a surprise considering it hasn't been updated in years.

Too bad though because I though the iPod Touch would have been a good entry device for children before they are old enough to have a phone. I guess that falls to the iPad now even though it is not pocketable.
 
It was inevitable. With the iphone & now the iwatch, there really is no need for the ipod touch. And I was a huge fan of the touch at one point. It’s been collecting dust for years now. I am sure some people will be upset. But that group will be too small to justify Apple producing such a product anymore.
 
I'll never forget the excitement I felt during the height of the iPod revolution. My favorite iPod ever:

hyudzvsefrv41.jpg
 
From the Press release:
“Apple Watch and AirPods are the perfect companion, allowing users to access over 90 million songs right from their wrist, starting at just $279 with Apple Watch SE.”
Does this mean the series 3 is dead as well?
I’d be thrilled that they get the S3 out of the lineup. On the US store, it looks like it’s not yet discontinued
 
The 2nd generation iPod touch was my first Apple device and is what brought me to the Apple ecosystem. Then, the 5th generation I used to use as a phone back in my college days. That era was magical.

RIP, you will be missed.
 
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Heartbreaking news, RIP! Dang, this actually makes me very sad. Such an iconic product. 😔

Good times! 😢

Once the iPod went away from being a tactile, button-driven music-focused piece of hardware, it kind of jumped the shark IMHO. I have yet to find a touch-screen driven music app on the iPhone that works 10% as well as a pre-touchscreen iPod with real buttons and a focused screen/interface.

Apple has proven how a company can easily fail by removing too much under the guise of offering something new (ports, jacks, keyboard travel, thickness, escape key, bezels, function keys), but sometimes you can also fail by offering too much.
 
They were good little devices. As much as I'm sad to see them go (and am not the most stoked to have to buy a headphone-jack-less iPhone SE or an A-series Google Pixel phone as my closest replacement product), they needed to either modernize that design or kill it. It was the last non-iPad iOS device with a physical non-haptic home button let alone without TouchID. I'm sad that they didn't just give us something in the body of an iPhone 6s with an A13-A15 just to keep the line along. But with the emphasis on Apple Music over having a traditional music library and with how cumbersome the UI of the music app on iPhones and iPod touches (compared to iPads), I guess it's just as well that we got to this point. The iPods were great though, and a huge part of what got me into Apple. They won't be forgotten anytime soon. At least, not by me.
 
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RIP iPod 🪦
2001-2022
As far as I am concerned, iPod died with iPod nano, last updated on 2012 and discontinued on 2017.

To me, iPod touch is iPhone without cellular. Outside limited commercial niche use cases, its necessity became increasingly questionable as the market is flooded with refurbished unlocked iPhone SEs (2nd gen) in the same price point.
I think the end of the iPod was when the Classic was discontinued. iPod was all about the wheel. Whether it was a physical turning wheel, a touch-sensitive circle, the click wheel, or even the round buttons on the iPod Shuffle. That wheel was iPod.
 
I'm tempted to get one for my 6 year old son so I can load some podcasts and music on it. Still seems like a good deal if you're not ready for your kids to have a phone or get on the internet...
The iPod touch can still get on the Internet.
That’s why I’ve never understood this argument that it’s a device for kids.
Without enabling parental restrictions, which also exist on the iPhone, it’s literally just an iPhone you can’t use without Wi-Fi. But when on Wi-Fi you can still access the same websites you can with the iPhone.
In fact I’d say it’s worse for kids because it’s less secure due to no biometrics, it has no U1 or Cellular so if it gets lost it’s quite lost, and if they’re ever in a bad situation where they need to contact help, they can’t really do that with an iPod touch.
The best solution is to get your kid an older iPhone for around the same price, put parental restrictions on it so you can monitor what they’re looking at, and be responsible.
Or, even better, get them an Apple Watch, connect it to your phone, and then they can’t get on websites per se but they can still access Music and Podcasts. It’s literally the perfect product for that situation you described, much better than an iPod Touch
 
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So what do parents like me who have kids under 10 years old buy for a portable "music player"?! Is Apple expecting me to drop $1000 on an iPhone? No. Bleeping. Way. $500+ for an iPad Mini? Nope. An iPad? Nope...it's too big to act as a portable music player (on the beach, walking, etc.). $429+ for an iPhone SE? Nope.

I think Apple's missing a huge audience. iPod Touch may not sell well compared to iPhones and iPads, but partly that blame is:
  • Apple has hidden iPod Touch on its website for years
  • Apple hasn't updated iPod Touch in 3 years
  • iPod Touch hasn't dropped in price in 3 years
  • iPod Touch looks/feels/seems terrible compared to an iPhone SE

This was easily planned to get you/us to buy far more expensive devices. I don't want to go looking for refurbished devices to get me somewhere within a reasonable price point.
 
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