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Apple to Declare Last iPod Nano Model 'Vintage' Later This Month

I have An iPod 40GB 3G and an iPod Mini 6GB 2nd gen (2005).

Putting new batteries and upgrading to 128Gb and 256Gb, respectively.

Easy, peasy.

I looked at ipod sales since my 3G (2003) was before the iPod “popped”, and this show why Apple doesn’t make iPods anymore. iPhones and iPads replaced them.

371EB3B3-E4C8-4884-8A95-D2210336D2CB.jpeg
 
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satchmo said:
The writing was on the wall when 3rd party companies made straps that effectively made the 6th gen iPod nano into a watch.

While the Apple Watch does many things, I still find button based iPods better for running. Heck even an iPod Shuffle is perfect for quickly navigating with buttons.
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Ultimately I think it was the iPhone and other smart phones that were the undoing of the iPod. For many people there is no point in carrying around a dedicated device to store and listen to music when you can do the same thing on your phone. I you go one step further and subscribe to a streaming service, or are willing to put up with adverts then you don't even need to worry about storage space for larger music libraries. I think the watch was further down the line. The rot had already set in.
 
I think it's a shame that they no longer make the Nano. I still use mine for running and gym workouts; the Nano is light enough that you can just put it in the pocket of your running shorts, and it disappears. You can't do that with an iPhone. You need some sort of arm or waist strap to hold it (at least for running), which constitutes a mild encumbrance.

Plus, IMO, being disconnected from your phone during the workouts makes them mentally healthier.

I suppose the Apple Watch is the thing that comes closest to replacing it.
 
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Vjosullivan said:
It's the other way around. Everybody has a music-playing phone, so why buy a Nano?
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For me, when I was traveling, it was being in planes for 3, 4, 5 hours, and using my iPhone and depleting its battery sucked. Some planes that had power, didn't have it enabled, and often too, the jack wasn't working, etc.

Using a Nano, or Touch, I can use a device that lasts a fairly long time, and can carry my music collection, a few simple games, and a few ebooks I'm reading. iPads are fine too, but sometimes just too large. The 'clip' Shuffle was great because I could just clip it onto a shirt, or the seat belt, and never 'lose' the thing in the jumble in the seat.

I like, and often need, a fully charged iPhone at the destination. Listening to tunes, playing games, and reading is necessary to break the monotony. We are treated like livestock, but need some civility, something to distinguish us from cattle.;):cool:
 
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Vjosullivan said:
It's the other way around. Everybody has a music-playing phone, so why buy a Nano?
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Love your sig picture. I used to go to a church that had that look. Many loved it. Then they hired an idiot minister, and he stacked the board with idiots who decided to tear down the entire church development, including the 'fellowship hall', and build a 'modern church'. It was freaking hideous. Sterile, plain, disappointing. The church was old enough there was still piping in the walls for gas for the chandeliers. A beautiful church. Sad that it's gone.

Still, great pic. Brings back good memories.
 
Phil A. said:
I still do that with one of these

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It plays music. That’s all it does and it does it brilliantly!
I also used to have a higher end Sony ZX507 but it uses Android and is less focused on simply playing music (not to mention having a poor battery life because of that) and I love the simplicity and quality of this sub £200 device

I love listening to music for its own sake and while I have an Apple Music subscription and use it on my phone in the car, I still buy lots of music in lossless format and the vast majority of time I listen to it on that device where I can appreciate it without distraction and as the artist intended it to sound
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I found an old Creative Reo and Nomad. Talk about blasts from the past. One uses those old gigantic chips, which I don't know if I can still get anymore (Compact Flash, which weren't really compact). There was a limit to the size too. I don't know if they still work. Time to blow out the cobwebs I guess.
 
Those of you with 7th gen Nanos with low batteries can still have them swapped at the Apple Store under battery replacement fee until they go vintage.

I think it’s like 59 dollars for the replacement.
 
PinkyMacGodess said:
For me, when I was traveling, it was being in planes for 3, 4, 5 hours, and using my iPhone and depleting its battery sucked. Some planes that had power, didn't have it enabled, and often too, the jack wasn't working, etc.
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That was the best part of the iPods - replacing your portable CD player and CDs with something that didn't weigh as much. That was a true PITA. Of course, instead I had an iTrip, aux cable, iPod, & charger. It was still better. Plus I didn't have to replace all those CDs that I accidentally left in rental cars (doh!).
 
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Eriamjh1138@DAN said:
I have An iPod 40GB 3G and an iPod Mini 6GB 2nd gen (2005).

Putting new batteries and upgrading to 128Gb and 256Gb, respectively.

Easy, peasy.

I looked at ipod sales since my 3G (2003) was before the iPod “popped”, and this show why Apple doesn’t make iPods anymore. iPhones and iPads replaced them.

View attachment 949742
Click to expand...
Based on this graph, it looks like the failure of the iPod wasn't the iPhone, but poor innovation.
Looking at the dollar amounts, the iPod income was equal-ish pre to post-iPhone until 2010. I attribute this to poor iPod design starting with the 2010 nano. Sure we saw the watch future in this design, but it didn't do what customers wanted an iPod nano to do. Then the 2012 nano got bigger and still a touch screen. Yipes!
The last iPod with buttons was the shuffle in 2010.If Apple was to make a product that competed with the iPhone, it needed to differentiate itself. Be usable in a pocket, be smaller, lighter, not need to look at a screen.

Unfortunately Apple wrote the future on the iPod's cash flow by only offering a $49 iPod. Of course it will make less money.
On the other side of the coin, people still bought iPod Touches hand over fist until Apple stopped updating them. It was a slam dunk for kids to get into the iOS ecosystem, professionals to mount on walls, use as cash register displays, timers in production. iPod touches were everywhere. When they stopped getting updated, it was cheaper to buy used iPhones.
 
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Apple products are "vintage" five years after they go out of production.

That is not news. That is longstanding policy. I've marked my calendar for the time my Apple products go out of support.
 
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mannyvel said:
That was the best part of the iPods - replacing your portable CD player and CDs with something that didn't weigh as much. That was a true PITA. Of course, instead I had an iTrip, aux cable, iPod, & charger. It was still better. Plus I didn't have to replace all those CDs that I accidentally left in rental cars (doh!).
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I think I found of of them. I've found CD cases too. It happens... Yeah, it's all in one device. I have my iPod, and Bose QC's, and my carry-on. And the iPod and cables fit in the Bose case. Easy peasy...
 
Craptastic said:
Those of you with 7th gen Nanos with low batteries can still have them swapped at the Apple Store under battery replacement fee until they go vintage.

I think it’s like 59 dollars for the replacement.
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Is there a way to test battery health on a 7th gen Nano? Mine still lasts long enough, but I am having some connection issues when trying to charge it, where if I let the charge get too low I have to keep reconnecting it until it stays connected for charging. But this may have nothing to do with the battery.
 
theorist9 said:
Is there a way to test battery health on a 7th gen Nano? Mine still lasts long enough, but I am having some connection issues when trying to charge it, where if I let the charge get too low I have to keep reconnecting it until it stays connected for charging. But this may have nothing to do with the battery.
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sounds more like a connection issue. I would state the battery only lasts about an hour and go from there
 
Craptastic said:
sounds more like a connection issue. I would state the battery only lasts about an hour and go from there
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It's not a simple physical connection issue, because I only (or nearly only) have this problem when the battery is completely or nearly depleted. When the battery is at least about 1/3 charged, it generally connects without issue. I did a Google search and found one other person reporting the same problem.

I'll post a separate thread about this on the appropriate subforum when I get around to it.
 
Apple Macintosh 128K said:
Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahaahahahaah! No, no it wouldn't. Why do you think Apple stopped making them? Why do you think the only people bothering to make MP3 players anymore are the cheap Chinese no-names? Because there's no money in it. Sales of MP3 players are dead. The last several iPods didn't sell well. A new one wouldn't sell well either.
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The only music-player market that would make sense would be for Apple to compete with FiiO, Cowon, etc. on the high-end dedicated music device market. It's small but the prices scale sharply.

However, that would align with Apple's current vision. They won't release a device with a headphone jack and all the niche music hardware and there's no need to keep a mainstream music device since the market has moved to the iPhone and I say that as someone with a still in-use iPod Classic.
 
this is ironic said:
7th gen was my favorite.
Bought a green one in 2014.
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Mine's red. Always loved that it included FM radio and that you could actually play movies on its tiny screen. Still haul it around in a credit-card-sized slot inside my handbag -- with a few lighthearted music videos on it to wow new friends who never realized there was a video-capable iPod that small.
leftoverbacon said:
If Apple turned this form factor into an iPhone Nano, I‘d be in heaven.
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Heh, remember the Juke? Loved that tiny phone. Stashed 3.7GB of tunes on it too.

samson juke u470.png
 
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LizKat said:
Mine's red. Always loved that it included FM radio and that you could actually play movies on its tiny screen. Still haul it around in a credit-card-sized slot inside my handbag -- with a few lighthearted music videos on it to wow new friends who never realized there was a video-capable iPod that small.


Heh, remember the Juke? Loved that tiny phone. Stashed 3.7GB of tunes on it too.

View attachment 1820748
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Yes I remember the Juke, loved it and then stashed it in a drawer.. Also had a 4th generation iPod touch. Juke was teal, iPod was white.
iPod touch broke.
 
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