iPod New iPod Classic for its 20th anniversary in October 2021

[fluxtransistor]

It would certainly be a pleasant surprise to see some sort of non-Touch homage to the original iPod this year.

A click wheel just can't be replaced and it's uncomfortable to control a touchscreen device when working out/commuting/just having it in your pocket. Headphone jack adapters are a nuisance and not everyone wants AirPods.

The era of iTunes has moved on, and I love having everything imaginable on my iPhone. But sometimes it's just a little too much with notifications, distractions and battery life making it unfit for pure music listening.

People have swapped batteries and drives into classic iPods with several times the capacity, making them last days on end. Now imagine the possibilities with modern low power SoCs. I think that it would be great to see a comeback of the iPod brand, with:

- SSD, 256/512GB
- Battery lasts for days
- Wireless charging
- Bluetooth, WiFi
- Headphone jack
- Hi-res formats
- CarPlay
- Click wheel
- Apple Music / Spotify

We deserve this!

 

[ruslan120]

I fully support this. Unfortunately I just don’t see how it’s possible since music is all cloud based (excluding myself from this, still keeping things local on principle against subscription models but that’s a separate discussion).

With everything going to subscription models I don’t see an easy way to type to search what you’re looking for. Every bit of music, ever, could appear in the list using the click wheel but it would take ages to narrow down what you’re looking for.

 

[ruslan120]

P.S. Long live the iPod. Restoring a fifth gen (parts are on their way) with a color change and larger body + battery. Was going to stuff a raspberry Pi in there but someone on YouTube beat me to it.

 

[tranceking26]

I'd love to see this happen but there's no chance sorry. At this point I'm surprised the Touch is still for sale.

 

[fluxtransistor]

To be honest, Apple Music still stores (protected) files locally. It's still quite frustrating to have to wear a brittle new iPhone when going for a run, and there appears to be no vaguely modern solution to this.

 

[7thson]

It’s good to dream, but keep your feet firmly planted in reality. They stopped making iPods because people stopped buying them. I do agree though that the click wheel was a great interface tool.

 

[danny842003]

To be honest, Apple Music still stores (protected) files locally. It's still quite frustrating to have to wear a brittle new iPhone when going for a run, and there appears to be no vaguely modern solution to this.

Brittle? I don’t think people are even using phones for running now. The majority I know, myself included use smart watches as the ‘modern’ solution.

 

[danny842003]

To be honest, Apple Music still stores (protected) files locally. It's still quite frustrating to have to wear a brittle new iPhone when going for a run, and there appears to be no vaguely modern solution to this.

Brittle? I don’t think people are even using phones for running now. The majority I know, myself included use smart watches as the ‘modern’ solution.

 

[Jessica Lares]

The other thing people need to remember is that our lives were very different 20 years ago. A lot of us could afford to be absorbed in our iPods for hours everyday. There's a lot of nostalgia for those days, but it's not like social media is the only thing keeping people on their phones.

 

[robotica]

be great to have an M1 in there and a thunderbolt port too! a guy can dream right?

 

[oneMadRssn]

20 years also means that surely any patents protecting features in the original iPod have expired or are about to expire (or be rendered invalid in view of the iPod itself).

It would be cool to see some modernized iPod clones.

 

[Chung123]

I would love to see a video-photo-film making focused "iPod" with camera(s) as good as the latest iPhones.

With all the interest in mobile filmmaking with iPhones, one has to live with the fact that you have to unlock it first, disable notifications before you can even start recording. (Not to mention risking a $700-900 device that happens to be your lifeline.)

Make it ruggedized with tripod/microphone attachments points etc. (No selfie camera needed) Add HDMI in, so one can use it as a monitor, or even a video capture device via HDMI.

Yes, I know one can get a used/second iPhone to be a dedicated camera---but it'd be cool if Apple made a new hybrid category that works alongside your regular iPhone.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

I wouldn't mind something like this. As long as it plays nice with Spotify and Apple music, that'd be really cool.

A physical scroll wheel, an OLED screen above it. Bluetooth, Wifi, etc...

I'd buy one. The iPod Nano in my car is getting pretty old.

 

[ruslan120]

I would love to see a video-photo-film making focused "iPod" with camera(s) as good as the latest iPhones.

With all the interest in mobile filmmaking with iPhones, one has to live with the fact that you have to unlock it first, disable notifications before you can even start recording. (Not to mention risking a $700-900 device that happens to be your lifeline.)

Make it ruggedized with tripod/microphone attachments points etc. (No selfie camera needed) Add HDMI in, so one can use it as a monitor, or even a video capture device via HDMI.

Yes, I know one can get a used/second iPhone to be a dedicated camera---but it'd be cool if Apple made a new hybrid category that works alongside your regular iPhone.

+1

There have been some cool accessories but what would be even better is a DSLR with Apple’s computational photography built in. Sadly that computational photography drives iPhone sales so unless they sell an Apple Camera for $3K+ it might not be worth the cost for them to develop and support

 

[SegNerd]

I wish there were a WiFi device that could do podcasts and radio streams without having to sync with anything. It’s frustrating that there is actually a device that purports to do this, but it has very poor reviews and is heavily locked in to Spotify.

 

[iHorseHead]

It's never going to happen, but I too wish there was such device out there.

 

[Chung123]

+1

There have been some cool accessories but what would be even better is a DSLR with Apple’s computational photography built in. Sadly that computational photography drives iPhone sales so unless they sell an Apple Camera for $3K+ it might not be worth the cost for them to develop and support

If Apple did their own camera using a common lens mount.. it might be interesting--but it'd be competing price wise with the established players like Panasonic, Canon, Nikon, Sony etc.

For me, a portable video media device that is NOT your phone would be useful. Apple could play a bit in the GoPro/Dashcam/Life Recorder space.

I would love if such a device could easily be used as Webcam. (using the high quality rear camera).. Have it work with desktops.... or as a SECOND camera if used with MacBook or iMac.

And have the device work with the AppleTV for Group FaceTime.

 

[ruslan120]

If Apple did their own camera using a common lens mount.. it might be interesting--but it'd be competing price wise with the established players like Panasonic, Canon, Nikon, Sony etc.

For me, a portable video media device that is NOT your phone would be useful. Apple could play a bit in the GoPro/Dashcam/Life Recorder space.

I would love if such a device could easily be used as Webcam. (using the high quality rear camera).. Have it work with desktops.... or as a SECOND camera if used with MacBook or iMac.

And have the device work with the AppleTV for Group FaceTime.

Kind of like a Pro Display that people end up using as their regular displays anyway? 😎

They’ve done it before with headphones as of December

 

[1611215]

Apologies have no idea who made this concept but saw it on twitter. But I think a modern classic with BT, both lightning/3.5mm and streaming services would be good

 

[ExclusiveMac]

This way i would like to be released.

 

[Traverse]

I would like this so much, but I just don't see it happening. Apple's strategy today is not to seek large-storage dedicated devices for people who own their own music, but rather to sell  Music subscriptions. Granted, Apple could make a small streaming devices as there is a DAP market with similar features that has survived, but I the scale wouldn't be large enough.

Really, it would require Apple to be a nostalgic company, and they're not. Their answer would be to just get an iPhone with large storage for both owned music libraries and streaming potential.

 

[ruslan120]

Their answer would be to just get an iPhone with large storage for both owned music libraries and streaming potential.

... and download Rewound, either jailbreak or get a developer license and side load via Xcode.

 

[ruslan120]

PS Once you do it you realize how much better the iPhone / iPod Touch is. Or at least was. Apple Music’s app for native music has been garbage for the last few iOS’ and any good alternatives on the App Store aren’t allowed to integrate deeply enough with native APIs.
*frustrated sigh

 

[Slix]

I love iPods.

I don't think they'll ever do something like this. The closest iPod related announcement we got was during the iPhone 7 keynote when they mentioned the Click Wheel. Having something modern with weeks long battery life and a Lightning connector and bluetooth would be cool.

However, I think if they were to ever do this, having a larger screen that doubled as a touch screen for inputting text would make more sense than a wheel with such a large empty space around it. Imagine a Classic-sized 5th gen nano design but the screen is a touch screen for keyboard entry too.

I use all sorts of iPods on a regular basis and they're all good at different things, but none of them except the touches are good at searching huge huge libraries by text input. It's just not practical for the ever increasing music that people want on a device, sadly.

Plus, how much would they charge for this? XD

 

[macsound1]

One was mentioned above, running. Who wants to carry their phone on a run! Yes I understand that the Watch is the obvious solution here but poor music control is frustrating. When you want to run and easily switch songs, the watch distracts you from your actual purpose.
Second is at the gym. Yes still exercising but for me, it's one more. It's disconnecting. My iPhone and Watch can ring. My iPod can't. So I still use an iPod when I go to the gym (non-pandemic).

Also if they actually did this, they'd perfect the offline music thing which is currently annoying. When you're on a plane and could've sworn that you checked the right boxes and gave it enough time to download, only to realize it didn't finish or whatever, super annoying and solvable by a wifi sync only device.

Honestly people who still use iPods are already hacking this together. We're just itching to shell out another $200 for an up-to-date device that does more with less energy.