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The End of an Era: What Was Your Favorite iPod?

Get ahold of an iPod Classic, stick one of those after-market SDXC boards in there, and plug in four 512GB cards. It's what I did. Now you have a player that can hold more music and audiobooks than any sane person would need, plus the device is considerably lighter, and the battery lasts way longer.

Don't have that much audio? You also now have a (slow) external hard drive, for carrying around a giant software, photo, and movie archive as well. Get a short Micro-USB to 30pin adapter and stick it onto another short USB-C to Micro-USB adapter. Now it can plug in and sync with any modern Mac.

Long live the iPod!!
 
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iPod Nano. I forget which version, but the square one with the little touch screen. I loved being able to clip it to my shirt.

It's day is done for sure though as now anything more cumbersome than my airpods is too much. I still know how to put away a headphone cord without tangling, though. Hah.

I still have the nano in a drawer. It's power (or I guess 'wake') button died at one point and I managed to fix it (with instructions from the web.) I am guessing that the battery is long gone by now, and I should probably just drop it off at an Apple store to be recycled or whatever... sigh. I did love that thing, once upon a time.
 
MacRumors said:


Apple today announced the official discontinuation of the iPod touch, the last remaining device in the iPod lineup. The sunsetting of the iPod touch marks the end of a 21-year era, that all started with the 2001 iPod.


Over the years, Apple introduced multiple iterations of the iPod, including iPod mini, multiple versions of the iPod nano, the iPod shuffle, and the iPod touch. We want to hear from you - what was your favorite iPod? Let us know in the comments below, and share your iPod photos with us.

Apple said that it is discontinuing the iPod because the iPod's capabilities have been built into the entire Apple product lineup, from the Mac to the iPhone to the Apple Watch.

Apple plans to continue selling the iPod touch on its website and in retail stores while supplies remain, but once it sells out, it will be gone for good. The iPod touch is priced starting at $199.

Article Link: The End of an Era: What Was Your Favorite iPod?
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Third generation was my gateway drug into apple, it still works fine by the way, but the battery hasn’t got much left in it. Kind of a sad point in history I suppose but somewhat inevitable.
 
The original video ipod was my savior on a bunch of international flights. Tiny screen, but still better than the broken one in the seat back pocket...and a whole lot better than a portable DVD player.
 
Populus said:
You’re right, the 7th gen Nano was a great device, a family member of mine had one for many years and I advised her to replace her aging battery before it was considered vintage. Yeah, and possibly with WiFi could have been an awesome Apple Music device as well, like @nkgmd said above.

However, I think after the discontinuation of the last iPod, the touch (which is an iPhone without celular), I think we’re speaking from our hearts, and back in 2008 the 4th gen nano was the MP3 player of our dreams for many of us. And also they gifted them with the Back To School promo after purchasing a mac.

What I mean is, yes, the last nano was objectively better in many regards, but when talking about our personal preferences, nostalgia plays a big role, and if I had to choose a vintage device to buy in order to keep and look at -and use it, why not?- I’d probably choose a 5th gen iPod nano, just like others prefer the iPod Classic with the big click-wheel, or the iPod Photo, or the iPod Video.
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Yeah I see your point. If I'm being nostalgic, I'm lining up for an iPhone 4, or maybe my Unibody MBP which let me self-upgrade the RAM and SSD, ah those were the days! Or maybe even a Macintosh Plus that I used in labs back in my undergrad days in the late 80's, but that was a bit more love/hate to be fair.

I have a feeling that my true future nostalgia is going to be from the 16" M1 Pro MBP that I have on order, by all reports, a machine of over-abundant power, incredible battery life, near perfect silence, and astounding screen and audio - just as long as I never wish I'd put more RAM/SSD in it, because that will be the day I get really angry and curse Apple's extraordinary greed. I suspect I'm going to bite the bullet and buy one of these new fangled iPhone Pro's that have the same look and feel of the glorious iPhone 4, and replace the perfectly capable, but rather average SE2 that I'm currently rocking (and gift it to my son who is happily struggling with an iPhone 7 with too small an SSD in it).

You've got to wonder what wonderful tech we will have in 10, 20, 50 years....
 
The Shuffle with the clip was great. Could clip to the back of a hat so one could exercise with ear buds sweat free and without cables dangling. In an era long before airpods and the apple watch, this was a great way to listen to podcasts and music on a run.
 
I have a 5th gen iPod Touch. I love it for creating on-the-fly Genius playlists from music I own, without having to have an Apple Music subscription. It's stuck on iOS 9.3.5, which is great because Apple didn't remove the free Genius functionality like it did in later versions of iOS that now require you to have an Apple Music subscription to create those Genius playlists. I'm really irked at Apple for having done that....taking away a great feature that was always free before in Music.
 
Hell, it's about time! -Tychus Findlay

No offense to those who love the IpT, but I'm genuinely surprised they didn't discontinue it far sooner. I know people like IpT for children, but some were also getting hand-me-down iPhones instead. Warehouses, inventory, medical, and other such sectors may have liked them since they were small, relatively cheap (if not the best value), and their same size from IpT4 to 7th gen meant they could used with the same cases/covers.

I am by no means a hater. My ipods include...
--Ipod Touch 3
--Ipod Touch 4
--Ipod Touch 5
I used these as gaming devices. They got replaced by a couple of ipads. The larger screen and better internals won out vs. the pocketability, and cheaper prices (and these days, a 9th gen iPad is $300 to $330!). I still carry my IpT5 with me. It's more so a glorified flashlight + calculator these days, but it's slim profile fits well in my pocket. And I still use lightning connector for my ipad

--Ipod Classic 80 GB model
Brushed aluminum I believe was its exterior? Used this A LOT while driving and public transit. Great to fit all of my songs without requiring "iCloud" or internet access. I travel less these days, but still have one of these as a backup! I have Sirius XM which is nice for places where I don't get internet, and it's already there in my car which is another reason I use this less.
 
Rest in peace my dear friend, you've changed Apple forever and we'll never forget you (dramatized picture due to the grief ?)

IMG_0163_noSN.jpg

My first Apple Device, the iPod 5th Gen w/video, after 17 years it's still working, I can't believe how well this little fella holds up and how the battery didn't completely die. Still using it in my living room from time to time with its original dock! :)

Good ol' times!

edit: forgot to include the model ?
 
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Apple is ridiculous. There was and is a need for an iPod. I always thought the one to keep was the Classic or nano.
How does this help their Music Store? I use my Classic all the time and just got a new battery installed for $50. When this one goes I will buy a refurb. If Apple had an iPod available other than the Touch I would have bought a new one.
This company has more money than most companies, why can't they keep a version of the iPod for sale? it ws still selling in the millions when they canceled the nano.
It's things like this that really make me dislike Tim Cook
 
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MacRumors article from May 2032:
"Apple today announced the official discontinuation of the iPhone 24, the last remaining device in the iPhone lineup..."
 
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For me the second generation iPod Nano in Blue, it was just so small and durable and I didn't have to worry all the time about scratching a back full of stainless steel, it got me through my education years too so there is an emotional connection there

Then I got the first generation iPod Touch and was completely blown away, I was so paranoid about damaging that I got one of those invisible shield 'wrap' things that were all the rage at the time which was fine until it just started peeling off

Then I queued up for a iPhone 2G and the rest is history I guess, I actually didn't upgrade that until the iPhone 5 believe it or not! (although I really wish I had just stopped delaying and upgraded when the iPhone 4 came out...)

Part of me wants to rush out tomorrow and buy a brand new 7th generation 32GB Touch just as a bit of a collector item
 
Hard to choose a favorite, but my first iPod, the iPod Video, certainly holds a special place in my heart. Loved the fat nano and the first few generations of the Touch (when carrier exclusivity precluded me from owning an iPhone) as well.
 
casjohnr said:
Then I got the first generation iPod Touch and was completely blown away, I was so paranoid about damaging that I got one of those invisible shield 'wrap' things that were all the rage at the time which was fine until it just started peeling off
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Those "Invisible Shield" wraps were hard to put on, I do remember the spray included and the battle removing the bubbles from my iPhone 4S kit, finally gave up and moved to Belkin screen protectors if I remember correctly.

To be fair, once installed they were pretty scratch resistant, I didn't know regarding the peeling issue.
 
The original. The physical wheel was just so much nicer feeling than the touch wheel 2nd gen I've got. And the UI worked and made sense, unlike the horrible Music app we've got now.

I still kind of wish we'd actually gotten that iPhone...

clickwheeliphone.jpg
 
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iPod Touch 2nd Gen was technically my first iPod I bought with my own money—but I had used my mom’s green iPod nano 3rd Gen and was given a busted iPod 3rd or 4th Gen (click wheel one idk really). The old classic iPod works every now and then, but I think the hard drive is shot on it—spins up and clicks to a halt, then does it again until the dead iPod logo shows up.

After my 2nd Gen Touch I went on to a 4th Gen Touch, and then onto an iPhone 4S. Man, I miss those days so much.
 
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Populus said:
My favorite iPod was the nano, specifically, the 4th and the 5th gen iPod nano.

4th gen nano:

View attachment 2003412

5th gen nano:

View attachment 2003416
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Ahhh, the 4th-gen iPod Nano was my very first Apple product, which I got for my 20th birthday in 2008. Loved it a lot, and then after its' battery life was greatly shortened after over five years of love, I replaced it with 5th-gen iPod Touch with 32 GB of storage, and in a way it was like my first "Smart" device, albeit without a phone or cellular service. Years later, the battery life on it began to also falter, along with the Lightning connector not being as reliable anymore, so in November 2019 I replaced it with a 7th-gen iPod Touch, again with 32 GB of storage, because I was otherwise largely using a Samsung Galaxy Note 4 for a lot of mobile web browsing, video streaming, camera usage, etc., especially since it had a 64 GB Micro-SD card loaded into it. But then when that Samsung phone started failing in 2020, that July I replaced it with a 2nd-gen iPhone SE, and I've been using that ever since, even replacing my iPod Touch (which I still have, alongside my late grandfather's 30 GB iPod Classic and a 7th-gen iPod Nano I got from my workplace that had gotten a batch of them.
 
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