[HN Gopher] Apple is discontinuing the iPod ___________________________________________________________________ Apple is discontinuing the iPod Author : minimaxir Score : 360 points Date : 2022-05-10 16:02 UTC (6 hours ago) (HTM) web link (www.apple.com) (TXT) w3m dump (www.apple.com) | perardi wrote: | Looks like I finally moved my dad from an iPod touch to an iPhone | SE at the right time. | | (He was convinced, for whatever reason, he couldn't figure out | how to use an iPhone...despite he uses an iPod touch, and an | iPad, and quite fluently. And within 1 day he was delighted, | because he finally had something approximating a useful camera in | his pocket.) | m463 wrote: | I liked that ipods were "safe". | | I think a lot of non tech people would REALLY benefit from a | setting to "confirm before dialing" in ios. | | For example, touching ANYTHING in the phone app will | immediately dial that number. | | That leads to real problems with inexperienced users, who then | get the mindset that they're not good with tech. | | To be clear - the blame here is 100% on apple. | | Most people I know have butt dialed. I consider myself highly | aware of my phone, yet have _accidentally called back spam | callers_. yikes! | tehnub wrote: | Yes, yes. I also would consider myself highly aware of my | phone, and I have called back spam callers I don't know how | many times from both the "Recents" tab and the notification | screen. I'm generally impressed with the usability of Apple's | default apps, so this one stands out. You'd really think the | "Phone" app on the "iPhone" would be a bit better thought | out. | perardi wrote: | And the thing is: this is _better_ than it used to be. | | At least every single phone call doesn't interrupt at the | absolute highest level of priority and take over your | screen entirely. Up until...iOS 14?...you didn't really | have a choice to not deal with an incoming call while using | the phone: a call immediately took over. | Headwig wrote: | Made it really hard to ignore my friends and family | willswire wrote: | Honestly I'm surprised that it took Apple this long to take this | product behind the barn and shoot it. | | My first device was an iPod touch - but the iPhone is better | (clearly). A consolidated line-of-effort for one less platform | will be helpful, I think, in allocating talent behind the other | products that matter. | digisign wrote: | > the iPhone is better (clearly) | | They were as they designed them. Not everyone wants/needs a | phone. No reason they couldn't put a top-end camera in the | iPod. | Kwpolska wrote: | Apple hasn't put any effort into the iPod touch for the past | few years. The last refresh was in May 2019, the previous one | was in July 2015. The only effort there might have been is for | someone to test the latest iOS on an iPod touch, which is a | neglible amount of effort, especially for Apple. | tomjen3 wrote: | I mean if Steve was around he would remind you all that as far as | Apple is concerned the iPhone is the best iPod they ever made. | oneeyedpigeon wrote: | Was that his genuine opinion? It sounds like a thing to say to | sell iPhones to me. | SllX wrote: | I won't try to convince you, but go watch the Motorola ROKR | introduction from Steve Jobs on YouTube, then watch his | introduction of the iPhone at MacWorld 2007. | | You can tell when he's not just selling something, but | believes that what he says he is selling is what he is | selling. | rchaud wrote: | This is the same Steve Jobs that said on stage Samsung's | original Galaxy Tab 7" defeated the purpose of a tablet | because he needed to file his fingers down to use it. | | He knew full well an iPad Mini was coming the year after. | He just had to sell what was on the shelves now. | SllX wrote: | Ha! I remember that. But if you recall, the first iPad | mini was 7.9" and subsequent iPads mini stayed close to | the 8" watermark. A decade later my iPhone is a lot | closer to 7" at 6.7". | replygirl wrote: | it's hard to undersell how big a deal the ipod was 15 years | ago. the iphone was introduced as an ipod first, a phone | second, and an internet communicator third. until the app | store launched, most of the ads were "it's an ipod that makes | phone calls". and people expected the touch to be good | because the click wheel was good | scyzoryk_xyz wrote: | This. This is something that has been interesting to see | sort of get mixed up in memory. | | The struggling computer company first got into people's | pockets with a device that played music (a key insight - | people make emotional contact with media). That position | then bought them the time to finance development of know- | how around pocket computers in plain sight. And then | finally when the timing was just right and nobody expected | it, they basically leveraged that position to deliver that | pocket computer to the masses. | SllX wrote: | And it is true whether you use the built-ins, 3rd party | software or an amalgamation. Overcast, Apple Music, Photos and | YouTube Premium are my "iPod". | boomboomsubban wrote: | That's basically what the official announcement says. | https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2022/05/the-music-lives-on/ | can16358p wrote: | To be honest I was surprised that it lived on this long, and | couldn't even understand why Apple released the 7th generation. | It doesn't have a non-niche use, at least not in any profitable | form worth supporting a device category. | | It was great for its time and I've owned and loved my iPod | touches, but we can't expect a for-profit company to keep selling | a device with no future and only a niche market, eventhough the | device was iconic at some point in the past. | | Good move, and a big cherish to the iPod for changing the way we | listen to music back then. | tfitz237 wrote: | The Music Lives On [... while supplies last] | jrochkind1 wrote: | I'm still using an IPod Nano 5th generation (2009). | | I bought it off ebay as a replacement for my iPod Nano 4th | generation (2008) that was stolen in a home break-in! | | I love it. I dread the day the battery stops working, which it | will eventually, and which is probably the only thing that would | ever lead the thing not working anymore. | | I still put podcasts and mp3's on it. I listen to it in my car | (which is also old enough to work with it via a hardwire USB | hookup, I also dread the day I replace my car with one that | own't), or with headphones when walking. | | I've become one of those middle-aged people who doesn't want to | change. But the iPod nano _still_ seems like amazing futuristic | science fiction technology to me. it 's tiny. It Just Works. | (although MacOS has started having trouble sync'ing files to it | without going crazy with duplicate files, I'm afraid). | deergomoo wrote: | There is a part of me that wants to abandon streaming services | and just buy a couple of albums per month based on what I think | might be cool. I find myself enjoying music significantly less | now I have unlimited access to everything I could ever want. It's | become disposable; just background noise rather than something | I'm actively experiencing. | | There is also a part of me that wants to take those albums and | keep them on an old click-wheel iPod. I always thought the early | iPod nanos were among the best consumer hardware devices ever | made. Just the right mix of boxy and round; small enough to be | novel (at least at the time), but large enough to still be | perfectly usable. Unfortunately, finding one that both holds a | charge and isn't battered to all hell is quite difficult these | days, and even so, it's much harder to justify a single use | device for music when I literally always have my phone with me. | | As someone who was a teen when the iPod really started taking | off, it was a constant presence during the time music was | starting to become an important part of my life. Sad to see it | go, even though really it's been gone since the iPhone launched. | fullshark wrote: | Yeah i loved the Ipod, and I loved the ability to listen to "my | music" whenever i wanted. It was a major game changer, and now | I can do the same but "my music" no longer feels special so it | hardly seems to matter. Media has become a commodity good with | the maturation of the internet, substitute goods have never | been easier to find. | javajosh wrote: | _> There is a part of me that wants to abandon streaming | services and just buy a couple of albums per month based on | what I think might be cool._ | | This is what I do! And for similar reasons. It's actually | really great because a) you can pick up used CDs and vinyl for | cheap, b) you get to listen to the whole album, c) there are no | screens involved. I didn't realize how oppressive screen-based | music selection has become until I ditched it. I love my setup | (and you can pick up great used audio equipment for cheap now, | too.) Just do it - and if you don't like it you can get rid of | it all on ebay. | dotnet00 wrote: | I've been doing this, would definitely recommend it. I have | also considered getting an old school music player, but I'd | rather not carry around yet another device when a big reason I | bought the phone I bought was having a headphone jack. | brewdad wrote: | If your phone has a slot for an SD card, load it up (opus | sounds good enough for on the go) with your collection and | you can have the benefits of an old school player behind an | app interface on the phone you already carry everywhere. | dotnet00 wrote: | Phones these days have so much internal storage that I | haven't had to use an sd card, although my phone does have | a slot for one. I prefer to use plex and plexamp for my | music so I have the conveniences of streaming services with | the ownership and classic music player feel of old school | devices. | | Having tried Youtube Music, Tidal and Amazon Music, I feel | that the UIs of most streaming apps and even most music | apps in general are not that great. | [deleted] | conductr wrote: | Streaming is just a medium. How you curate and listen is the | message. I might be a bit older than average here but I | converted to iPod on first generation and I'm on the streaming | bandwagon now but I never got into the habit of shuffling. I | listen to albums, track by track in order. Always have | regardless of the tech I was using and don't feel like I've | missed much. Actually I've gained a bit because I can branch | out pretty wide from my core stuff and I can put on a playlist | for ease when I just want background noise. Also, I remember | the feeling of buying an album out of pure curiosity and | thinking it was trash. That doesn't happen any more. | | So really all to say, it might be worth trying some habit hacks | before flipping the whole thing over. | Bayart wrote: | Modding old iPods to have them run flash memory and decent | batteries is pretty common, you could look into that. I'm still | using my 17 years old iPod 5G like this. Flashed with Rockbox | it reads every file format (mostly FLAC) I could ever want. | tomjen3 wrote: | You can buy the songs on iTunes or whatever it is called and | then you can later sync it to an iPod - and there are repairs | on youtube where they put in fresh new batteries. | globular-toast wrote: | One of my favourite teachers at school noted this phenomenon | long before streaming was a thing. He said that once he got a | favourite film on DVD he actually watched it less. Whereas | before he would watch it whenever it was on TV, he can now | watch it whenever he wants, so why watch it ever? | | I've noticed a related phenomenon: too much choice induces | anxiety. If there are like 5 films showing in the cinema it's | usually obvious which one to pick. Maybe I'll watch another | later in the week. But now I can watch any film ever made and I | often find it hard to choose because there is a fear of missing | out on all the other films I could have chosen. | paulmd wrote: | > There is a part of me that wants to abandon streaming | services and just buy a couple of albums per month based on | what I think might be cool. I find myself enjoying music | significantly less now I have unlimited access to everything I | could ever want. It's become disposable; just background noise | rather than something I'm actively experiencing. | | I strongly prefer the "sit down and listen to a whole album" | experience anyway, at least from artists who make a deliberate | attempt to put together a cohesive album and not just one or | two bangers and a bunch of filler. | | Sitting down and listening to a Bowie album or something is a | time capsule, and I'm not a boomer so it's not childhood | nostalgia either. It's nice to sit down and listen to an hour | of music that was specifically curated to produce a certain | experience. | | > Unfortunately, finding one that both holds a charge and isn't | battered to all hell is quite difficult these days, and even | so, it's much harder to justify a single use device for music | when I literally always have my phone with me. | | FYI you can replace the battery in an iPod... someone pointed | me towards Cameron Sino as being an extremely reputable | supplier of replacements (I've known of them for a long time | but I had no idea they sold direct to consumer!). | | Also, if you are not enamored with needing to use iTunes, the | "Rockbox" open-source firmware targets Apple hardware and that | should allow it to act like a plain old USB Mass Storage | device. I used to use it like 15+ years ago on my iRiver H320 | music player. | | (the name "iRiver" actually predates the ipod! They were a | korean company who became known for making very capable flash | and HDD mp3 players for their day, with OGG Vorbis support and | line-in recording and many other neat features.) | | https://www.rockbox.org/ | | Also also, if you are interested in improvements, or your HDD | died, you can get an IDE-to-CF adapter or perhaps SD/MicroSD or | mSATA or M.2 (not sure what's available nowadays) and use a | normal flash drive. At the time they were popular this often | implied a reduction in capacity, but flash is big now and you | can probably get like a 1TB drive and with Rockbox it should | recognize it. Not all cards work, but I think the dividing line | is often "cards that speak IDE" vs cards that don't - many of | the high-spec CompactFlash cards actually have a "native IDE" | mode so they speak the same protocol as the original drive did. | It also substantially improves battery life, because you're | going from a spinning drive pulling a couple watts to a flash | card pulling ~nothing. | | No affiliation with this site and haven't used them but this is | basically what you'll be looking for: | https://www.iflash.xyz/ipod-and-sdhc-sdxc-cards/ | | If your device is _physically_ battered to hell then yeah, not | much you can do besides try to find a replacement. But if your | ipod is still in decent shape with a fresh battery and a flash | adapter it 'll be better than new. Do try to minimize the | number of assembly/disassembly cycles though, there's lots of | little plastic clips in most devices and they won't last | forever. | | Also, Fiio made some devices with very similar ergonomics to | the ipod (eg the scroll wheel) like the X5 and X5ii, although | like most others they've gone to android nowadays. I have an | X5ii that will take a pair of 128GB microSD cards and it has a | solid hifi headphone amp built in. | | https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/fiio-x5-2nd-gen-premium-hi-... | eyelidlessness wrote: | > There is a part of me that wants to abandon streaming | services and just buy a couple of albums per month based on | what I think might be cool. | | I highly encourage giving it a try if you're inclined. I | personally never took to streaming services, largely for the | reasons you express. | | For me it's mostly because I dislike shuffle, and prefer | listing to full albums. Not a hipster snobby thing, it just | fits my attention span better and has led to several artists | becoming favorites when I'd felt pretty meh about their | singles. | Bluecobra wrote: | > There is a part of me that wants to abandon streaming | services and just buy a couple of albums per month based on | what I think might be cool. | | I used to do this before the streaming services existed. I used | to buy a handful of MP3's from Amazon (don't laugh) per month. | I would also buy used CDs and rip it to MP3. Apple Music is | included with monthly cell phone bill so I now "rent" some of | my music now, it's just easier. I'm careful not to just | download whole albums outright though, I have a curated | collection of songs I like and I still use the old star ratings | in iTunes. I also pay for $25/year for iTunes Match to maintain | my legacy collection. | [deleted] | dkonofalski wrote: | This is me as well and is the primary reason I still buy albums | on vinyl. I'm not an audiophile snob or anything, I just think | that listening to music on vinyl is deliberate enough to | overcome the "disposable" issue that you're describing. If I | want to listen to an album, I have to go to the room in my | house with the turntable, open the album, put it on, set the | tone arm, etc. It's very deliberate and it helps me appreciate | and dedicate time to music. | deergomoo wrote: | I forget where I was reading/listening to it (may well have | been a podcast), but I recall someone talking about printing | out tiny artwork for NFC tags and configuring them in such a | way that scanning them played the one album printed on it. I | thought that was super neat--still got the convenience of | digital music, but it is still a deliberate action as you | describe. | dxscorp wrote: | I've also turned to vinyl for this, and while I love it, I | will say I yearn for something that doesn't involve the | dreaded 'flip' especially on modern double albums. 3 songs | per side goes by so fast. Maybe this is why people still use | cassettes? | Multicomp wrote: | Not cassettes but a dedicated CD player is what I use for | this stuff. | | I have certain custom mixtape style mood music CDs | depending on how the scene in my novel is supposed to feel | tonally, for example. | | Yes I could make those into YouTube playlists, but the | ritual of putting in the right CD has something to say for | it, and also my CDs never have advertisements that manage | to sneak past all of my layers of adblock, nor do they | suddenly decide to be unavailable on one particular day or | another. | ckosidows wrote: | I bought a Vinyl player (AT-LP60XBT) but rarely use it | because I feel like I can't tell a difference between it | and Spotify through my speakers (Edifier S350DB). Only | difference seems to be it's more inconvenient. | | It feels like the inconvenience is what people _like_ about | vinyl? But maybe my setup just isn't good enough to tell a | difference? | endorphine wrote: | My thoughts exactly. That's one of the big advantages that | vinyl comes with, for me personally. | | This and that I'm very deliberate about keeping track of new | music I want to listen to (my queue). EDIT: There was a tool | posted here on Show HN a few days ago that seemed interesting | for this sort of stuff but I can't seem to find it now. | dont__panic wrote: | There's a middle ground, too -- you can host music streaming | for your own library through [Jellyfin](https://jellyfin.org/) | (or Plex, or a few other alternatives) for the backend and | something like | [FinAmp](https://github.com/UnicornsOnLSD/finamp) on the | frontend. Easy to curate your own library, and you can avoid | the "sync problem" when you download a new album. | | There are some bugs to iron out in the setup, but my raspberry | pi home server has been running this great for 5 months now, | and offline media served me very well through a cross-country | move. It's a great opportunity to take back some agency from | Spotify, start contributing to artists on bandcamp or similar, | and cut another annoying monthly subscription from your life. | | When someone hands me their phone to play music on Spotify at | this point, I find the front page absolutely overwhelming. It's | sort of like going back to cable after streaming for years, and | seeing your first ad. You wonder how you ever put up with it. | jszymborski wrote: | I do something similar with the subsonic protocol by locally | hosting Airsonic[0] and listening with Strawberry Player[1] | on Desktop and iSub[2] on iOS. Using Tailscale[3], I'm able | to stream my library on the go. Best part is that all this | infra is free and pretty hands-off maintenance-wise. | | [0] https://airsonic.github.io/ | | [1] https://www.strawberrymusicplayer.org/ | | [2] https://isub.app/ | | [3] https://tailscale.com/ | lynguist wrote: | Could such a setup be used for streaming movies as well? If | yes, could you explain how? | mouth wrote: | Plex, Emby, and Jellyfin all could be used to accomplish | this. | jszymborski wrote: | Yup! I run Jellyfin on the same machine as Airsonic for | movies and shows. | bitL wrote: | With Jellyfin you might end up with the same problem if your | catalogue is too large - it's then indistinguishable from | other streaming services. | brewdad wrote: | I've been a Plex user for years. I started playing around | with Jellyfin this week and I think I'll probably use both | for a while since they can share the same library. | | Plexamp has been great for music. I can put on any CD I | own, in FLAC quality, without having to go locate the | physical disc. I've spent much of pandemic filing in holes | in the back catalog of my favorite artists. | | If I want a mix, I tend to open up Tidal and let it build a | "radio station" based on my mood. | jjcon wrote: | Also a plex user for music and have also played with | Jellyfin. My impression is that in a couple years | Jellyfin will be the go to but that it isn't quite up to | snuff with Plex yet (especially wrt music) though some | projects like JellyAmp are changing that. | geoffeg wrote: | I've been frustrated with Spotify's UI for so long now. It | just seems so full of dark... or at least dim(?) user | patterns. I started buying albums from bands I like off | Bandcamp and loading them into Plexamp. (I really hope Epic | doesn't destroy Bandcamp, it's one of the few remaining | sources of high-quality (FLAC) downloadable music.) | lapsis_beeftech wrote: | Bandcamp is great; the only marketplace I have found with | fair and reasonable terms for both producers and consumers | of music. I never buy music anywhere else these days and am | rather worried about Epic Games' acquisition. | mikenew wrote: | Navidrome is far and away the best self hosted streaming | music server. I set up half a dozen and wasn't happy until I | tried that one. The developer is very friendly and responsive | too. | | https://github.com/navidrome/navidrome | tehnub wrote: | You can also use Apple Music to stream your own local | library. That feature is why I switched from Spotify a few | years ago. | stuartd wrote: | Been using iTunes Match for years and it's great. I have a | load of stuff in my library which was either never released | digitally (eg em:t) or was deleted (eg The KLF). Oink. | stuartd wrote: | Having said that, in the really early days it (or my | phone, an iPhone 4 and later a 6S) was a terrible | experience a lot of the time. Even with _good Wi-Fi_ I'd | wait for songs to play and then they would probably still | stutter. It's seamless now though, as long as I have a | decent mobile signal. | daveofiveo wrote: | I have been using iTunes Match for years and now use | Apple Music. I love it, especially the integration. | Combine that with CarPlay and the audio entertainment | options really open up. | | Question to stuartd: I am concerned about how long Apple | will support iTunes Match. Have you thought about what | you would switch to in order to stream your Apple | Music/iTunes when or if Apple sunsets iTunes Match as a | service? | | Appreciate it! | dhosek wrote: | That's exactly what I do. Having all the music is essentially | the same as having none of the music. I buy an album a month, | usually (plus more on my birthday and at Christmas), and have | my iPhone set up so that the music is the 32M of least-played | music, plus anything rated 3 stars that I've not heard in two | years, 4 stars that I've not heard in a year and 5 stars that | I've not heard in six months. It gives me a nice mix of fresh | tracks and favorites. | mastazi wrote: | I think that I solved this problem, I did it through self- | discipline, categorically avoiding any recommendation system on | any platform I use. I only ever listen to music that was either | on one of my playlists, or on a playlist that a friend shared | with me, etc. | | Music that is part of my own playlists is there because I | discovered it organically (was in a movie I watched, heard on | the radio etc.) which is the same as you would discover it pre- | streaming. | | Songs and playlists that friends share with me is the | equivalent of old cassettes that friends would make for you. | | I do the same thing outside of music streaming too, there are | browser extensions like Undistracted that can help avoiding | recommendation systems (but unfortunately Undistracted doesn't | work on Spotify). | zahma wrote: | Part of what you described is due to streaming, but it's also | the production side making music available for this type of | consumption. That's been a long time in the making as labels | consolidate and big artists become sex symbols, actors, and | basically lifestyle influencers while singing generically | machine-crafted music that has no lasting potential. Moreover, | TikTok is becoming a recruiting ground for record labels. My | guess is singles are going to get shorter and even more | ephemeral, just like all the "culture" streaming into our phone | screens. So what you're describing to me is an extension of | fatigue with a trend that doesn't try to make things to last. | | Having physical media or something that is individual to the | music makes me respect my collection and helps bring it to | life. I can't stream from a big service because it ruins the | feeling. I don't really listen to much music on my phone either | unless I'm in the car. I like it that way. It feels defiant | that I'm not just randomly bombarding my ears with whatever | cool new trash is being forced into my ears. | joe5150 wrote: | the tendency of artists "becoming sex symbols, actors, and | basically lifestyle influencers while singing generically | machine-crafted music" if not basically being the case for | the entire history of recorded music, at least predates | streaming by many decades. it's also not exclusive to music | and has a long history in basically every artistic industry. | chha wrote: | Absolutely. But now more than ever it's about the brand, | and not the individual. But I think this primarily applies | to mainstream music where the artist is likely to have a | few hits over a couple years, only to fade out (unless they | can build the brand). Go outside mainstream music, and | chances are that you'll see something completely different. | doublepg23 wrote: | Chiming in with the vinyl recommendation as well. | | Pulling up lyrics and going through my favorite records is | quite a nice evening. | IgorPartola wrote: | I have always loved music and still do. I think what you | describe has in part been due to scarcity. But in part it has | to do with growing up. As a teenager you are often bored out of | your whole mind and so have time to focus on music. You also | listen to the lyrics and the ideas presented are brand new and | meaningful. Later in life you are less likely to find truly | novel albums, or even songs; maybe a phrase here and there but | a record is less likely to capture your imagination. | | Here is my solution to enjoying music: treat it as a soundtrack | to your life. Create themed playlists. Spotify has | collaborative playlists built in and I have a couple of friends | who are or were professional DJs. I will start a playlist and | then have them add things to it based on the theme and feeling. | This process has gotten better and better. I now enjoy high | quality music that I love while also discovering new artists | and records. | dexterdog wrote: | I'm in my 50s and I still listen to new music that moves me | to both excitement and tears. I don't use streaming services | and just maintain my own library and always have. Many of the | bands I listen to have members older than I am, but they are | still actively making new music. | geoelectric wrote: | I think this is actually a pretty real concern. I've noticed my | appreciation for specific instances of all sorts of media has | tanked with wide availability. | | I actually used to buy a _lot_ of media so I hit this problem | before streaming. As soon as I had a backlog big enough with | each type of media that it wasn 't straightforward to burn | through it, it became a cloud of equally possible stuff with | the result I wasn't particularly invested in any of it. Most | people were smarter than me re: dumping money into bits on a | disc, but now that streaming and/or free-feed libraries have | hit most media types, I think the experience is becoming more | common. | | I think it's a different version of Paradox of Choice: all | individualization between the various choices is lost when | there's too many. With PoC, the problem is that then you have | nothing left by which you can prioritize. In this case, the | issue is the loss of all joy you'd have found in the | differences. | | What's helped a little for me is going on "kicks," like finding | all the bands I liked that did EDM-metal hybrid, or all the | found footage movies I liked, etc. Constraining the pool you're | selecting from first makes it easier, and having a mission of | some kind makes it easier still. | sharkweek wrote: | Child of the 90s here and my parents wouldn't get cable TV. | | This meant my access to movies was basically whatever was on | broadcast TV that night or if I was really lucky whatever was | available at our local video rental store. | | I remember not always loving whatever movie we chose (or | whatever was on TV) but I watched it because it's what I had. | | Now, like many others, I stare at the home screen of a few | different services each night, start and stop a few different | things, then give up. | boredtofears wrote: | Personally I think that has more to do with what movie | offerings there are today vs 20 years ago. I could | absolutely care less about the latest comic book movie but | that seems to be where movie studios have put all their | effort. | | On the other hand, TV series have never been better - we | seem to be in some kind of golden age where you can find | tons of high quality well acted series on every streaming | service. There was a bit of a lull (for me) during Covid, | but my backlog is completely full through the next year. | Syonyk wrote: | The consolidation of movie studios (mostly into Disney | lately...) hasn't been helping either. There used to be | plenty of small studios that would do "weird" stuff - it | wasn't going to be a huge commercial success, but it | would probably make back the modest budget it had. | | There's always older films to watch. I'm at a point where | I'd far rather put the time into something older, with | solid actors, than watch the latest and greatest mostly- | CG special effects laden [whatever]. That most of those | movies are unwatchable unless you're "deep into the | fandom" doesn't encourage me to invest in them either. | And if it's not those, it's the "How can we prequel all | the popular things," even when it makes no sense at all. | To yell at a cloud briefly, Han Solo doesn't _need_ a | prequel. He 's a standard drifter archetype, and to nail | his past down doesn't do the character any service at | all. | boredtofears wrote: | > greatest mostly-CG special effects laden [whatever] | | There was some threshold that was crossed probably close | to a decade ago for me where CG effects stopped being | interesting in any way, but watching older movies with | their incredible special effects and stuntmen really does | look impressive to me. There is no CG in the world that | compares to the immersion in Apocalypse Now, for example. | | I do think there are many ways to use CG to subtly | support the impact of a scene driven by characters, but | when the scene itself is driven by the CG (in ways that | are unrealistic for actors or stuntmen to perform) it | just feels like a lazy way to progress a storyline. | sharkweek wrote: | I do think this is why anytime the A24 logo comes up | before a trailer it piques my interest. | | (side note: the one they just released, Everything | Everywhere All The Time, might be one of the best movies | I've seen in the last decade) | mmmpop wrote: | > He's a standard drifter archetype, and to nail his past | down doesn't do the character any service at all. | | old man makes great point | halfmatthalfcat wrote: | I have discovered so many (good) bands via Spotify over the | past 5 years it's honestly insane. If I had stuck to "guessing" | at what I might like, I would not have had such a rich | collection of new music from relatively unknown or foreign | artists. It's also allowed me to sample so many varieties of | genres without any direct monetary involvement. I wouldn't | trade it for the world honestly. | | I also support the artists I listen to by buying merch/going to | concerts to supplement the pittance they get from streaming | royalties. | zerocrates wrote: | I've never moved to streaming; I still just load songs onto my | phone. I don't feel like I'm really missing out on anything. I | buy things on CD (often used) or vinyl-with-download-code or | Bandcamp mostly. | Daneel_ wrote: | Same camp here, with the exception of soundcloud - it has | such a variety of user-generated content, as well as longer | sets (multi-hour mixes, DJ sets, other long-form content) | that you just can't find on other platforms. | cyral wrote: | The biggest benefit for me is finding new music, Spotify's | discover feature is how I find most new music these days and | it's decently accurate at finding things I like. | BolexNOLA wrote: | Couldn't have put it better myself. This is 100% how I feel. | greedo wrote: | I do the same thing with Netflix. I used to get DVDs (then Blu- | rays) but their quality was consistently bad (damaged discs) | and their collection has turned to crap. So now I just stream | Netflix (cuz the family would lynch me otherwise), but I buy a | Blu-ray every month with the money I'm saving. | deergomoo wrote: | I buy Blu-Rays for films and shows I really like. Streaming | services may be 4K, but the bitrate of a 4K stream is | typically just a fraction of even a 1080p BD, and it _really_ | shows. | Groxx wrote: | To be a counter-anecdote: I love streaming music, I listen to | _far_ more and _far_ wider variety than I did more. I can | definitely see why that 'd be a downside for some, but I love | it. | | My only real complaint is that nothing wants to work together, | so migrating services / backing up playlists / etc is a real | nightmare. But I never actually maintained that in any real | fashion to begin with, so I do the ones I care about by hand | and ignore the rest and I've become fine with that. | vlunkr wrote: | As a counterpoint, I enjoy music more now. Music discovery is | light years ahead of where it was in the iPod era. There's no | additional cost to exploring as many artists and genres as you | want. Also, streaming services are doing nothing to prevent you | from listening to music the old way. Yeah, Spotify has a huge | library, but it's not like the whole thing is on shuffle. If | you find you're not spending the time to enjoy specific things, | that's ultimately your problem. | | I do get where you're coming from, I'm very nostalgic for my | old click-wheel iPod. Probably the biggest downside in moving | away from physical media in my mind is the loss of the rest of | the album art. | duxup wrote: | I think the iPod was somewhere in the area where I discovered all | the nice to have features and polish of Apple products that made | me admire Apple. (I was into PCs long before that but my exposure | to Apple was limited and I wasn't all that impressed) | | By no means was the iPod perfect, and it was effectively the same | product as many other media players that came before and after, | other products even had more features sometimes ... and yet the | friction of using the iPod was just lower to the point that I | enjoyed using it more than other media players at the time. | | It's a mysterious process to me finding those places to make use | of a thing easier, more intuitive and etc. When something is bad | it is easy to see, but there's a step beyond "take away the bad | friction" that I'm always wondering about when I'm building | things. I never quite reach that Apple-ish feel. | meibo wrote: | This might be true, but only if you stay on the "beaten path". | If you do anything they don't intend you to do with these | devices it ends up being a massive pain and you often just end | up getting hit with the ol' "you're holding it wrong". | duxup wrote: | I feel like product defects are .. a thing everywhere. | Holding it wrong was just bad choices related to it, but it's | not like that's unique to products tailored to specific use | patterns either. | pessimizer wrote: | > it was effectively the same product as many other media | players that came before and after, other products even had | more features sometimes | | For me, at the time, the iPod (Classic) was a worst-in-class | product (required iTunes, pretended it didn't know what a file | was, annoying to navigate, etc.) The iPod Touch was that but | also not attractive. | jyounker wrote: | When it came out, I had one requirement for an MP3 player: It | had to play without skipping while I ran. | | The iPod was the first MP3 maker on the market that crossed | this bar. | pessimizer wrote: | I never had an mp3 player that skipped, unless you count | the two that read mp3s off CDs. _Every_ manufacturer passed | your test that I know of. | duxup wrote: | I think one of the things was the iPod wasn't "for" most of | us who were face down in our piles of MP3s and managing them | and etc.... at least not at first. | | One of those cases where the first in the market consumers / | enthusiasts weren't the best folks to take your hints from as | far as the future of that tech. | | Arguably they've long been left behind by streaming services | and etc. My piles of files are certainly just ... sitting | there now. | pessimizer wrote: | Nah, it was absurdly heavy marketing. I don't remember any | other mp3 player being marketed at all. The click wheel was | also cool, although pragmatically it sucked and nobody ever | used it on on anything again. | | Also, buying an mp3 player was a bit of a minefield back | then, because you couldn't tell if it behaved as a drive or | through some elaborate software DRM/obfuscation dance that | might even be specific to Windows ("playsforsure," maybe? | Talk about an Orwellian name.) At least people knew that | the iPod would work. | closedloop129 wrote: | Too soon. The iPod would be the perfect companion for an Apple | Watch once there is a bit more energy available in the battery of | the watch. | | Instead of selling the watch as an add-on to the phone, the watch | could be the central device and the screen of the iPod could be | brought out when the voice assistants come to their rare limits. | | There is no need for a phone when better screens are available | most of the times (e.g. at the desk, the car or the tv). | microtherion wrote: | That would make the iPod more of an "iPad micro". | booboofixer wrote: | This is great news. I have an old iPod touch that i kept because | it had no trade-in value. Can't wait for it to be worth something | in about a decade or however long it takes for these electronics | to become 'vintage'. Also, if anyone wants to pay $$$ for a 2012 | Macbook Air.. | jsiaajdsdaa wrote: | I kind of liked having a phone without phone service. Good use | for kids. | playpause wrote: | For the last 2 years I've been using an iPod touch as my | "downtime" device. I usually put my iPhone away in a drawer from | early evening until I'm ready to start work the next day. I found | this impossible to stick to until I got an iPod touch, because in | the evenings and mornings I often need to manage things like | HomeKit devices or other Apple ecosystem things like Reminders. I | don't have any distracting or time-sucking apps on the iPod | touch, and the screen is small and fiddly, so I barely use it | except for a few seconds here and there for something practical. | The difference in stress levels and mindset has been huge. I | can't recommend highly enough separating your phone usage into | 'social/work/news/comms' and 'practical/home/calm' categories, on | different physical devices. | | I have tried using the new iOS Focus and Downtime features to | make my iPhone work a similar way (hide all the time-sucking apps | at certain times of day etc), but having a dedicated device for | the purpose is much simpler and much more effective. | darknavi wrote: | You can still do this buy just purchasing an older iPhone and | never putting it on a cell plan right? | brundolf wrote: | I do something similar but not quite the same with my iPad: it | has most of the same (non-work) apps that my phone does, but | I've disabled all notifications for all apps so it never yells | at me; it's an entirely chill-out/self-directed device where | nothing ever grabs at my attention | dwighttk wrote: | I do something similar but with my main iPhone. There's like | 3 apps that have notifications and none of them make sound. | brundolf wrote: | I treat my main phone as a notification entrypoint; trash- | notifications are turned off, of course, but every | messaging, calling, email, etc app has them turned on. If I | want to know if anything relevant to me has happened, I | look there or keep it nearby. If I don't have a | notification there, I know nothing has happened | | On my iPad, even messages with friends, emails, etc are all | blocked. Not even red badges on the app icons. Nothing that | can possibly prompt or notify me in any way. I don't think | I could get away with that on my main phone | tomchuk wrote: | I have an older iPad mini for this purpose (but an old iPhone | without a data plan would work too). I setup a separate | home@<domain> iCloud account under my family plan and use it | exclusively for streaming music vi AirPlay, cooking w/ recipes | on Paprika, HomeKit controls, reminders, timers, etc. - no | Slack notifications, no calls, no calendar reminders. The | AppleTV goes on the same account too. It's really been a great | solution. | hancholo wrote: | I went down a rabbit hole a few months ago and bought an ipod | classic 5.5 with the wolfson dac for ~$40, I plan to modify it a | bit storage and battery wise, and possibly some cosmetic mods. I | also researched IEM's and paired it with some 'Chi-Fi' IEM's like | the moondrop Aria and then got some aftermarket spinfit tips and | changed the headphone cable to something of better quality. I | plan on upgrading the IEM's to something more expensive but right | now these are a good first pair for $70. | | The real reason I did all this was because I got nostalgia and | could not afford an iPod back in the day but now I see myself | buying more exclusive harder to find music because nothing is | more annoying that having playlists on Spotify where songs are no | longer available/blacked out or deleted rare music from youtube | due to copyrights. I would like to have some kind of ownership | over my music independent from an internet connection or a | streaming service (nice to discover new music) dacs of course are | not as good as modern phones of today but goddamit-NOSTALGIA! | standardUser wrote: | I only ever owned one MP3 player and it was a cheap little thing | that ran on a single AAA battery. Plug it into my computer, drag | and drop a few dozen albums worth of music, grab some extra | batteries and I could listen to music indefinitely when I | travelled. Never saw any need for something more than this, and I | still don't! | sydthrowaway wrote: | Remember what.cd? | flint wrote: | Vinyl, and a burbor manhattan. No screens in the room. | aj7 wrote: | Original iPod 1st generations are going for $180-$500 on ebay. | reaperducer wrote: | Sad to see the iPod go. I have an iPhone, but it's not the same. | There's a lot of value in unitaskers. | | I have a long train trip coming up. I'll have my iPhone with me, | but I'll also bring my iPod shuffles. They're simply better | suited to the task than to have to deal with all the compromises | of a device that tries to be everything to everyone all the time. | | - Vastly superior battery time. In part, because it's not trying | to do a million things other than play music. | | - Better ergonomically. I can lay in my berth at night with my | wired earbuds and listen with a tiny, durable device instead of a | large, fragile device. It's not tragic if I roll over on a | Shuffle, or drop it out the side of the bed. | | - A shuffle on a small train table takes up much less space than | an iPhone. Or no space at all, since I can clip it to my | clothing. | | - To me, the Shuffles just sound better than the phone. I'm sure | there are a million blogs that dispute this with all kinds of | mathematical blather. But I use the same earbuds with my Shuffles | and my iPhone, and the Shuffles just sound better to my ears. | oneeyedpigeon wrote: | For me, the feature that beats all of those combined is simply | being able to carry all my music around for free. Now I have to | either constantly swap it around and filter it, or pay through | the nose to stream it. | deanCommie wrote: | All the comments lamenting the "end of the iPod" are premature | IMO. | | Give it a maximum of 5 years, and there'll be some social trend | to offer an "minimally online" device to help you disconnect | better from your overwhelming digital firehose in the interest of | "wellbeing", and some new iPod device will come back. | | The 2020's equivalent of the iPod shuffle - deliberately feature | limited for a very specific market. | gnat wrote: | Shame! A bunch of our retail clients use them as in-store devices | for staff who walk the retail floor -- they don't need to make | calls or take gigapixel photos so the iPhone is overkill (and | thus expensive) for them. I expect they'll move to Android and | mourn the loss of cachet ... | IshKebab wrote: | Or iPads. | richardjdare wrote: | The end of an era. I used the iPod Touch to develop and use iOs | apps without spending money on an iPhone. It was a relatively | reasonably priced gateway into the Apple app ecosystem. | 0000011111 wrote: | Ya, I switched to VLC on Android years ago. | | And; yt-dlp --recode-video mp3 https://youtu.be/P5JplB64m5U | | Most of my collection for research purposes of course. | bigdict wrote: | > Apple is discontinuing the iPod | | They never actually say so in the press release. | izzydata wrote: | Sony is still making modern variants of the Walkman. I'm not a | big fan of their Android powered versions, but I like the | slightly earlier versions that can only play music. | DizzyDoo wrote: | I imagine that Apple would never bring back an iPod in the future | with the clicky wheel because it could be perceived as 'backwards | looking' and cuts against their desired image as 'innovators' who | bring out the 'next thing'. Bit sad, because my memory of the | later generations of the Nano is that it was an excellent device. | | It's probably true that most people just get their music and | podcasts through streaming services on their phones though, so | perhaps they don't care to keep a niche product around. | darknavi wrote: | Give it another decade and maybe something like the Analogue | Pocket will come out. AnaloguePod? | DizzyDoo wrote: | I think we'd all probably welcome that... except Apple, | because I just did a quick Google and it does look like Apple | have successfully patented (Patent 7,932,897) the clicky | wheel input. So I don't think a US based company like | Analogue could get away with that! | nicolas_t wrote: | They're HK based, but I doubt that that would help all that | much. | karmakaze wrote: | I've owned so many iPods from the very first and loved each one. | Now I don't care for ~iTunes~/Apple Music and the dumbed-down | walled garden that it lives it. It's not even because I carry a | smartphone. Just the other day I was researching non-Apple music | players. | | To me the iPod died with the introduction of the Touch which was | a cheap iPhone, that had lower quality standards even in the area | of sound quality. iPhones have no headphone jack so they're not | suitable listening devices if you care about audio quality (or | are willing to carry an external DAC). Apple Music makes nothing | about managing music on any Apple device great. | | M1 Macs are doing well, and still waiting to see what happens | with iPadOS and if it can live up the the 'OS' name in terms of | creation not consumption apps. | astrange wrote: | > iPhones have no headphone jack so they're not suitable | listening devices if you care about audio quality (or are | willing to carry an external DAC). | | The $9 official headphone dongle is a superior DAC to most | audiophile products and has a bigger R&D budget than that | entire industry. Same goes for Google's USBC dongle. | | https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/r... | | You can still carry around an amp if you have very power hungry | headphones though. Personally, I don't think I could ABX lossy | audio while outside dodging cars in the crosswalk. | robotnikman wrote: | I remember having one in highschool, good times, back when all | the games on the app store were maybe a few $ at most and in app | purchases were mostly unheard of. | | iShoot was one of my favorite games to play on it, I miss it. | Maursault wrote: | I don't get it. Though iPod _Touch_ is a lotta bit of feature | creep, surely the portable media player market is still | profitable. I just want it to play music and fit all my music in | my change pocket. Bring back the iPod Shuffle! | Zigurd wrote: | Dedicated music players has become an audiophile market. That | means volumes are too low for a company that sells enough | Airpods for that business alone to be almost 10X the revenue of | Snapchat, while being under 5% of Apple revenue. You have to | use a microscope to see the iPod numbers. | MBCook wrote: | It exists. See things like the recent Sony Walkmans. But my | guess is it's quite small and Apple doesn't see it as worth | spending time on. | | For a company their size I don't think they're wrong. It's | never going to move the needle any noticeable amount for them. | tomjen3 wrote: | You can still buy new portable music players, including some | Sony branded walkmans, but at least the Sony ones are just with | an expensive DAC, some hardware buttons and interally run | Android. Probably has too, because most people get their music | through streaming. | frickinLasers wrote: | Yeah, I still run with a 20-ish year old Shuffle, waiting for | the day it falls apart. | Teknoman117 wrote: | Hey, the iPod Shuffle is 17 years old. Don't take those 3 | years from me lol. I'm still smarting from the loss of the | two pandemic years. :) | alfanick wrote: | Thank you for reminding me iPod Shuffle! Gosh, this was a crazy | good thing. Now everything is in an (i)Phone... Shuffle was | honestly the first mass-market wearable device that worked. I | love not taking my phone on a longer runs/hikes, but I want my | music. With 2022 Apple Shuffle I could have my Apple Music with | me lightweight, but I cannot. Sure I could used Apple Watch for | this, but I'm in Garmin ecosystem... sigh. Gimme my music | without transferring MP3 files I can buy on Amazon or directly | from the artist to my Garmin watch, so I could just run with my | watch. | | Or you know, Garmin, split-off your wearables division in | separate company, Apple buys it, Apple takes some Garmin | thingies into Apple Watch, create Apple Watch Pro based on | Garmin Hardware and sports functions, add Apple software and | we're golden. This is a business advice, if Garmin/Apple decide | to do this, compensate me. /s | Kerrick wrote: | SanDisk still makes simple, small, portable music players. | DocTomoe wrote: | Isn't that what the Apple Watch is supposed to do? | | I agree that a relatively simple, relatively low-priced media | player with great build quality would have a market - but Apple | would be cannibalising it's 'fitness-oriented' market if they | allowed both the Shuffle and the Watch to exist. | lostgame wrote: | Yeah, but you can't use the Watch as a standalone device | (something that, as a WatchOS developer, I have always found | stupid beyond reason...it should just have limited | functionality on its own, including media playback) - if you | could, not only would they sell millions upon millions more | of them, but it could be a reasonable replacement for an | iPod. | | Until then, if you want to use it as an 'iPod', it's just | another expense on top of the iPhone you already have that's | your 'iPod'. | | Apple cancelling the iPod line completely is frankly dumb. I | know at least a dozen parents who use these for their kids. | | Also, what's with all the people suggesting parents just buy | an iPhone with no sim? Y'all realize that the cheapest iPhone | is twice as much as the $199 iPod Touch? :/ | mulderc wrote: | The watch isn't 100% standalone but I have no issues | listening to music and podcasts away from my phone and I | think people using it for listening to music while | exercising away from the phone is a huge selling point for | many people. | alphabettsy wrote: | They've made it so that the Watch can be used as a child | device assuming a parent uses an iPhone. | can16358p wrote: | Watch + Bluetooth headphones go great together. | | Especially if you're on Wi-Fi and I believe on cellular (we | still don't have it here in 3rd world) you can just go | hiking with the watch and stream your music on Bluetooth | without phone. | | Same for messaging, fitness tracking, and voice calls. I | think it's enough for that device. | Adraghast wrote: | What exactly are you asking for the Watch to do? I load | mine with music to play while my phone is in a gym locker | all the time. Do you just want to be able to get files onto | it without needing an iPhone? There are "millions upon | millions" of people clamoring for that feature? | bsimpson wrote: | iPod Wear | r00fus wrote: | These days you get more storage and better form factor with an | Apple Watch combined with a bluetooth headset/buds. | javier_e06 wrote: | I have the ipod nano 7th gen with a radio tuner! I also have the | 1st gen apple shuffle, that one that looks like a usb stick. I | hate all things apple (The Disney of Story Telling) but those 2 | gadgets I keep in the kitchen crap drawer. | tempnow987 wrote: | My standard view is, you should be able to read just the | headlines and have some clue about what is happening. Modern | marketing means headlines have gone to absolute trash. You can't | tell product updates from just stupid SEO spam articles (tips to | do x with y). You can't tell product intros from outros. | | I do like AWS style announcements. Their headlines are a bit | long, but skimming them it's the what, and then the tag | | https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/ | | For week in review I wish they did parens for services - ie, Week | in review (RDS, IAM, ECS). | | Some services are basically dead from an updates perspective, | others like RDS seem to have pretty solid budgets. | leokennis wrote: | Those AWS headlines are perfect! I try to aim for the same in | my e-mail subjects: | | <this happened>: <this is what it means> - <this is what you | need to do> | | Example: "Database X ran out of space: all orders since 20-04 | 14:30 are stuck - request to increase space" | tempnow987 wrote: | Awesome, I like it. I've been putting more in my subjects | recently to good effect. | | No one wants to read a long email from what I see. "hey | john... " just isn't great. | tmountain wrote: | My morbid hot take on the headline was that they'd be allowing | you to will your digital music collection to a family member as | some kind of covid related estate planning marketing. | | Turns out it was something much more benign, but I agree that | headlines have gone straight to hell these days. | ricardobeat wrote: | Sad news. I've been waiting for a chin-less upgrade for a while, | it made for an amazing gaming/music device, and also a cheap | high-quality touch screen remote for random hacks. | wollsmoth wrote: | RIP. I still have a classic in a box somewhere. | Wump wrote: | Maybe they'll finally remove "iPod Touch (7th generation)" as the | default selected simulator in XCode :) | mjr00 wrote: | I had a 6th gen iPod Classic that I used for almost 15 years | before it finally died on me a few months back. Dedicated music | players nowadays are a niche market, so it was really hard to | find a replacement. I ended up getting a FiiO M5, and while it's | definitely got some pros -- much better sound quality, can pop in | a 512GB/1TB SD card for effectively infinite space for compressed | songs, can play FLAC/WAV/OGG -- the ergonomics of the iPod were | just so much better. It's funny how seemingly little things can | be so frustrating: there's only enough space on the screen for 4 | names at a time, the scrolling isn't adaptive so it takes forever | to get to the bottom, the play order isn't consistent with the | song display order within a folder... I used to love just | browsing my music collection on my iPod on the train to work, but | with the M5 I'll just pick an album or playlist and press play. | It's just not as fun to flip through music. | | I don't consider myself an Apple fanboy, but the iPod was a rock | solid product that got all of the little things right. Given that | the market for standalone DAPs is tiny because most people today | just use their phones and music streaming apps, it's unlikely | that we'll ever see a music player that compares to it. | cush wrote: | It's a shame that personal music players are still so niche. | The hardware coming out of China right now blows any phone out | of the water in terms of usability, performance, and battery | life, all at a fraction of the cost. | | We're in a Renaissance age of mobile listening thanks to ChiFi. | I love carrying around a second device that has no persistent | connection to the internet, no notifications, and can drive any | headphones I throw at it... With sideloaded Audible and Tidal | to boot. | | Media used to be this easy and pleasurable to consume before | phones got it the way. | bigbillheck wrote: | > The hardware coming out of China right now blows any phone | out of the water in terms of usability, performance, and | battery life, | | Can you point to anything in particular? I bought a Chinese | mp3 player earlier this year and it's a piece of junk. | rahimnathwani wrote: | "can drive any headphones" | | Can it drive Bluetooth headphones? That's the only reason I | no longer use my Xduoo X3. | | If I had something similar (small, minimal screen, dual TF | slots) that worked with Bluetooth, I'd use it all the time. | zls wrote: | Well, if you use Bluetooth you're no longer using the DAC | inside the DAP, so it's not "driving" the headphones in the | sense that GP meant. That said, most DAPs support bluetooth | these days, with trendy codecs like LDAC, aptX-HD, etc. | However, eschewing the device DAC kinda wastes a lot of the | money you spent on the DAP. | | For Bluetooth usage a year or two ago I would have | recommended the Shanling M0. All these devices have awful | touchscreens and the M0 is no exception, but it's tiny, | light, and has long battery life. Unfortunately, in this | space the manufacturers tend to discontinue products in | favor of new ones within a year. | zls wrote: | Battery life? Usability? Renaissance?? Have I been trying the | wrong DAPs? | | I'm also really into single-purpose electronics. My whole | library is FLAC, so these players should be right up my | alley. Except they tend to be heavy and expensive, and when | it comes to UI, either they're using Android poorly, with | incredibly bad battery life (HiBy R5/R6, Fiio M9, A&K | anything), or they're using a custom UI with pre-iPod UX | sensibilities. And even when they use Android, they try to | graft their own UI onto it, so that in the end you have the | worst of both worlds -- just watch what happens to the volume | settings on any Android-based HiBy DAP after connecting with | Bluetooth. | | The communities that buy this stuff are much more into the | technical and theoretical sound quality than how it actually | comes together as a product. The marketing reflects that; the | product pages are all litanies of incremental DAC processor | upgrades, circuit diagrams, and cryptic audio codecs. And | because this is what folks care about, it's hard to find | reviewers who even mention into UX. | | If you have a rec I'm all ears, because I'm on the verge of | resuscitating my original Pixel just for this. | thorncorona wrote: | Just get an old iphone tbh. They have great DACs built in | and support iOS apps. | chrisseaton wrote: | > all at a fraction of the cost | | But you already have a phone (I guess) so the cost you're | competing against is zero. | refactor_master wrote: | So in fact it's actually entirely additional cost. | Tenoke wrote: | Not for phones without SD cards on which you might have | limited space or for situations/phones where you have to | conserve battery. | chrisseaton wrote: | Phones come with like 128 GB of storage. Not all is | usable but that accommodates like four days of continuous | uncompressed music. How long do you really go without a | network connection and need music for? | | Also I think they playback with hardware don't they? They | aren't running the CPU. It uses a trickle of charge just | like your iPod. | brundolf wrote: | You might consider: | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30345399 | TavsiE9s wrote: | I've recently revived a 6th gen iPod Classic with a flash | adapter and rockbox, it's been great so far. | femiagbabiaka wrote: | If building your own isn't acceptable, I like the Sony Walkman | series quite a bit. I have a WM1A and a ZX300 and I have | minimal complaints other than they cost way too much. There are | also a bunch of Chinese brands making players with decent | DAC's, but they all use the same Android interface with minimal | tweaks for the most part, the battery life and UX sucks.. | Definitely wish there were more high quality off the shelf | players for the non-audiophile who doesn't want to use their | phone for everything. | csdvrx wrote: | > I like the Sony Walkman series quite a bit. | | Can you recommend an audio player with a better UX than the | default Sony app? | paulmd wrote: | Fiio does have the X5 which has a similar jogwheel but I agree | with you that the lack of exponential scrolling does make it | annoying. Not sure if that's patent-encumbered (fuck UX | patents) or what. | | Rockbox does have exponential scrolling, but only supports a | limited list of hardware. There is an "unstable port" for the | Fiio M3k but that's not what either of us own ;) | | Might be a good project for someone here who wants to play with | embedded hardware! It's one of those situations where once you | get it up and going on a particular set of hardware, you will | benefit from a lot of "passive" development from others, both | past and future. | windowsrookie wrote: | iPods have made a bit of a comeback. Checkout r/iPod there's | people modding them by adding bluetooth and USB-C. There are | adapters to replace the hard drive with MicroSD. (iFlash) | | They (iPods) are relatively simple and new replacement parts | are readily available. Pick up an old iPod off ebay and install | a new battery. It's a fun little project, I've done it a few | times now. | nfriedly wrote: | Shucks. I was hoping they'd finally release a new one. | | I have an old 6th gen iPod touch that I recently replaced the | battery in, and my son uses it a lot. I had thought about getting | another one for my daughter, but I was waiting in hopes that | apple would release an 8th gen sometime soon. | musesum wrote: | Live music provided a sense of belonging. | | Radio provided shared stories and feelings. | | The Walkman provided a soundtrack for my life. | | The iPod provided a full solo theater of emotions. | | Smart playlists now provide a feeling of serendipity. | | But, that personalized experience feels selfish and hollow. | | Maybe I should get out more. | smm11 wrote: | I had an iPod something-or-other, and I think it gave Spotify the | idea of shuffling maybe 45 songs of thousands over-and-over, and | completely ignoring 93 percent of the music. | | I might pick one of these up so I can do that now in color. | GekkePrutser wrote: | This is a problem with Spotify's shuffling algorithm. It's | really stupid, it ignores some songs completely. | | They used to have a good algorithm, but because it was truly | random, some users complained about hearing the same artist | quickly in sequence. | | Instead of implementing a list of recently played songs they | changed the algorithm to be 'smart' but it's actually quite | dumb because it really never plays some songs. Especially when | you have only a few artists in the playlist, and some with less | songs than others. As I tend to do. | | They say it's "more appealing to the human brain" but I think | it stinks. I wish they had an option to switch back a truly | random one. If I don't like a song I'll skip it anyway. But | never presenting some is worse. | | https://medium.com/immensity/how-spotifys-shuffle-algorithm-... | sleepybrett wrote: | unfortunate, the ipod touch was a super handy device for all | kinds of applications. Great for giving to kids so they could | have an 'iphone'. Bought a ton of these back in the day and | paired them to bluetooth pairable RFID reader/writer guns for an | RFID retail POC. Nice to be able to write software for a platform | you know, or can easily hire for, and deploy it to this kind of | device. They often have either weird built in SOCs with | proprietary apis for UIs.. though sometimes you are now seeing | built in android devices so _shrug_. | | End of an era I guess. Couldn't just rebrand it the 'iPad Micro' | and keep selling it :) | skinnymuch wrote: | The retail price is probably the issue. Apple isn't really in | the business [yet] of selling $200 hardware. The iPad Mini is | $130 more than the cheapest iPad. Vs having a model cheaper | than the cheapest iPad. | | It would be funny and maybe even possible! To have a comeback | as an iPad Micro and be the size of the normal iPhones or the | current 13 Mini. Though I heard because of its unique size for | apple hardware, some apps don't look correct on it. | | Edit: I flubbed. Apple TV has to be under $200. Maybe their | Alexa competitor too. | gjulianm wrote: | I still have a 4th gen iPod Nano, that despite some heavy use in | the past still works and plays music perfectly well. I remember | it fondly, it was a very well designed piece of hardware. Light, | easy controls that could be used without looking, durable, | small... | m3kw9 wrote: | A10 Fusion chip from 5 years back, must be discontinuing the line | mdasen wrote: | Possibly. Apple had used the A10 in the 7th generation iPad | released in September 2019 so it's not quite as old in terms of | prime usage as the iPhone would suggest. iPhones have often | been a few generations ahead of other Apple devices. | | The Apple A10 first released 5.5 years ago in the iPhone 7 | Geekbenches at 555 single-core in the iPod (1.6GHz) and 722-750 | in the iPhone 7/iPad (2.3GHz). Multicore is 1069 for the iPod | and 1280-1398 for iPhone/iPad. That single-core speed matches | up nicely against processors used in current Android phones | like the Snapdragon 690 (571-590), Snapdragon 778G (714-777), | Snapdragon 750 (582-643), or Snapdragon 765G (570-593). It's | kinda amazing how Apple's A10 from 2016 matches up against the | best non-flagship (non-8-series) Qualcomm processors for | single-core performance. | | I'd guess it might be more around how long Apple wants to | support iOS on the hardware. The iPhone 6s (A9) has access to | the latest iOS (7 major versions), but I think there's a decent | chance that it won't get iOS 16. That would mean Apple would | support the iPhone 6s for 6 years post-introduction and 4 years | post-discontinuation. If Apple wants to support the iPod touch | for a couple years post-discontinuation, they'd probably want | to discontinue it now so that they can stop iOS updates in 2-3 | years. If they stopped iOS upgrades in 2-3 years, that would | mean supporting the iPhone 7 for 7-8 years. That's quite the | lifespan for that hardware. | postit wrote: | Just bought one for each of my kids with their names engraved, | I'll load with my favorite albums and leave in storage, in 15 | years there will be a revival of ipods and they'll have a choice | to play the hipster card. | asddubs wrote: | That's a bold move for a glued shut device with a built-in | battery | alphabettsy wrote: | My iPod Classic is glued shut. It's still serviceable, but | hasn't needed any service yet. | wfhordie wrote: | Your iPod Classic not glued shut. It has clips. Very easy | to open with a guitar pick. | Gigachad wrote: | In some ways glue is easier than plastic clips. Plastic | clips would always snap on me while glue melts under a | hair dryer and comes off cleanly. | Apocryphon wrote: | The iPod touch has got to be the last PDA. Smartphones are the | realization of the '90s vision of PDAs, with cellular capability | and additional features included, but it's interesting how | standalone PDAs no longer exist. | Sohcahtoa82 wrote: | Nobody would buy a standalone PDA these days, mainly because | they'd need one core feature: Access to e-mail. At that point, | you need, at the very least, a WiFi connection, but customers | would likely expect a cellular connection. | | And at that point, bam, you have a phone. | | You could try to make it "not a phone" by removing the speaker | and microphone, but people will occasionally want to play a | game, so you'll need the speaker, and someone might want to | record speech for note-taking, so you'll need the microphone. | | TBH, I'm not sure how you could possibly make a "not a phone" | PDA. | | Nobody would buy an offline PDA. At least, not enough people to | pay for the development of it. | Apocryphon wrote: | Even back in PalmPilot days, internet connectivity was | definitely desirable. I suppose Planet Computers' devices are | trying to capture some of the PDA spirit by emphasizing the | computing, productivity aspects of smartphones with good | keyboards. | | https://www.www3.planetcom.co.uk | ilamont wrote: | Used the iOS models as a poor man's iPhone (with Skype) and my | first connected digital camera to share on Instagram and | elsewhere. | dry_soup wrote: | The article notes that the first iPod touch came out in 2007. | That was just six years after the first inch-thick iPod with a | monochrome screen and magnetic storage. The pace of technology | really does seem to have slowed down. | black_puppydog wrote: | Great, then they surely won't hesitate now to release any and all | documentation for their old hardware, to prevent millions of | devices from becoming useless junk even though they're perfectly | fine, hardware wise. I've got a nice iPod touch 6th gen here that | will be perfect as an mp3 player on linux or rockbox. | | Gonna hold my breath now, okay? :) | | /s | windowsrookie wrote: | What exactly do you want them to release? You can still use an | original iPod from 2001 if you want. | mmebane wrote: | Driver source code/detailed hardware documentation for all | the components. Signing keys to enable proper persistent | installation of custom firmware. In a perfect world, source | to whatever the final version of iOS to run on it is. | | Basically, everything required for third parties to support | the devices to the same level that Apple did before | discontinuing them. | | --- | | (Getting downvoted for a strong right to repair stance? I | wasn't really expecting that here, but OK.) | smoldesu wrote: | Right. It's totally feasible for a community-maintained | firmware to keep these devices alive if there was no | barrier to installing custom firmware, Apple ought to have | a customary "EOL" update for these devices that allows them | to be unlocked if the owner chooses. | oneeyedpigeon wrote: | I'd pay to be in your situation - at least you have the | hardware and it's still perfectly usable. | ddoolin wrote: | I mean, you _can_ pay to be in their situation. Just buy one. | oneeyedpigeon wrote: | I'd pay, just not an open-ended amount :) One of my few | regrets is not buying a backup classic when I had the | chance. | black_puppydog wrote: | huh? I mean, an iPod 6 touch is gonna be much cheaper now | than when it launched :P | lostgame wrote: | Lots of frankly silly comments here suggesting parents buy an | iPhone without a SIM instead of an iPod Touch? | | Assuming you buy them new, the cheapest iPhone is $399 vs. the | $199 iPod Touch. Buying used is often a mixed bag. An iPad Mini | is _$499_! | | This is basically _just_ a kick in the pants to parents who | bought these for their kids. | | Guess those parents are going to go off and buy another brand and | type of product now, since Apple refuses to offer a price- | equivalent product for kids like this. I don't think it would've | hurt Apple to keep producing this product... | kawsper wrote: | I guess that was destined to happen. | | I still use my 6th generation iPod Nano, mostly for radio, but | the usefulness of it is dwindling as more and more stations move | away from the FM-band and go digital, it's still a cool device | and it also still works with Music/iTunes. | oneeyedpigeon wrote: | I started using my 6th gen nano again just a couple of weeks | ago, after my last-gen iPod classic finally gave up the ghost. | I don't know what I'm going to do long-term - the capacity of | the nano just isn't enough. It's heartbreaking watching | functionality regress like this :( | SamBam wrote: | Perhaps a silly question: is there any way to get music (saved | mp3 files) onto an old 5th-gen nano from a Chromebook? | | Thinking of getting one for my daughter, who has a Chromebook | from school. Of course I could manage it from my Mac, but it | would be nice to give her the power. | Gaussian wrote: | I always thought of the iPod as THE inflection point for Apple. | Not the 1998 iMac, not the iPhone, even though it was the latter | that made Apple the company it is today. But I think the iPod put | Apple on a track to get to the iPhone-it's why Apple/Jobs were | even thinking about it. The pod and the phone shared form factors | and have always been intertwined in my mind. For that reason, | when the iPhone came out, I automatically assumed that Apple had | just killed its iPod business. I was wrong, but I suppose that it | did eventually come to pass... 15 years later. | Hamuko wrote: | > _I was wrong, but I suppose that it did eventually come to | pass... 15 years later._ | | It happened way earlier than 2022. iPod has been in life | support for the longest time now and arguably the last true | iPod was the last iPod Nano in 2012. | Gaussian wrote: | So you're saying I was _less_ wrong! I knew it. ;) | KingMachiavelli wrote: | Not surprising but it's fun to reminisce about the iPod Touch. | While not technically my first iPod/tech device, it was certainly | the first computer that was actually my own which was pretty cool | in 2008. I certainly attribute my current tech career to | Jailbreaking, it was a great way to learn about Unix style | systems. | mwint wrote: | The iPod touch was so great for me as a kid, it provided an | accessible (read - cheap) platform I could plug into a Mac and | deploy iOS apps to at a young age. | | Now there's really no reason to keep it around, as you can get an | off-contract used iPhone that is better in every dimension for | less money. Still feel a bit sad to see it leave. | stnmtn wrote: | I fell in love with computers through jailbreaking iPod | touches. Back then, for me a jailbroken ipod felt like there | was a whole world waiting for me; and you could tweak anything | at all. I eventually started running a mini business at my | school, offering to jailbreak anyones ipod/iphone (for a small | fee, of course). I would even put a custom boot logo | advertising my enterprise on all my customers device. Looking | back now, that feels a bit scummy, but at the time I thought it | was the coolest thing ever. | Snowworm wrote: | It never left. The iPhone is the new iPod, it just has more | features that make it more than just a music player and more | importantly has the option for a SIM (although it isn't | necessary). | | I get what you mean though. I think the iPhone SE has taken its | place in terms of affordability. | paxys wrote: | End of an era. This was the last iPod still being sold right? | Definitely one of the most impactful consumer products/brands | ever. | oneeyedpigeon wrote: | The iPod introduced me to Apple's entire ecosystem. Without | that early-2000's experience of design, build-quality, and | usability, I would probably never have taken the plunge on Mac | mini, iPads, and a MacBook. | oh_hello wrote: | This does jump out to me is a surprisingly profound. I was a | freshman in college when the iPod first came out. I was a huge | Apple fan, but didn't get their move into consumer electronics. | It was so expensive. Why weren't they building more cool Macs | instead? 10 years later I was putting serious time toward | learning how to develop for the App Store. Another 10 years later | and that path has had a profound effect on my career and life. | Thinking back to the moment my friend Peter showed me the gen 1 | iPod he bought on launch day, the vision, progression, and | brilliance you can tie back to that product is astounding. | donthellbanme wrote: | LeoPanthera wrote: | I haven't tried this in a long time, but is it now possible to | set up an iPhone without a SIM card in it? | | The last time I tried this (years ago, admittedly) the iPhone | would not "activate" without a working SIM card. | cmckn wrote: | My first iPod was the 1st generation Nano. I still think it's one | of the most beautiful products ever made. I'll miss the iPod era; | they really were just magical products, and probably the reason I | became interested in the Mac. | omar_alt wrote: | It would be interesting to show the market capitalisation of all | major record labels vs Apple over the last 25 years. File sharing | was given a massive leg up at the expense of recorded music and | looking back it was really the underground and independent labels | that have perished. | | When it comes to competing for attention music has a lot more to | compete with now than it did then. If I had to predict I can't | see a significant cultural change happening like in the 20th | century unless new musical instruments are invented | pachico wrote: | At the time I compared different models and none looked good to | me as the Archos gmini 220. | | iPod users were in awe when saw what this little machine could | achieve. | amelius wrote: | The end of the podcast? | [deleted] | technotarek wrote: | I've always imagined that an iPod-something would be my child's | first camera/media device. We're not ready for that leap yet (at | only 3 1/2 yo), but I'm curious -- what are others opting for in | this use case? | SigmundA wrote: | iPad has been my kids only device, media, games, school, etc. | They are getting to the age where they want phones but we are | holding off. | | Also they sometimes need to use laptop/desktop for school but | that is rare now that most everything works in Safari or there | is an app. Even printing etc works great and they love the | pencil. They also have mouse and keyboard for them usually for | schoolwork. | lilyball wrote: | The iPad works great for young kids. There's a lot of great | iPad cases for kids too. | _fzslm wrote: | how about an iPad? mini if the size is a concern for you guys, | but the camera is pretty solid, performance means it'll last | your kid years, and there are so many edu-tainment titles on | the App Store. i think especially the Pencil (or the child- | oriented Logitech alternative) would be great to encourage a | growing child's creativity, as well as apps like iMovie, | GarageBand... | windowsrookie wrote: | I'm assuming just a smartphone without a SIM. That's | essentially what the iPod touch was. | asciimov wrote: | Sure, but then you have that background concern about them | accidentally dialing 911. | paxys wrote: | Having the ability to dial 911 if needed is probably a good | thing. | dymk wrote: | Ehhhh I distinctly remember being around 10 years old, | getting a miniature landline phone [1], and dialing 911. | Then my parents had to explain to the operator that there | was no emergency and how sorry they were. Kids do dumb | things. | | [1] this kind of thing - | https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1891964717.html | boomboomsubban wrote: | Can you uninstall the phone app, or whatever Apple calls | it? I'm using LineageOS and it looks like I can disable it, | though I don't care to try right now. | | Plus, it's arguably worth risking accidental 911 calls to | allow necessary ones. And landlines have had the same risk | for decades. | asciimov wrote: | > Can you uninstall the phone app | | You can't uninstall the dialer. As far as I know you | can't even lock the dialer down. | | > Plus, it's arguably worth risking accidental 911 calls | to allow necessary ones | | One of my friends kids (about 5) went through a phase | where she was fascinated with calling 911. The iPod Touch | became the way to handle this, you could hand her the | iPod and know she couldn't dial out. Sure an iPad could | work, but this girl had siblings and the parents didn't | want to have to buy everybody an ipad. | colejohnson66 wrote: | You can't uninstall it, but you can hide it from the home | screen | chimeracoder wrote: | > Sure, but then you have that background concern about | them accidentally dialing 911. | | Kids should be taught about 911 at a very young age anyway. | IMO, if they're old enough for an iPod Touch, they're old | enough to be taught about 911. | LargeWu wrote: | My kids get our old phones, without cellular capabilities. | That's basically what an iPod touch is anyway. | eddieroger wrote: | Kidless adult asking - why not make the device cellularly | capable, just limiting calls (if not data-only)? Most of the | time they won't need it, but I can see the benefit of having | a cellular-capable device in my kid's possession if they ever | found themselves in an emergency situation. I would assume | cell carriers could limit the device from doing for-cost | things, and there are unlimited data plans again. | LargeWu wrote: | For my older child, 10, she has a Gabb watch, with very | limited cellular capabilities and low monthly cost. My | other kid, 7, is unlikely to be in a situation where he's | without adult supervision, so not really worth it. Besides, | I don't really want my kids to have unfettered internet | access, especially when unsupervised. | xahrepap wrote: | Pretty sure Cell Phones in the US are still able to call | 911 even without a sim card or an active plan. | | So a sim-less phone would still allow for an emergency call | in that sense. | xeromal wrote: | Young kids (3 years old) have a knack for finding naughty | things. | | My mom's bf's 6 year old loves sonic and loves playing | sonic video on youtube. We were having dinner and it had | autoplayed into some naughty sonic furry stuff and we had | to change it also while trying to maintain his innocence | and not explain things he might not be ready for. lol. This | was last year which I think is after youtube really tried | to improve video for children but it still happened | somehow. | | I remember being 9-10 years old and accidentally clicking a | popup and learning about genitals. It's not the best way to | learn as a kid. It's better coming from their parents. | paulmd wrote: | > I remember being 9-10 years old and accidentally | clicking a popup and learning about genitals. | | X10 popup ads claim another victim ;) | | those things were _everywhere_ back in the day! | xeromal wrote: | They were! And we didn't have popup blockers. lol. I | remember you could mess up and accidentally open 1000s of | windows (we didn't even have tabs then. lol) | windowsrookie wrote: | Because you don't want kids having access to the internet | unsupervised for obvious reasons. | | My little cousins (under 12 years old) get a cellular Apple | Watch. That allows their parent to always know where they | are and can contact them, but prevents the kids from being | able to use the internet. | danieldk wrote: | Our daughter first had two generations of iPod Touch. However, | one big downside is that the screen is tiny compared with other | devices. About a year ago or so, she switched to an old iPhone | 6s without a SIM card and it's fine for Facetiming/messaging | with her grandparents and photos. | nytesky wrote: | How did you get iPhone to enable iMessage without a phone | number? | JKCalhoun wrote: | iCloud messaging? | jaywalk wrote: | iMessage doesn't require a phone number, it can use email | addresses as well. | jimt1234 wrote: | Sorta-related topic: I like to listen to music while I run. I | currently use a 7th Gen iPod Nano. It works because it's small | and it has Bluetooth; I just put it in my pocket and go. However, | I would rather have this same functionality (play music, | Bluetooth) on a wristwatch device, as the iPod bouncing around in | my pocket can be kinda annoying. | | All the popular "smart watch" devices are packed with | functionality I just don't want - not interested in having my | fitness tracked or reading text messages while I run. I just want | music and Bluetooth, and I guess a stopwatch/timer, too. That's | it. | | I've looked around and the best I could find was a wristwatch | device straight outta Shenzhen. I bought it, and unsurprisingly, | it was junk. | | Does anyone know of a quality wristwatch device that _only_ plays | music and has Bluetooth (and stopwatch /timer)? Does a product | like this exist? Or, is it "smart watch" or nothing (or junk)? | mikestew wrote: | Take a look at Garmin's products. Does what you want, and if | there is no model that _doesn 't_ do what you _don 't_ want, | just don't turn those features on. For example, I already have | an Apple Watch, I don't care about "smart watch" stuff on my | Garmin. But their top-of-the-line 945LTE that I bought for | running also has "smart watch". I just want running stuff, so I | simply did not pair the watch with my phone. There, no smart | stuff. (Granted, I guess I'm paying for features I don't | use...) | softfalcon wrote: | Yeah, my Apple Watch does this. You can also uninstall all the | apps and disable all the notifications to make it dumb so it | only plays music. | | I know a few folks who bought the older models or the new Apple | Watch SE solely for this purpose. | | Is it more expensive than an iPod? Yup. | | Does it work amazing when running? Also, yup. | astrange wrote: | It's easier to just get a smartwatch and turn the stuff you | don't care about off. It's not like the watch's feelings will | be hurt if you don't use it. | Wojakmeme wrote: | How do you know that exactly? | 1970-01-01 wrote: | I want to think the iPod just became the iPhone without the LTE | radio, and manufacturing more iPhones is simply cheaper for | Apple. Is there any difference between the iPod touch and the | iPhone for media consumption? | devindotcom wrote: | Try turning that thought around and you may see why it makes | more sense to discontinue. If Apple can get someone to spend an | extra $100 on a base-level iPhone instead of an iPod Touch, the | margins aren't as good but the product pipeline is simpler and | suddenly they're a convert to the iOS ecosystem and all the | revenue that brings. It just doesn't make sense to offer a | disconnected iPhone type device any more. | paulmd wrote: | Don't ipods run ios as well? If you can buy apps and stuff, | that's the same thing from Apple's perspective. | | As a variation of the iPhone 7, maybe they just want to | finally be done with that era of hardware and having to | manufacture chips for it (although they've been great about | support), and the volume definitely isn't there to justify an | update to a more modern chip. | alexott wrote: | I'm using 13 old iPod for one simple reason - its very handy for | music and podcasts. Just set the play list "didn't listen for N | weeks" and music is automatically synced, listened podcasts are | removed and new are uploaded, etc. | GeekyBear wrote: | Looking online, a used 256 Gig iPhone 8 from Gazelle is about | $150 cheaper than a new 256 Gig iPod Touch despite having a newer | SOC. | | https://buy.gazelle.com/collections/iphones/products/iphone-... | amelius wrote: | You see the same difference between a SmartTV and a DumbTV. | | The iPhone is cheaper because it really is a vending machine in | disguise. | MBCook wrote: | How so? | | An iPod Touch and an iPhone run the exact same apps. | GeekyBear wrote: | Before depreciation, the iPhone was the more expensive | device. | | "Smart" TVs are cheaper because the manufacturer is selling | your data. | astrange wrote: | That's mainly Vizio. There just isn't much point in making | a dumb TV when the smarts are free. Saves having a Netflix | dongle too. | | Do wonder why LG OLEDs fall so hard in price after a year | but there's probably an innocent explanation. | GekkePrutser wrote: | Crap :( I always loved the iPod Touch as a secure but tiny | device. I use it like a "Secure Element" with my most trusted | stuff on it. | | I hope the current generation goes on offer before they sell out. | Here in Europe there's never been a significant sale on them. I | got my current previous-gen for 139 euro but the current model | has never been below 200 here. | | An iPhone is way too expensive (even the SE is ridiculously | expensive in Europe) and I don't want second-hand / "refurbished" | crap that third party sellers will have put questionable | batteries in. And I don't need a SIM. | | But I guess what I want is a really small niche. | [deleted] | greenie_beans wrote: | but does it have a headphone jack tho | CharlesW wrote: | It does. | ErneX wrote: | "No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame" | | 20 years, huge run. | bombcar wrote: | Some form of Slashdot finally outlives the iPod. | | https://apple.slashdot.org/story/22/05/10/1650258/the-ipod-i... | gtvwill wrote: | Eh another lump in apples pile of "it still works but now it | e-waste" design strat. Just like the early gen still working but | discontinued and no longer supported iPads on my cupboard next to | me. | [deleted] | at_a_remove wrote: | I have been considering getting some kind of dedicated music- | playing device. I have a very cheap plan and am not interested in | streaming. So I guess this gets ruled out, although the Itunes | reputation itself was already something of a negative. | CharlesW wrote: | The current iPod touch runs iOS 15 and will be just as good 5 | years from now. | | The only downside of buying a discontinued Apple product is | knowing that you'll have to switch devices if/when it dies, but | even that's mitigated by the fact that you'll likely be able to | buy used ones for many years. | newsclues wrote: | Bring back the iPod Classic with a click wheel, modern | connectivity for BL and WiFi to get podcasts and solid state | storage please. | | I don't want a phone (all the time) anymore. | JKCalhoun wrote: | The day before the first iPod was to launch a co-worker (in | marketing, at Apple) loaned me an iPod to take home over night. | To this day I am blown away as to how that happened. No way | that could have happened with the first iPhone. (In case he was | not supposed to do so I'll withhold his name.) | | We (the family) were at a car dealership that evening and to | entertain my 3 year old I put the ear buds in her ears and gave | her the iPod to rock out to. | | Perhaps unsurprisingly, no one batted and eye or seemed to take | notice of a little girl sporting the white earbuds that would | become so iconic later. | | Related memory _after_ the iPhone had come out: I remember | being on a train in Tokyo where, counting the two other Apple | employees with me, we all three had our iPhones out. | | Looking around the train though at all the Tokyo-ites with | their flip phones and lanyards I began to doubt whether the | iPhone was ever going to be able to conquer Japan. If for no | other reason, where do you attach a lanyard? | | (Or maybe there's a better term for that bit of | "personalization" that dangled like a tassel from all the cool, | urban Japanese flip-phones.) | flyingfences wrote: | > (Or maybe there's a better term for that bit of | "personalization" that dangled like a tassel from all the | cool, urban Japanese flip-phones.) | | I believe the Japanese call it a "strap", transliterated | directly. | paulmd wrote: | it's continually bizarre to me that Japan exists as a tiny | insular market that gets all kinds of products and devices | that never make it anywhere else, not even china or the rest | of SEA. | | The rest of the world we never stop hearing about 'there | isn't a market for X' but Japan is this tiny market that gets | their own things all the time. | Zhenya wrote: | I just wish there was a good way to sync Spotify/YTM playlists | to these offline devices. | | What I have seen is using the 5th gen iPods with new firmware | is great. | no-dr-onboard wrote: | "the music _lives_ on" as a title to describe the death of the | iPod is such an intolerable attempt at paltering. | | As my XO used to say, "Don't piss on my leg and tell me it's | raining." | j16sdiz wrote: | (Non-English native speaker here) What is a "XO"? | bitwize wrote: | GP programmed an AI that could run on a green OLPC computer. | austinsharp wrote: | "Executive officer" - used in the military, from what I am | aware. | | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_officer | adolph wrote: | the language is more 1SG, an XO communicates via ppt | | Slide 1: Leg: Anatomy and Function of Bones and Muscles, | Plus Diagram | | Slide 2: Establishment of ownership of leg to a soldier, | attached and special conditions of detachment | | Slide n: ... blase blase blase | [deleted] | prionassembly wrote: | He's a Cylon, but he's on your side. | MisterSandman wrote: | Is XO a typo of SO or a very interesting acronym | [deleted] | CharlesW wrote: | > _" the music _lives_ on" as a title to describe the death of | the iPod is such an intolerable attempt at paltering._ | | Only if you're reading it as a discontinuation notice, but the | purpose of the release is far broader than that. It's a | celebration of the impact the iPod touch has had on the world, | a prompt to iPod touch fans that this is their last chance to | buy a new one, and a reminder that Apple continues to express | its love of music through other products. | | I understand none of that will resonate with you or seem | authentic to you, which is fine since you're not the audience | for it. For someone who grew up with an iPod touch, it's going | to seem as sincere and bittersweet as the person who wrote it | intended. | dang wrote: | Yes, if the corporate press release isn't the most insufferable | genre that exists, I'm not sure what is. We've changed the | title above, in keeping with HN's title rule. More at | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31331736. | adolph wrote: | pal*ter | 'polt@r | verb [no object] archaic | 1 equivocate or prevaricate in action or speech: if you palter | or double in your answers, I will have thee hung alive in an | iron chain. 2 (palter with) trifle with: this great work | should not be paltered with. DERIVATIVES | palterer noun ORIGIN mid 16th century (in the | sense 'mumble or babble'): of unknown origin. | ______-_-______ wrote: | A very carefully worded press release. They didn't want to come | out and say it, but the iPod product line has been discontinued. | tiahura wrote: | The subheading is "iPod touch will be available while supplies | last" | | Seemed straight forward to me. | theandrewbailey wrote: | No, it doesn't. It sounds like they're having a buy one get | one free sale, not a discontinuation. | mgarciaisaia wrote: | I understand it's really carefully worded, but I tend to feel | insulted by a press release that says everything _except_ the | message, to make it less harsh. | | Be honest. | dang wrote: | Yes. We've changed the title above. More at | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31331736. | jfultz wrote: | Looks like Apple's dumping their final handheld* device with a | 3.5mm headphone jack. Let's once more admire their courage. | | * There's still one iPad model with a headphone jack, but that's | not quite in my definition of "handheld". | nicolas_t wrote: | I just wished that all other vendors didn't follow in that | stupidity. | Sohcahtoa82 wrote: | 100% | | Other vendors fail to understand that sometimes the reason | people use their product is because it's not Apple. Most of | the regressions I've seen in the Windows 11 UI/UX are from | them trying to imitate Apple. | dangoor wrote: | This seems like the most indirect way possible to say "we're | discontinuing the last iPod". _Most_ of the content of this press | release is fine, in my opinion, but saying "iPod Touch is | available while supplies last" just doesn't seem like a great way | to phrase it. | | Am I wrong about that? | jrockway wrote: | Google had this down to a science. "An update on..." was the | best possible business euphemism for cancelling something, and | they did it every time, so you didn't have to read the rest of | the article/blog post. "The music lives on" just isn't as good. | I know Apple didn't want to copy Google here, but they should | have. "An update on [the] iPod Touch". Easy. You know what the | update is. | chipotle_coyote wrote: | "The Music Lives On" is the part that makes me chuckle at them | being Excessively Apple about it, really. I understand they may | not have wanted "Finally Killing the iPod" as the headline, or | even "The iPod is Gone, but the Music Lives On", but I can't | help think of Phil Schiller standing on stage a few years back | describing removing the headphone jack as "courage". | CharlesW wrote: | > _This seems like the most indirect way possible to say "we're | discontinuing the last iPod"._ | | To me, the subhead "iPod touch will be available while supplies | last" succinctly performs double-duty: (1) We discontinued iPod | touch, and (2) if you want (another) one, this is your last | chance. | bredren wrote: | I think you're right. Even this seems like a pretty minor | sendoff for such a massively popular product, though. | | Will iPhone some day be quietly, ambiguously sent to the grave | in a similar fashion? | dang wrote: | Agreed. I've changed the title above. If there's a more | accurate and neutral title, we can change it again. | | HN's title rule is " _Please use the original title, unless it | is misleading or linkbait_ ", and corporate press release | titles are usually both. For that reason we usually rewrite | them. | | https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor... | | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html | libria wrote: | "Wow, iPods, it's been a wild ride, amirite?" | pjmlp wrote: | It is in the same vein as when a company uses "process | optimization" to mean a firing round. | | I guess Apple marketing team didn't want to put it clearly what | they are doing. | starik36 wrote: | One would think people write these missives, but on further | thought, it might be OpenAI trained on 1000s of previously | similarly obfuscated press releases. | croddin wrote: | It's like a TikTok video plot: Tell me you are discontinuing a | product line without telling me you are discontinuing a product | line. | smrtinsert wrote: | I remember when a key selling point of the iphone was that | "there is an ipod _inside_ it! " | stuart78 wrote: | I read it like three times to see if I'd missed it. Very | strange approach to this. There is no shame in celebrating its | impact and saying the brand/category is being retired. | tobr wrote: | And the weird thing is when you try to say something without | saying it, it makes it look like _you're_ ashamed of it. | There's nothing here to be ashamed of, so why not just say it | clearly and succinctly? | Ninjinka wrote: | When I was a kid, I was looking to buy my first gaming device. I | was debating between getting a Nintendo DS and the 4th gen iPod, | ultimately deciding on the iPod. This ended up being a great | choice as I was able to get more games than I would have been | able to on the DS and it opened up a world of being able to text | my friends (primarily through Words with Friends at the time). | | It's a shame it's being discontinued, it was the perfect first | device for children. | kin wrote: | As someone who used both devices for gaming, I would say that | while the iPod may have had quantity, the DS without a doubt | had the quality of games. Amazing library. | asciimov wrote: | That's a damned shame, the iPod Touch was a great way to give | kids a "phone" without giving them a real phone. | MBCook wrote: | I wonder if they'll launch something new to fill the gap, or if | that gap is just too small for them to decide it's worth | pursuing. | | Or maybe they see that as belonging to the iPad mini's purpose. | coastflow wrote: | The iPad mini might be Apple's response to mostly fill the | gap. The device can run phone apps without having the | features of calling/texting. | | The tablet also has more educational value as it supports | handwriting and drawing, though it comes at the cost of not | being pocket-size (adding inconvenience for users who just | want to listen to music). | skinnymuch wrote: | The iPad mini costs more than an iPhone SE. it's not that | small either so if it isn't going to be in your pocket, an | iPad is over $100 cheaper. | | I think the iPad Mini makes sense as a product line in | general. Which is being a smaller screen (and thus cheaper) | iPad Air. It does work as an option, but so do iPads. | wlesieutre wrote: | The regular "iPad" is more similar. Low priced model that | lags behind the design and power of the flagship models. | Starts at $329 vs $500 if you don't mind the big bezels, | lightning port, and A13 processor with 3GB RAM. | | Mini has the small bezels, USB-C port, supports the | magnetically charged stylus, and has an A15 with 4 GB RAM, | so it's priced more in line with the iPad Air even though | it's the small one. | | I used to have an iPad Mini, I think 3? Whichever model was | before it got Touch ID. Back then it was a smaller and | cheaper version of the normal iPad, more recently it's | moved to the middle of the line (but below the "Pro" | versions). | skinnymuch wrote: | I just realized the iPad mini I still use doesn't have | Touch ID. I have an iPad mini 3. It's slow on the last OS | it can be on, iOS 12. I use it because a jailbreak tweak | that can last.fm scrobble (tracks listening/viewing | history) works on older devices like that one. | wlesieutre wrote: | Just went and checked, the Mini 2 didn't have Touch ID, | the 3 added it but changed pretty much nothing else. | | I think what I had was a 2 purchased after the 3 came | out, someplace was clearing them out for around $150 off | even though it was practically the same device except it | took half a second longer to unlock. Pretty good deal, | eventually got demoted to kitchen recipe screen. | foogazi wrote: | What about an iPhone without a sim card ? camera will be way | better anyway | izzydata wrote: | That seems far more expensive than an iPod. | skinnymuch wrote: | iPhone SE 2nd generation (from early 2020) will be pretty | cheap nowadays with the 3rd gen out. Probably still a bit | pricier than an iPod Touch, but Apple went long periods of | time without updating the Touch. While not reducing the | price. | | Though it won't be possible to get new iPhone SE 2nd gen | for long. At that point, a refurbished or used 11 or XR or | SE 2nd gen will not be too much. The latter two should be | cheaper than a new iPod Touch. | mrpippy wrote: | An older (or new with discounts) iPhone SE isn't much more | Gigachad wrote: | These days parents hand down their phone to their kids so | its basically free from that perspective. The height of the | iPod Touch was the time when parents were only just getting | their first smartphone. | windowsrookie wrote: | It's essentially an iPhone 7 without a SIM. Just buy one of | those. I'm assuming it would cost less than a new iPod touch | and it prevents old iPhones from becoming e-waste. | kgwxd wrote: | On an iPod FaceTime and iMessage work as expected over Wifi. | Last time I tried to use an iPhone without a sim card they | didn't work. Is that still the case? If so, is it a technical | limitation or an intentional one? | nytesky wrote: | Yeah I posted about it above and people said it works fine. | I wonder if it depends on who you original carrier was or | something? I'm going to try again! | chemmail wrote: | You will need to go down to iPhone 6S to get the headphone | jack. | Gigachad wrote: | You could just stick the adapter on the end of their | headphones cable and it effectively works the same. | kingcharles wrote: | Someone gave me an iPhone 7 the other day. It's a great | phone. It runs the latest iOS too, so you're supported for a | good while. | | Some apps are a little cramped on what is now considered a | small screen though (e.g. TikTok UI takes up most of the | screen). | Tade0 wrote: | It's very much not an iPhone 7 without a SIM. | | Chiefly, it weighs 88g vs the 138g for the iPhone - a | considerable difference for a child. | windowsrookie wrote: | I'm sorry but I disagree. I carried around a game boy | pocket, with several game cartridges just fine as a kid. I | see kids taking Nintendo switches and an iPad everywhere | with them today. | simlevesque wrote: | > It's essentially an iPhone 7 without a SIM. Just buy one of | those. | | You literally can't "just buy one" that's new to give to a | kid. | spicybright wrote: | Why be pedantic, the point GP is making is obvious. | skinnymuch wrote: | It's not even pedantic. The next line says "new iPods" | are pricier than iPhone 7s. So they meant non new iPhone | 7s. Followed by e-waste which wouldn't be about a new | device | skinnymuch wrote: | The person knows that. If you read on. That's why they say | it's probably cheaper than a new iPod. By saying "new" for | iPod, it's a distinction versus iPhone 7s. Then they bring | up e-waste which is about used devices being re-used. Not | using a new device. | Someone1234 wrote: | Major problem with that: Phones without SIMs can still make | emergency calls (911, etc). | | I got one for my kid as a camera. Why? Because it costs as | much as many kids cameras, while they're absolute trash, and | the camera module/software in the iPod takes really high | quality photos that are easy to export or manipulate. | | Old iPhones are inexpensive, but you cannot disable emergency | calling for a good reason, but that good reason still doesn't | make you want to hand one to a 7-year-old as a glorified | camera. | tempestn wrote: | Is the concern that they will accidentally dial 911, or | intentionally? I have a 7 year old and can't really imagine | either happening. | Someone1234 wrote: | Both. Just a whole scope of problem that can be | eliminated by not getting a device with a cellular modem. | Plus a lot of iOS devices have strange interactions with | iPhones without phone numbers (imessage and signal for | two specific examples). | procombo wrote: | This is the worst thing about Signal, IMO. I want to use | old phones as backup communication devices (wifi) but | can't natively use the software that way. | nytesky wrote: | We have a bunch of old iPhones for kids, but we can't setup | iMessage on those phones without an active phone number. We | can setup iMessage (email based) on iPad and iPod Touches, so | this is frustrating. I want my kids to not be full on | cellular internet, but I like that they can message | relatively safely friends and family with iMessage. | lkxijlewlf wrote: | I thought you could set iMessage up to use an email | address. I did that before but it's been a while. | lotsofpulp wrote: | You do not need a phone number for iMessage. You can make | an apple account with an email address, and use the email | address as your Apple ID. | mstolpm wrote: | I'm using an old iPhone without a SIM card as a spare | device and iMessage works on it WIFI-only. But I have to | admit that initial setup of the Apple ID wasn't done on | this phone. Perhaps you could setup your kids Apple IDs on | another device and then use them on the old phones with | iMessage as well? | refracture wrote: | You're missing something; I have a first gen SE that's got | no SIM and it has email based iMessage setup and working. | It's for my son to FaceTime with family. | FactolSarin wrote: | We use a cell service called Tello for my kids phones. For | $5/mo you can get a plan with 100 minutes of voice calls, | sms, and no data whatsoever. It's perfect for my kids, | since I don't really want them to have mobile data anyway | rsync wrote: | Thank you! | | I have been looking for a cheaper, no-data SIM card to | use with 2FA Mules - this is very helpful. | skinnymuch wrote: | I don't believe this is true or something let's me not need | any [working] sim in my phones. I can log into an iCloud | account and FT, iMessage accounts on non sim working phones | too. | piperswe wrote: | Strange, I have iMessage set up on an old iPhone XS with no | SIM and no phone number tied to the Apple ID | clairity wrote: | from apple's vantage point, the watch (with airpods) is meant | to fill this niche (more lucratively for them). apple even went | against its own one-user-one-device edict to allow one iphone | to control multiple watches to support this positioning. | | edit: i should add that this is also one of the reasons apple | has the "voice only" music subscription. | belazeebub wrote: | The watch most definitely does not fill this niche as most | parents bought the iPod touch partly (mostly?) for its gaming | abilities. | daptaq wrote: | Why would you even what that? I get the opposite (phone without | internet), but this has all the downsides for the development | of a child without the advantage of a child being able to | contact their parents or vice versa? | francisofascii wrote: | > Why would you even what that | | Cost. $199, new. | daptaq wrote: | You can get a new Nokia dumbphone for 60 euros: https://www | .nokia.com/phones/de_de/nokia-6310?sku=16POSE01A0.... Up | until recently there were even models that only cost 20. | windowsrookie wrote: | You can't get a cheap dumb phone in the United States. | Carriers here will not activate a device unless it has | 4G. | protomyth wrote: | The iPod touch cannot call 911. The iPod touch doesn't | require me to have a phone contract. Not every kid needs a | phone, but having an iPod touch keeps the kid from getting | bullied by the "Blue Message" crowd. | cactus2093 wrote: | You're saying the most important considerations for a kid | are 1. preventing prank 911 calls and 2. teaching them not | to be anti-android snobs? | [deleted] | protomyth wrote: | Accidental[1] or pranks by others mostly. Welcome to the | wonderful world of elementary school. | | 1) although having had to make a 911 from Car Play, I | wouldn't worry about accidents, but it was concerning how | long it took to make the damn call. | lotsofpulp wrote: | iPhones do not require a phone contract either. | | iPod touches also sent iMessages, since all you need is an | Apple ID. | | https://support.apple.com/guide/ipod-touch/set-up- | messages-i... | protomyth wrote: | _iPod touches also sent iMessages, since all you need is | an Apple ID._ | | That's why I said _" having an iPod touch keeps the kid | from getting bullied by the "Blue Message" crowd"_ - It | was the device you could buy a kid and not worry about | the green messages. | | iPhones without phone contracts can still call 911. | lotsofpulp wrote: | Sorry, I read that incorrectly. | skinnymuch wrote: | If jailbreaking will continue working on iOS 15, then | people can do that and nuke the phone app from iPhones to | prevent the 911 issue. | DerekBickerton wrote: | Damn I love these devices. For me they were a sort of _very_ mini | iPad in an iPhone form factor and I loved how they didn 't have a | baseband processor. Always laughed when trying to download | Whatsapp onto them and got an 'Incompatible' message in the app | store. | | Apple never released new versions frequently though, meaning | certain apps became incompatible over time, since iPods couldn't | be updated to the latest iOS. My fifth gen device was stuck on | iOS 9 for a number of years now and it basically became unusable | (and very insecure since apps couldn't be updated along with the | OS). | | I will be snapping up as many devices as I can from AliExpress & | eBay though. Still worth having a few to toy around & tinker | with. | mdoms wrote: | Ipod was dead to me when they killed the Shuffle, the only Apple | product I genuinely liked. | DerekBickerton wrote: | Damn I love these devices. For me they were a sort of _very_ mini | iPad in an iPhone form factor and I loved how they didn 't have a | baseband processor. Always laughed when trying to download | Whatsapp onto them and got an 'Incompatible' message in the app | store. | | Apple never released new versions frequently though, meaning | certain apps became incompatible over time, since iPods couldn't | be updated to the latest iOS. My fifth gen device was stuck on | iOS 9 for a number of years now and it basically became unusable | (and very insecure since apps couldn't be updated along with the | OS). | | I will be snapping up as many devices as I can from AliExpress & | eBay though. Still worth having a few to toy around & tinker | with. | compiler-guy wrote: | "No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame." | | Twenty years is a long time. | Nition wrote: | I noticed that the NOMAD lives on in Apple having to be extra | specific in today's announcement: | | > The original iPod, introduced on October 23, 2001, was the | first MP3 player to pack a mind-blowing 1,000 songs and a | 10-hour battery into a stunning 6.5-ounce package. | | The NOMAD had more storage than the first iPod (6GB vs. 5GB), | but weighed 14oz and had a four hour battery life.[0] | | [0] https://archive.org/details/manualzilla- | id-7341241/page/37/m... | kilbuz wrote: | haha, classic. | nileshtrivedi wrote: | Since smartphoners have taken over, we are seeing most businesses | insisting on users' owning and sharing their phone numbers. WiFi- | only devices like iPod Touch could have played an important role | in resisting this trend - especially with kids. Too bad there | never were any popular WiFi-only models in the Android world. | Headwig wrote: | There is the WiFi-Only Ipads,so not all hope is lost! This had | led to the new "Ipad Kid" trend though which is loathsome at | best. | cheschire wrote: | Just don't put a sim card in it? | m463 wrote: | I think apps that could run on an ipod within its | restrictions, might require that kind of stuff | WesolyKubeczek wrote: | So I just spat Apple in the eye and bought an old iPod classic | with iFlash + 1TB SSD retrofitted in it (I do have another one, | but I have no sufficient opening-fu to pry it open without | damaging). | RajT88 wrote: | If you wanted to really spit in Apple's eye, you'd buy a Zune. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2022-05-10 23:00 UTC)