Apple Pulls Plug On iPods

Apple Pulls Plug On iPods

The days of a stand-alone music player is over

Nothing defines digital music more than Apple’s iPod music player. Launched 16 years ago, it, along with the company’s iTunes digital music service, revolutionized how we listened to music on the go. But after more than 400 million units sold, Apple is pulling the plug on its stand-alone music players, namely the iPod Nano and Shuffle, removing both from their online store. There’s still the iPod Touch, but that doesn’t really count – with a touchscreen display and the ability to play videos as well as music, it’s closer to an iPhone without cellular capability.

It was inevitable really. While stand-alone music players were hot ticket items when they were launched decades ago, improvements over the capacity and capabilities of basic phones relegated them to the sidelines. Even your dirt cheap, sub Php 1K feature phone has the capability to play MP3s which hastened the product’s obsolescence. While companies like Sony still sell high-end stand-alone music players for audiophiles, the idea of one for the masses is deader than the Zune. Even Apple saw the writing on the wall, and stopped reporting earnings from iPods separately in earnings releases, putting them into the other products category along with dongles and headphones.

Obviously we’re at a better place in technology right now, since literally thousands and thousands of songs can now fit into our phones, which does away with the need for separate music players like the Shuffle or Nano. But we’re sad to see both go – they’ve been a staple of our lives growing up, back when phones were just phones, and when everything was a little bit simpler.

Goodbye iPod, you will be missed.

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