Even 15 years after its release, Apple fans are still missing the iPod Classic. And every now and then, we find apps and web-based apps that indulge in the nostalgia of using an iPod Classic.
This time, a GitHub project has emerged that lets you play Apple Music or Spotify songs on an iPod Classic web player.
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Recently we covered an iPhone app that simulates the iPod interface. Although its creator wasn’t sure about releasing it yet due to the Apple review process, another developer came out ahead and managed to get a similar app approved in the App Store. Created by Louis Anslow, Rewound transforms your iPhone into an iPod Classic.
A rare prototype second-generation iPod Classic has made its way to eBay this weekend. Offered up by user “TheAppleGuru,” the device has a red internal board dated 2002. The neat piece of product is currently listed for a whopping $99,995.
The discontinuation of the iPod Classic back in 2014 gave prices of used models a boost in the following holiday season, some models selling for up to four times the original price. A Guardian report says that collectors are now paying even more for some models, with special editions selling for as much as $90,000.
Terapeak, a company which tracks pricing of collectibles on eBay, […] found that classic iPods in their original packaging were priced at collectibles levels – one U2 special edition, Terapeak noted, sold in November for $90,000.
The Apple Store has gone down ahead of new iPods expected later today, which 9to5Mac exclusively reported on this morning. The new iPod touch will feature a faster 64-bit processor with an 8 megapixel camera. The other iPod updates to the Nano and Shuffle are likely purely cosmetic, with new dark blue, pink and gold colors available across the lineup.
Apple kept making the iPod Classic for much longer than many expected, but when it finally called time over lack of components there were still plenty of people who wanted one. The Guardian reports that some iPod Classics are now selling for up to four times the original price.
Versions of the 160GB Classic – which can hold around 40,000 songs – are being sold as new via Amazon for up to £670. More than 3,000 of the models – the seventh, final version came out in 2010 – have been sold on eBay since the Classic was retired in October, most for between £350 and £500. Even refurbished older models now cost far more than the £229 for which the later generations retailed.
While The Guardian was looking at UK prices, the same phenomenon can be seen in the US on Amazon and eBay …
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Apple CEO Tim Cook clarified the recent decision to quietly remove the iPod classic from sale earlier this year during a talk tonight at Wall Street Journal’s WSJD Live conference. According to the executive, some parts needed to manufacture the device were no longer available, and the cost of engineering a new version that didn’t require those parts wasn’t worth the effort due to low user demand.
The device vanished without a mention from Apple’s website last month following a redesign of the company’s website immediately after the iPhone 6 debut. It was the last device Apple still sold that used the “legacy” 30-pin connector, while all other iPod models have moved onto the Lightning connector.
When Apple quietly pulled the iPod classic from its online store the day of the iPhone 6 event earlier this month, it meant the last iPod click wheel from Apple had finally been retired in place of touch screens and voice input. Tony Fadell, CEO of Google-acquired Nest Labs who is most known for his work in the iPod division at Apple through late 2008, spoke with Fast Company to discuss the death of the last click wheel iPod:
“I’m sad to see it go,” Fadell admits in a phone interview. “The iPod’s been a huge part of my life for the last decade. The team that worked on the iPod poured literally everything into making it what it was.” […] “Products just don’t come around like that often,” laments Fadell. “The iPod was one-in-a-million.”
The iPod Classic is the gadget that refuses to die. Despite containing a hard drive when everything else is flash memory and physical controls when everything else is touchscreen, this 2009 device which isn’t a trillion miles removed from the original iPod design of 2001 remains on sale on the Apple Store to this day.
But not for long, according to Wired. The piece pulls together a whole bunch of commentators who all agree that this will be the year that Apple retires the elderly design. Perhaps they are right, but we can recall a certain rumor-phobe website called for the death of the iPod Classic as far back as 2011:
Specifically, if you want to buy an iPod shuffle or iPod classic from Apple, you should do it sooner rather than later. We’ve heard those two iPods are getting the axe this year [2011].
Ars Technica is also feeling an end to the iPod touch this time.
Happy 10th anniversary iPod! Now die!!!
In a story that mirrors the ‘Killing of the iPod’ speculation post we did a few weeks ago, TUAW posts that the iPod shuffle and classic are heading out to pasture as Apple focuses on the iPod touch and iPod nano.
If you want to buy an iPod shuffle or iPod classic from Apple, you should do it sooner rather than later. We’ve heard those two iPods are getting the axe this year.
The idea is that Apple wants to focus on touch screen devices that have some innovation left in them. Saving some serious time and effort, here is what we wrote two weeks ago:
Australian readers are reporting that Apple’s iPods had dropped in price up to AU$50. 3rd party retailers haven’t all reflected the price drops. Full price details below. Anyone else seeing a price drop out there?