Earlier this week, Apple officially discontinued the iPod nano and shuffle by removing them from its online store and slowly phasing them out from retail locations. The move was somewhat out of the blue, but one that makes sense when you think of the current state of technology.

While we asked you earlier this week what you thought of Apple’s decision to discontinue the iPod nano and shuffle, but would you be interested in updated models of either device or an updated iPod classic with Apple Music support?

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Earlier today, Apple officially discontinued the iPod nano and iPod shuffle. While some say the move has been a long time coming, others were taken aback by the sudden move.

How do you feel about Apple’s decision to kill the iPod nano and iPod shuffle?

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It is a sad day, folks. Apple is discontinuing our favorite miniature iPods. 9to5Mac has now confirmed Apple will no longer be selling the iPod nano and shuffle. Already removed from Apple’s site, they will be taken out of retail stores as well. The news comes alongside the announcement of the updated iPod touch lineup with reduced prices and more. But you can still get one while they last… expand full story

It scarcely seems possible now that Apple ever considered an iPhone based on a click-wheel iPod, but we actually got to see a surviving prototype earlier this year. Steve Jobs created competing teams to work on different approaches to an iPhone, and ‘father of the iPod’ Tony Fadell has spoken about this in a new interview …

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[Update: OS News reports that what Fraunhofer IIS fails to mention is that the last of the patents expired, and this is the reason that it is no longer licensing the format.]

More than 25 years after it was first developed, the mp3 format for digital music has been officially discontinued. The Fraunhofer Institute, the main organization responsible for licensing the encoders and decoders, has today announced that it ceased doing so late last month.

Apple was of course in large part responsible for popularizing the format, but also played a role in its demise …

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Sonny Dickson this evening posted posted a log and video of a never before seen in public version of pre-iPhone era software that was built as an alternative OS to what eventually became iOS.

The OS, which was devised in the iPod’s heyday, was based on a virtual click-wheel that was put on the touch display. A set of menus is navigated with the touch much like one would using an iPod of the time. In the era of multi-touch the idea seems quaint but when everyone is using iPods, the UI makes a lot of sense as a small step rather than the giant leap to iPhone OS, what eventually became iOS.

Check out the video below:

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