Go ahead, no, Apple has not re-listed the iPod, which it stopped manufacturing in 2022, and it is unlikely to do so. But it is not impossible: recently the iPod has been a trend on social networks, so we may see a return of this player to stores, similar to that of vinyl or, to a lesser extent, the CD and cassette tape (which never left).
We could go back – as we go back to everything – to the time when La Terremoto de Alcorcón sang that “The Kings have given me an 80 gigabyte iPod / and it doesn’t work (uuuuh) / and it doesn’t work (uuuuh) / I have to fix it so I can listen to Tiga / and it doesn’t work (uuuuh) / and it doesn’t work (uuuuh).” The possibility is tantalizing: the only iPod I ever owned lasted a month. It was like the one in the photo, but without the Nelly Furtado album. It was a birthday present and was ruined when someone inadvertently stepped on it during recess while putting it in a backpack. I cried as if a pet had died (I was 16 years old, sorry), and I still have the “corpse”, stored in its little plastic box.
In the last year, TikTok and Instagram have been filled with viral videos of people using their iPod, and the purchase of these devices in second-hand stores, as well as the search for the word “iPod” on Google and YouTube (where people see unboxings and various reviews) has grown exponentially, as reported by various media outlets. At the very least, there is an incipient curiosity to return to this product that lasted in the collective consciousness as long as Gotye’s career: the iPod was introduced to the market in 2001 and its peak of global use occurred between 2006 and 2008. Shortly after, the arrival of the smartphone was responsible for burying it.
The reason for this curious revival is clear: the public is saturated with living connected all day and is desperately looking for a way out, as when they imagine that living in the country must be infinitely better than living in the city, but without being woken up by the clucking of a chicken. The iPod, as the actress Drew Barrymore -of all people- very accurately describes in a recent interview – the truth is that she knows a lot about music – was the perfect bridge between the portability of the CD and the ease of streaming: it was not necessary to connect to the Internet to use it and it did not allow access to “the entire” existing musical catalogue, from absolutely all eras and territories. An infinite musical pool that, perhaps, we did not need, but that seemed inevitable, given what we had seen.
@daniellecollins67 iPods are so back
♬ About You Now – Sugababes
I will not be the one to deny the advantages of streaming, since I think that platforms like Spotify or Bandcamp not only allow access to all or almost all music, but are also, in part, responsible for the revisionism that the music of numerous artists or musical trends that seemed doomed to oblivion has experienced. Like when someone turns an 18th century painting into a meme, making that work circulate massively when it was previously unknown, the future involved having access to all or almost all of the cultural capital, at all times, at the click of a button. The accessibility of today’s music has also shaped the music produced today.
There are songs uploaded to Spotify that date back to the 10s, 20s or 30s of the last century: finding them is dizzying, almost like traveling back in time. However, the iPod had points in its favor despite its obvious space and content limitations. For example, the user “curated” their own musical content, without ads or algorithms. Being able to fit into a player that was almost the size of the palm of your hand the musical content of 50 or 100 albums (or more; the first iPod allowed you to upload up to 1,000 songs) sounded like a dream before Spotify reared its head, back in 2008.
Of course, the main advantage of the iPod is that it worked without internet, since the music it contained was uploaded in mp3 format manually, or downloaded through iTunes (with purchased music, ideally, I know that the Soulseek was a lot of trouble). This is the reason why people have returned to vinyl and CDs, and are even buying discmans again to be able to consume music without having to resort to Wi-Fi but without giving up good sound quality. The iPod wins because, in addition, it is much more portable, weighs less than a mobile phone and its “random” option works like we listen to playlists today, but without record companies imposing music on the listener that they do not want to hear.
@torokurooo My iPod against life #ipodnano #apple #music #retro #brat ♬ original sound – user39125986326
In addition, the iPod serves a single purpose and, unlike the iPhone, does not contain other apps that distract from the music. For this reason, it seems that a specific group of people – parents – are expressing in Facebook groups their need to buy iPods again, according to a recent report published last October, so that their young children can listen to music “on the bus on the way to school” without having direct access to content on the Internet or social networks that could be harmful to them. “We don’t want our kids to go back to the Middle Ages, just to be able to listen to music without being able to access Snapchat too,” says one parent.
It is worth reflecting, however, if the potential return of the iPod does not represent a new victory for large technology companies and a new defeat for the rest of humanity, which so easily subjects its attention and time to expired and obsolete products. After all, do we really need another device taking up space in our lives? It is curious that this renewed interest in the iPod is occurring, notably, in generation Z as well, since they did not experience the boom of this player, but they already upload videos showing their new acquisitions and doing ASMR with the noises of the boxes and cables. Aren’t we falling back into easy consumerism through nostalgia?
For this reason, be careful, I would not underestimate this revival, because, like vinyl and, to a lesser extent, the CD, I am sure that a future awaits in which we will once again coexist with this music player, just as we already do with others that have returned. Are you sure Black Mirror isn’t writing a chapter about this? If the iPod already exists, if it is already made, the only thing left is for capitalism to devour it again and then spit it out looking shiny and shiny, as if it were new.
@chicadelascajas I got my #ipodClassic at @cnshopper.offical I’ve had it for a month now and it works very well 🔥 Purchase link in my bio 👀 #technology #recommendation #review #cnshopper ♬ original sound – The girl with the boxes 📦
@reddnea what should i put on it! and what should i get next?? #ipod #apple #ipodnano #unboxing ♬ Sound of seconds(69453) – WALKER
