iPods

[Orange Cola]

I’ve dug out some of my ‘old’ iPods and got them going again. It’s frankly weird to think it wasn’t that long ago we all used to cart an MP3 player around of some description along with a mobile phone; my iPhone can now hold all my music, my photos are on the cloud but immediately accessible with a data connection and I can connect to Bluetooth and wifi devices easily.

However, going back to iPods has been a refreshing blast from the past. Well designed UI, a simplicity to the way it works. Checking eBay I’ve also found reasonable condition working ones are at a sensible price so I’ve managed to bag myself the parts to repair my iPod Mini, I’ve also picked up a refurbished 4th gen classic photo. Yesterday I managed to find a mis-listed U2 edition one which I’m looking forward to arriving I still have a number of uses for them around the house or out and about so I’ve enjoyed getting them going and getting the use out of them.

Question is, will they stand the test of time and will they become a sought after Apple product? I don’t think they’ll date like iPads and iPhones where their main purpose of connecting to the internet (lets be honest, phone calls have dropped right off) needs regular software updates to work which of course is something Apple don’t offer beyond a certain date.

[Ascender]

I've got a couple here which I keep meaning to get charged up and maybe stick an SSD in one. Most of my music listening is done with streaming services now, so I'd be struggling to get any new music on to it without resorting to less-than-legal means.

The recently-pulled-from-the-app-store app which put a classic iPod skin on to your iPhone's Music app got me pining for those more simple times.

Although I'm off to listen to a Beatles record on my record player, so I'm a confused soul.

[Orange Cola]

Almost annoyingly I’m not in a position where streaming would work for me because I have flaky mobile phone reception In the places where I do most of my listening. I think I’d be more into pod casts and radio stations if I could get enough internet to make it work but that’s the joys of working in the middle of nowhere.

The SSD conversions look good but reading into it the extra capacity is for data only, eg songs ripped from an LP and not for increasing the number of tracks the iPod can hold and read.

[Nathan]

I remember my friend getting an iPod in 6th form - back then the share price was about $1.00 and the iPod $550 in England (£1 : $1.8)

Today his iPod has basically cost him $159k / £121k

[Orange Cola]

It took a few reads but I get what you’re saying now

I don’t think anyone could have reliably predicted Apples surge in shares otherwise we’d have all got in on it