Today marks the end of a personal audio icon, the Apple iPod. The iPod may not have started personal audio (the honor of that goes to Sony’s Walkman back in the 80’s) but it did revolutionize it.
Actually, as of July 27, 2017, Apple has pulled out all offerings of iPod on their virtual stores and will likely take them of the shelves of Apple Stores soon. The iPod Touch will continue to be sold but, in essence, it’s not really an iPod. Many consider it to be an iPhone (without the phone functions).
This post is a tribute to the iconic iPod.
How did the iPod revolutionize the Music World?
At the time that digital music via Compact Disc (CD) was being revered by the world due to its impeccable sound quality, Apple decided to “think differently” and offered a device that could hold a library of CDs in its memory bank.
Back then we had to lug around portable compact disc players (Sony’s Discman was the in-thing back then) but its limitation was that we could only listen to one album at a time. If we wanted to listen to more than one album, we would have to carry more CDs in a bulky case in our bag.
CD writers were not common back then and we had to make do with what CDs came out (meaning we could not burn all of our favorite songs onto one CD).
Another gripe I had about the Discman was whenever I moved about, the music playback would skip. Anti-shock improvements were made on later models which slightly remedied the problem but skipping still happened, although less frequently.
On October 23, 2001, Steve Jobs announced the creation of Apple’s first iPod and its ability to store 1,000 songs in digital format in its large hard drive (5 GB back then was huge). It was dubbed “The Walkman of the 21st Century”. Yet, the iPod did not do too well at first. Perhaps the world wasn’t ready for a revolution yet.
However, a few years later MP3 format music became popular and favored over CDs. This was the iPod’s time to shine and it did. Everyone began buying it and started converting their CDs to MP3 format and everyone was happy. The white ear buds that came with the iPod also became a fashion statement.
I do believe that the iPod revolution was what made MP3 mainstream as it was the accepted format for iPod (along with Apple’s AAC). A small device that could fit a whole library of music in it? There was no question that the iPod was set to revolutionize the music world.
Oh and no skipping of music playback even when jogging. Definitely a plus!
My Love Affair with the iPod
I got my first iPod in 2005. A black iPod Video 30 GB and I was in love with it. Mind you, it was not budget friendly. It was an expensive device but I enjoyed every single minute of music on it. Every CD I had got converted into MP3 by iTunes and I crammed everything I had onto that “huge” 30 GB hard drive.
The iPod was what first got me into personal audio as I soon became discontented with the sound the white ear buds put out. I was no audiophile but I wanted better sound.
I saved up and bought myself a pair of Sennheiser earphones to replace the stock ear buds. I relished the rich sound that the iPod put out. Only recently did I learn that my old iPod (5th Gen iPod Video) had a Wolfson Audio Chip installed in it, which accounted for the excellent sound quality despite the fact that I was listening to low quality MP3 audio files.
I will cover the different Audio Chips in a separate post.
Unfortunately, a massive flood claimed the life of my beloved iPod and I moved on to two generations of iPod Nano and an iPod Shuffle given to me as a Christmas present by the company I was working for. Those iPods are still with me as I write this and I still use them from time to time. They have stood the test of time.
The iPod through the Years
Eventually the big iPods were produced along side other variations. The iPod Shuffle had no screen and smaller memory but it was very portable. The iPod Nano was a shrunk version of the bigger iPods but was just as capable and more portable. Eventually, the advent of LCD touchscreens paved the creation of the iPod Touch.
Despite the fact that the iPod did meet with serious competition with the likes of the Microsoft Zune, Creative Zen and Philips Go-Gear, it still stood out on top and was the preferred music device by everyone. Samsung made a bold attempt to take on the iPod with its line of Music Players but they too failed miserably.
Eventually, the iPod moved onto higher memory capacities as hard drive technology improved. The iPod Classic has a whopping 160 GB memory that is unrivaled even by many of the Digital Audio Players of today. However, most high-end DAPs nowadays leave the iPod Classic in the dust with the option of adding up to two 256 GB SD Memory cards.
The iPod had a great 16-year run but like many good things, it did eventually come to its fated end.
The End of the Road for the iPod
A decade ago, carrying around a cellphone and an iPod was a common thing for many people. Personally, I carried around a Motorola flip phone, my iPod video and a Palm Pilot in my pocket whenever I went out or to work.
The invention of smartphones made carrying multiple gears a thing of the past. It did everything my iPod, phone and Palm Pilot could and more. I jumped on the bandwagon and began unloading my pockets in favor of one device, as did millions of others around the world.
It made no sense carrying around extra devices. It even came to the point in time that I started leaving my Digital Camera at home whenever I went out on trips because my smartphone’s camera seemed more than capable to get the job done.
iPods that were once enjoyed and loved either collected dust in storage (as did my nanos and shuffle) or were sold off to audio enthusiasts who still desired the good audio performance.
There is a saying that a “Jack of All Trades is a Master of None” and that is relevant to smartphones too. No smartphone, at that time, could rival the sound quality of the iPod but it was no longer a question of sound but of convenience.
Nowadays, some flagship smartphones feature high-end audio chips that will run circles around the iPod in terms of sound quality. However, flagship smartphones are expensive and it may be more cost effective to just have a separate DAP for quality music.
To make matters worse, Online Music Streaming via Spotify or Tidal blew the iPod out of this planet. With the exception of the iPod Touch, all other iPods had no Internet connection capabilities and thus were unable to keep up with the dynamic trends of the music world.
The move of consumers from sound quality to convenience marked the end of this icon.
The iPod today
As a returning Audiophile, I eventually pulled my iPods out of their retirement and commissioned them for use again. I regained my appreciation for this old but reliable audio gem.
This time, instead of cramming it with thousands of low-resolution MP3 files (like I did before), I now fill my iPods with fat and rich high resolution Apple Lossless Files (ALAC) and some 320kbps Mp3 files. Although I can only fit less than 150 songs in a 4 GB memory, I compromise by just adding songs I frequently listen to.
I also have an iPhone 5C in retirement from primary phone duties (as a Samsung S7 Edge took its place) which takes care of other songs I want to listen to with its bigger 16 GB memory. I will cover the pros and cons of using an old iPod as a DAP in another post.
Many audiophiles still have an appreciation for the old iPods and are actually reconditioning and modifying it. New batteries and larger memories (there is even an SD Card conversion for the iPod) and I read an article of other iPods being modified purely as a DAP for high end home audio systems using copper wires and cables internally. Wow!
There are countless of iPods on sale online at such low prices and Audiophiles on a Budget should consider getting one.
Given this spark of reverence and appreciation of audio enthusiasts everywhere, I do not see the iPod disappearing from the audio scene anytime soon.
I do plan on getting another old and used iPod soon to add to the three I already have with me. Even if I eventually upgrade to other higher end DAPs, I do not see my iPods going back into storage. Until they can serve me well, I will keep coming back to them from time to time for my own dose of musical bliss. Be on the look out for a new post of mine on using the iPod as a DAP that will be coming soon.
Farewell beloved iPod. Thank you for the thousands of hours of musical bliss you have bestowed upon us.
Audiophile On A Budget 