Keep in mind the iPod? It’s making a quiet comeback.
4 years after Apple killed off its digital music participant, secondhand gross sales are surging. It’s fueled partly by younger folks not simply in its retro appears to be like however a want to hearken to music in a centered approach and with playlists not decided by algorithms.
“There’s a rising development, significantly amongst youthful customers, to mitigate the benefit with which they are often distracted by smartphones, typically pushed by psychological well being and well-being considerations,” stated Ben Wooden, chief analyst at CCS Perception. “Having a devoted music gadget, akin to an iPod, is an efficient method to cut back your dependence on a smartphone and keep away from being drawn into different actions, like doomscrolling by way of social media feeds, once you solely actually need to hearken to music.”
Should you’re considering becoming a member of the iPod revival, listed here are some pointers:
Tips on how to get an iPod
You’ll be able to’t purchase a new iPod anymore however it’s not too exhausting to get your arms on a used one. There are nonetheless numerous them round as a result of Apple sold 450 million over twenty years.
There’s a thriving secondhand market, as evidenced by 1000’s of listings for used iPods on eBay. “Based mostly on my discussions with folks out there, there has undoubtedly been renewed curiosity in refurbished iPods,” stated Wooden.
However be careful, as a result of eBay, unusually, additionally has 1000’s of listings for brand new iPods. On nearer inspection, they’re from China-based sellers and a few consumers have left suggestions complaining they acquired a used or refurbished gadget in counterfeit packaging.
Fb Market, peer-to-peer reselling web site Mercari and refurbished electronics platform Again Market even have loads of listings. Again Market, which operates within the U.S., Japan and greater than a dozen European nations, stated iPod gross sales final 12 months jumped 48% from 2024.
There are additionally companies devoted to promoting refurbished iPods.
And there’s an opportunity somebody you realize has one gathering mud in a drawer someplace. My 16-year-old daughter lately found her grandmother’s silver iPod Nano, full with unique charging cable and white earphones, in a visitor room nightstand throughout a current go to.
For help, there’s a vibrant on-line group of customers swapping ideas and sharing photos of their gadgets, many with aftermarket modifications like faceplates in non-original colours.
Which iPod is it?
There’s not only one single type of iPod.
The unique iPod, launched in 2001, got here with a scroll wheel that grew to become a design signature. When the sixth era was launched, Apple began calling it the Basic.
It was adopted by the smaller Mini and Nano variations, and the Shuffle, which had no display screen. Then got here the Contact, which had a glass contact display screen and ran on iOS to help cell apps — mainly an iPhone with out the telephone.
Should you’re unsure which mannequin you’ve got, examine Apple’s identification page.
Bringing it again to life
So that you’ve discovered grandma’s previous iPod, however does it work? The battery might be useless so you have to a charging cable.
Later generations of the iPod Contact used Apple’s Lightning cable however all different fashions require a 30-pin charging cable, which has a particular huge, flat plug. Apple doesn’t make these anymore however replacements can be found from aftermarket producers.
If charging doesn’t revive it, the battery may want changing. Or perhaps there’s one thing else flawed, like a damaged earphone jack or a broken show. Apple nonetheless repairs iPods, however just for the 2 ultimate generations of the Contact.
You’ll be able to ship it to a restore service or repair it your self for those who’re feeling helpful. Restore web site iFixit has detailed step-by-step restore guides for changing varied parts. You’ll have to supply spare elements your self.
IPod Contact house owners ought to watch out for software program limitations. The newest model of Apple’s working system that can work on the seventh era iPod Contact — the final model ever offered — is iOS 15, and former fashions are restricted to even older variations.
This isn’t a problem with different iPod variants as a result of they don’t run iOS.
Including music
Grandma’s silver iPod Nano gave the impression to be working high-quality, however I made a decision to start out recent by doing a manufacturing unit reset to wipe the audio recordsdata left on it and restore the unique settings. You’ll want a pc, both a Mac or Home windows, to do that. Apple has a page that outlines the steps.
These of you with Home windows computer systems can use Apple’s iTunes program to handle your iPod and sync up your track library. So as to add digital music recordsdata out of your pc, drag the recordsdata into iTunes and drop them within the iPod’s music library. So as to add a track that you just’ve purchased beforehand in iTunes, obtain it first to your pc, proper click on on it and choose “Add to Gadget.”
Apple discontinued iTunes for MacOS in 2019 so Mac pc customers must use Apple Music, however it’s an equally simple means of dragging and dropping recordsdata.
Take word, Apple Music subscribers: it is best to have the ability to stream music on later generations of the iPod Contact. However for each different kind of iPod, you’ll solely have the ability to add and hearken to music recordsdata ripped from a CD or bought from a digital music platform.
Upgrading the software program
Most iPods are fairly fundamental, partly as a result of they’re restricted by the gadget’s onboard firmware.
However a part of the iPod’s enchantment is that it’s simple for hobbyists to tinker with them, stated Wooden.
“There’s undoubtedly a motion of individuals trying to take iPods and modify them for contemporary use,” he stated.
One standard hack is changing the iPod’s firmware with open-source software program akin to RockBox, which can be utilized “to improve an iPod to supply larger management and add options that Apple had not included or didn’t exist on the time,” Wooden stated.
This contains help for high-resolution lossless music recordsdata, the power to handle music with out iTunes, and monitoring what you’ve been listening to so you possibly can add your playlist to a platform akin to Final.fm, Wooden stated.
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—Kelvin Chan, AP enterprise author
