Published , by Donovan Erskine
Published , by Donovan Erskine
The iPod has been a core pillar of Apple’s product offerings for the past two decades, seeing quite the evolution alongside its other devices over that time. However, the iPod’s time in the sun is finally coming to a close, as Apple has announced that it will cease production on iPod devices.
The news of the iPod’s discontinuation came in an Apple Newsroom post titled “The music lives on.” Here, the company reflects on the 20-year history of the iPod, from the MP3 player released in 2001 that could carry up to 1,000 songs all the way to the 7th Generation iPod Touch released in 2019.
“Music has always been part of our core at Apple, and bringing it to hundreds of millions of users in the way iPod did impacted more than just the music industry - it also redefined how music is discovered, listened to, and shared,” said Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Greg Joswiak. “Today, the spirit of iPod lives on. We’ve integrated an incredible music experience across all of our products, from the iPhone to the Apple Watch to HomePod mini, and across Mac, iPad, and Apple TV. And Apple Music delivers industry-leading sound quality with support for spatial audio - there’s no better way to enjoy, discover, and experience music.”
Apple goes on to discuss how the music-listening experience on Apple devices has evolved to do everything the iPod did and more. With those advancements, it’s understandable why Apple may have felt that it was time to move on from the iPod family of devices. It’s unclear how long the devices will be supported with new updates moving forward.
With production coming to an end, iPod devices will only be available for as long as supplies last. For the time being, fans can still purchase them both online and at physical Apple retailers.