A month with my outdated iPod wasn’t the nostalgia journey I anticipated

I am operating down Manhattan’s West Facet Freeway on an unseasonably heat night in March. Regardless of the variety of joggers, walkers, and canine of all sizes crammed into the city pathway lining the Hudson River, I am cruising. Little do all these different runners know that right this moment is uncommon for extra than simply the climate and crowds.

As an alternative of slipping in a pair of AirPods, I adopted the retro-tech comeback pattern and pulled out a graying pair of wired headphones. On the finish of the twine, nonetheless, you will not discover it hooked up to my smartphone. Somewhat, my fourth-generation iPod jostles in my brilliant pink vest pocket. And sure, I am speaking about that clunky, white-and-gray iPod it’s possible you’ll or could not have saved someplace within the depths of your mum or dad’s home.

Between the solar, my retro groove session, and this highly effective sense of exclusivity budding on the finish of my wire headphones, I am beginning to assume ‘Stepping Stone’ by The Freddy Jones Band is probably the perfect music ever. One mile turns into two, quickly 4. And simply because the solar begins to dip beneath the nonetheless water of the Hudson, it happens to me that I’ve simply listened to the identical three songs on repeat.

Zap Mama’s oohs and aahs in ‘Wadidyusay’ have gotten akin to some type of psychedelic expertise. The music lastly ends and the cheery guitar strum of ‘Stepping Stone’ rears its head as soon as once more.

I rip the headphones from my ears. For the previous month, I’ve turned again to my iPod for easy listening, an homage to a digital age the place listening to music was simply that. No texts, no contact display, no telephone calls. And as a lot as this experiment was an excuse to dive head first right into a pool of nostalgia, recharging this dusty system additionally highlighted the all-consuming digital age we reside in right this moment.

A quest for easier listening

The dangers and rewards of going full-in on the iPod life-style

I wished this iPod experiment to work, and there have been many occasions that it did. For example, listening to an iPod for a month was not solely a private journey down reminiscence lane, however one which surprisingly linked me to my dad and mom in a brand new method.

For those who’d requested me a month in the past what sort of music my dad listened to, I would not have a solution. He by no means appeared like a music man. However, because of having him dig out the iPod from our cluttered closet, we began chatting concerning the jams he’d downloaded way back from iTunes. I am speaking reggae galore, The Grateful Lifeless, and a complete slew of artists that are not on the 2024 Billboard 100. Then, there have been the downloaded Italian classes and the outdated podcast episodes (circa 2006) from The Onion. It was a glance right into a time and house in my dad’s life, making all of the repeat songs this iPod churned up solely price it.

There was, nonetheless, one main flaw to this experiment: almost half the songs downloaded onto the 20GB of house accessible wouldn’t play. It appeared artist-specific, with bands like U2 and the Black Eyed Peas fully unavailable to me (I’ve by no means, ever wished to listen to ‘Let’s Get It Began’ extra).

At first, I believed it was an possession concern. Did sure artists take away Apple’s license on their music, thus rendering my buy of sure songs null? No. In response to Apple’s assist discussion board, as soon as a music is bought and downloaded from the iTunes retailer, they do not expire. And ‘Let’s Get It Began’ continues to be accessible on Apple Music, so a terminated contract or license is not the difficulty.

Somewhat, I discovered that music not taking part in on an older iPod is most of the time a {hardware} concern that may be resolved through factory reset. And whereas glad there is a answer, it is one I refuse to do. The appeal of this iPod experiment rests in its capability to move me again in time, and something that might threat erasing my library, Italian classes, and all, is one I am not prepared to take. Even when meaning reverting to my iPhone to get my Black Eyed Peas repair.

The iPod does not maintain up within the streaming period

I did the maths, and it does not add up

I nonetheless keep in mind the joys of receiving an iTunes present card. For simply $25, I may name some roughly 10–15 songs my very own, and this was when songs value $1.29, which Apple rolled out in 2009. The 30% hike from $0.99, initially set in 2003, to $1.29 was a controversial transfer from Apple, already the world’s largest music retailer on the time.

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“Breaking the psychological barrier of 99 cents… [would] be the primary massive check of how a lot customers are prepared to pay to obtain particular person songs,” wrote Daybreak Chmielewski for the 2009 LA Instances.

In 2024, each Apple Music and Spotify Premium value $10.99 a month for particular person accounts. That is $131.88 a 12 months, earlier than tax, and translated to an iPod, solely 102 songs at $1.29 a music, or 133 pre-2009 hits.

On my present Spotify account, I’ve 2,378 songs unfold between all the unique playlists — price wherever between $2,354 and $3,068. This quantity does not even embody songs within the customized options like AI DJ or Spotify-curated playlists. In the end, to purchase the identical variety of songs within the bygone period of iTunes on the worth I pay yearly for Spotify Premium, it might take me 23 years to recreate my library. Which, provided that I am 23, is a lifetime.

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Does the ‘1000 songs in our pockets’ dream nonetheless maintain in 2024?

Possibly easier listening is the answer to our digital disaster

I used to be head bopping to Prince’s ‘The Phrase’ on the Brooklyn-bound D Prepare when glancing up re-branded Tinder ads lining the subway automotive, it occurred to me that the primary iPod commercial aired in 2001. I used to be one.

Due to the YouTube vortex I entered, I discovered the 2001 advert, that includes a person in an oversize button-down and khakis at his desk. He sits earlier than a large white laptop computer and a stack of CDs, listening to music from his MacBook audio system. He then drags and drops the file, Take California by The Propellers, right into a playlist. With a cord-cluttered desk, he downloads the file onto his iPod. And off he goes, dancing wildly by means of his condominium, the music now taking part in from headphones linked to his iPod.

The tagline of the business was easy: “iPod, 1000 songs in your pocket. Assume completely different.”

The simplicity of Apple’s message mirrors the iPod’s simplicity itself. Small, compact, but limitless in unforeseeable methods. The expansion of the iPod was exponential. After promoting 125,000 iPods within the winter quarter of 2001, by 2003 Apple had shipped over 1,000,000 units. And in 2004, the corporate bought 4.4 million iPods — surpassing the gross sales of Macs.

Right now, after I stroll out of the home, with my iPhone tucked into my denims pocket, ‘1000 songs’ actually does not compete with the data and content material I can entry.

In 2023, Apple sold over 235 million iPhones — over 20% of the market share for smartphones. With out the iPod, we might not have the iPhone. And with out the iPhone, effectively, the checklist is lengthy. Every new tech innovation spurs the hunt for one thing better. And Steve Jobs had a dream to get 1000 songs in your pocket. He wished us to have music on the go.

Right now, after I stroll out of the home, with my iPhone tucked into my denims pocket, ‘1000 songs’ actually does not compete with the data and content material I can entry. The dream retains on rising.

And but, Gen Z continues to be turning to retro tech

What occurs when tech entry is extreme?

The members of Gen Z span wherever from 12 to 27 years outdated, an age vary that whereas completely different, all have one factor in widespread: entry to expertise beginning within the tween to teen years. The similarities do not cease in tech — Gen Zers are more likely to be shy and risk-averse. They date much less, want fewer children, and usually tend to reside with their dad and mom.

What binds Gen Z collectively is that we’re the era that paved the way in which for a childhood with smartphones. Certain, I dabbled utilizing an iPod after I was seven or eight, however the overwhelming majority of my life has been spent close to or round contact screens, be it an iPod Contact or an iPhone.

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Smartphones are usually not the one purpose Gen Z is struggling, however we reside in a world the place teenagers are experiencing larger charges of despair and suicide than ever earlier than. Nonetheless, in 2023, Individuals checked their telephone a mean of 144 occasions a day, spending over 4 hours on-line day by day.

With simply 1000 songs in your pocket, there aren’t any notifications, social media wormholes, or emails to distract you. Certain, you might need to hearken to the identical music on repeat, however the iPod continues to be a testomony to easier, perhaps even more healthy, time. Just like the man within the 2001 Apple iPod commercial, dancing out of your condominium with music taking part in in your ears meant you could not concurrently scroll by means of Instagram.

The top or starting of my iPod experiment?

A comeback or a second?

I am unsure if I might purchase an iPod if Apple abruptly launched an up to date model right this moment — however I do know that I will be conserving my outdated one round. I do know I have to make a acutely aware effort to unplug from all of the tethers I’ve to expertise, and the iPod is a step in the best route.

So, go dig that iPod out of the darkish and dusty closet again at your dad and mom’ home. It will not be a without end change, however nods to the previous typically maintain nuggets of reality about our future.