The Apple Beat: So long, iPod Classic

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Considered the product that helped turn Apple’s fortunes by transitioning them from a PC company to a consumer electronics powerhouse, the iPod Classic was recently discontinued because, as Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed, the parts required to make the device were no longer being made, and also because the reality is that the MP3 player market is almost nonexistent.

The original iPod embodied Apple’s uncanny ability to reach in and take a product that has already been in the market, and redesign it from the ground up to be the best possible version of itself. 

MP3 players were abundant before the iPod came about and many were far cheaper than Apple’s white gadget. But their storage capacities were small, the interfaces were ugly and the experience was no better than using a MiniDisc or a Discman. 

The iPod changed all that. It brought elegance and user interface into the MP3 player market and used technologies which were still nascent but would later become hallmarks of personal computing. The FireWire port, 1.8-inch hard drives and later on iTunes and DRM.

If you want to get an idea of how Apple product lines evolve, just check out the iPod’s evolution. From one single product, we got the iPod mini and while the main iPod Classic became thinner, lighter and its click wheel evolved from a mechanical wonder to a trackpad-like touch device, so did its capacity and battery life. Later on, the iPod would play videos and even have a few games and programs which were the predecessors of the apps we now can’t live without.

The line went mini, to nano to the shuffle. We got colours, lots of variety and even the precursor to Apple Watch. While all this happened, the competing MP3 market dwindled to oblivion.  Even as competitors like Dell, Samsung and most famously, Microsoft, tried to bring their own devices to compete, none had the complete package that the iPod and its ecosystem had built.

I’ve always been an iPod guy. The first iPod was a revelation to me as a music lover. I got mine second hand and I loved it to death, even replaced the batteries on it twice to keep it going. Eventually I upgraded as the colour models went in and now I have two black Classics, a 160 GB model that I travel with and an 80 GB model that I take in my car. For me, these two are irreplaceable because of what they represent and also because they hold my most valuable music collections. 

Seeing the iPod Classic discontinued leaves a bittersweet feeling. It was Steve Jobs’s really big product, his first baby after the Mac and the genesis of what would become the iPhone. Some say the iPhone took out the iPod, and that’s partially true as part of evolution. But even the music industry, which the iPod undoubtedly changed forever, has undergone massive change. People just don’t buy as much music as they used to, they prefer the instant gratification of streaming from services like RDIO or Spotify, wireless and mobile data is more affordable and powerful enough that you can stream all your favourite music 24-7

It’s another era now at Apple, a company that’s constantly looking forward and their next cross industry product is Apple Watch. While only time will tell if Apple Watch can be a similarly transformative and profitable product line for Apple, it’s definitely one of the most exciting things to look forward to.