Well, it was an inevitability but it’s sad to see ’em go anyway. Apple is ditching the last two music-focused, internetless iPods in their range, pulling the websites for the iPod nano and the iPod shuffle offline.
An Apple spokesperson confirmed that the nano and the shuffle are dead now – which was sort of expected in the era of streaming music, when platforms like Spotify have eradicated the need for a dedicated music library for the majority of the public.
Maybe it doesn’t have quite the cultural resonance as when the iPod classic met its inglorious end, but it’s still the end of an era which kicked off all the way back in 2001. The noughties belonged to Apple because of the iPod.
And look, everyone had at least one mate who was carting around one of these bad boys for a couple of years:
still spinning nelly furtado but
The iPod nano hadn’t been significantly updated since 2012 – except for a few additions to the colour range – and the shuffle looked identical since it was last refreshed in 2010.
Ah well. Your options are increasingly limited if you’re looking for something that’ll just play tunes and doesn’t connect to the internet and play Clash of Clans, or whatever it is the kids are doing these days. If you’re still keen, there’s surely stock still going – but ya better get in quick.
Source: Apple.
Photo: Getty Images.
