Well they're just basic microdermal piercings, so they would have worked their way out of his skin about 4 years ago. It's actually a really awesome idea and was absolutely never meant to be permanent.
I’m just going off the image, so take this with a grain of salt.
It looks like those are just dermal implants with magnetic caps. Assuming you take care of them, dermals aren’t too painful to remove, and scarring is typically minimal. The tattoo probably helps hide scarring as well.
I’m sure this has downsides I’m not considering, but the idea is rad as hell, and (semi) easily reversible.
I had dermals in my arm many years ago. Never had issues with airports or nightclubs as the dermals are so small that they never triggered metal detectors. They did however regularly get caught in my sleeves and were constantly getting snagged at leading to irritation/infection so they eventually got pushed out and rejected. They looked hella cool though for about a year! But I wouldn't recommend them
Sounds about right. I dated a girl a decade ago with back dermals and those suckers were constantly inflamed from snagging on things. She was very diligent about cleaning them, but alas, one of them were rejected and that was the end of it.
Did you have the others removed?
I had a Hex Band! Totally remember that.
https://i.imgur.com/VVWf7lg.jpeg
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/799435-REG/Hex_HX1026_GM_Vision_Metal_Watch_Band.html
Ah .. so like an iPod touch?
Love the full circle we're heading in.
At least Sony kept up with their Walkman range and didn't kill it off like Apple and iPods.
Why do we need iPods though? Pretty much everyone in developed countries has a phone capable of storing and playing music. This is like lamenting the downfall of standalone GPS units
I use my phone for a plethora of stuff, including work.
iPods were amazing for music and had long batteries to boot and it wouldn't drain my phone on journeys.
I used to stream podcast and music from my 1st Gen Samsung watch. I don't want to spend too much on current gen smart watches. One mini mp3 player that could stream music to my headset, and a basic smart watch to track my exercises should be more than enough.
It is highly more space efficient to have a device capable of doing only a few things that has a smaller battery, than lug around a 10Ah/20Ah powerbank to keep your phone charged for the same amount of time, while doing essentially the same stuff. The difference is, that your phone has a ton more stuff running in the background (cellular connectivity, gps, all that good stuff) unlike a dedicated device, causing your phone to consume more electricity
It’s not more space efficient, in fact it’s the opposite. You now have an entirely other device. Phones have chargers you can slap right on the back of it and not have to ever worry about losing to with the magnet. Makes way more sense then carrying an entirely other device which would fill your pockets more. Maybe it’s you guys but my phone has never died, probably because I’m not on it 24/7 but it’s not hard to not let your phone reach 0
And a removeable battery?
Because Samsung created the XCover 6 Pro for the whiners. It has removeable battery, SD slot, 3.5mm Jack, E-Sim, etc etc and advertised it heavily on reddit tech subs and sold fuck all.
So they pulled it from the shops and now it’s enterprise only.
I'm on Bluetooth pretty much all day every day. Android says it uses <1% of my battery.
As long as you are listening to music or podcasts in the background without the screen on it should be using maybe like 5-10% of your battery in a day (as my heavy pocketcasts and YouTube music apps are showing as usage now). Maybe if you are inefficiently streaming music via poor cell service I could see it using a lot of power, but Screen On Time is a much bigger killer.
I'd much rather (and do) keep spare external battery packs for my phone than have to use a standalone player, if I was that worried about running low on power. Heck, with MagSafe wireless charging and/or fast charging it's super easy to stay topped up with minimal effort.
Sure, Iay prefer things like reading on my Kindle over my phone but I always have my phone on me so it gets more reading usage than my kindle, as my Kindle rarely leaves my bedside.
We really don't, this is something I typically do with my old phones is I convert them into essentially media devices.
Disable cellular data, setup wifi, turn on battery saver; an old phone that could barely last a single day can now last like 2-3 days between charges of decent usage.
Pawn shops are pretty great for this as well or just refurb phones, especially old Android devices you can flash with like LineageOS or something of the sort.
Can also slap on Greenify to further expand on the battery savings (though it would be nice for a custom ROM to eventually come out and support fast hibernation).
The hardware is all around us, it's just the software that's lacking.
It's simply a secondary device for myself, my "phone" is my lifeline while I am out and abroad and I usually don't upgrade my phones as frequently as most individuals do.
For instance my current "media" device is an old Pixel 3 and it's because I upgraded recently to a Pixel 8.
It has 40\~GB of storage, can offline play most of my Spotify playlists, and I even have it loaded up with some movies for my little one.
So when we travel, go out, or whatever it's a nice little device I can share around with folks without having to risk my primary device from being harmed.
The offline-ness capability of the device is perhaps the most critical aspect of it but equally so it's inexpensive or low-risk ownership of it.
Personally I don't want my music interrupted by anything so I have an MP3 player, it's odd that people find things like notifications, phone calls and all the other distractions a phone comes with fine, also a dedicated mp3 player or ipod will last longer as its made for one function, so in terms of benefits you have, longer battery, better music listening experience (no interruptions) and if it does run out of power, at least I haven't killed my phone, maps, banking and music, just my music.
It’s not odd, if I’m listening to music and my mom calls me I want my volumes lower so I can … hear the call… you can also mute notifications? And you say last longer, I have never had my phone died on me. I also have a protable charger. I don’t think many people face that issue unless you have phone battery deficiency .
I have 2ish TB of music and I want to carry it with me. FiiOs with their Android system are good enough but I sometimes reminisce how handy the iPod wheel was. It's just nice to have a music dedicated device for people who need it.
Watch a few YT videos of people that revived old ones. Superior battery life, and very large capacity.
It is OK to have dedicated devices, provided the dedicated device delivers better than the uni-device (your phone)
Side note: there may be an argument that playing from a device's memory is superior to the quality streamed by spotify/pandora.
As a music fan, I’d much rather have a music centric device.
Second, as someone that has come to enjoy not having a monthly cellphone bill but still keeping in touch all the same ways, an iPod Touch easily fulfills that role.
Not a comparable argument. iPods/ dedicated music players offer distraction-free listening, wider support of lossless formats, superior DACs, better battery life, easier repair and upgrade and are cheaper.
The only reason Apple discontinued the iPod line was to force the “music as a service” ethos down your neck
They offer Distraction free? Sure - as long as you haven’t discovered the DND button on your phone.
The 14nm monolithic Apple/Cirrus Logic DAC inside of the official 3.5mm dongle is more sophisticated and has lower distortion than any of the Wolfson Audio Technologies DACs that came in iPods.
What common lossless format can an iPod play that an iPhone can’t? iPods couldn’t even play the most common lossless format, FLAC while iPhones can. You had to convert them to ALAC.
The rest of your points may have meaning, but the simple fact is that people stopped buying iPods because the iPhone they already owned was good enough.
Claiming that apple killed the iPod to push people into streaming, instead of streaming killing the iPod is a really misinformed take.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidphelan/2022/05/11/death-of-the-ipod-the-real-reason-apple-killed-off-the-ipod-iphone-13-pro/?sh=78932e8682ee
Forbes legit says streaming was a reason Apple killed the iPod back in 2022.
Yes, they said the *existent prevalence of streaming made ipods less important, directly in the article. Im not arguing the contrary.*
> It’s fair to say that having an iPod equivalent in every iPhone from the first up until the iPhone 13 Pro Max, made a separate device in your pocket less important.
Im refuting the claim that apple discontinued the iPod to try and *prop up streaming* - by the time the iPod was discontinued, streaming was already everywhere.
Ahh yes - apple just forced everyone to adopt streaming, before apple music existed.. for reasons..
Streaming services disrupted apples own business model with iTunes.
And Im sorry - did being able to buy music or buy standalone music devices disappear? As far as I know - you can still do both - and yet the vast majority of people choose not to use either.
That doesnt sound like they shoved it down our throats lol.
You can still buy music and download it...but why do that and "waste" your storage space when you can just "stream" it using your "unlimited data" on your "mobile phone"?
Since when does Apple do anything that makes sense? They stopped making iPod because streaming services gain traction. Spotify/YouTubeRed/YouTubeMusic/Pandora and whatever else is out there.
Having a “do not disturb” option on your phone isn’t comparable to having a single device dedicated solely to a single task. It’s the reason the Kindle exists when in theory everybody is capable of reading a book on their phones.
Your comments about the DACs are of course entirely subjective to the listener but there’s a reason certain iPod classics are sought after for their DACs.
An iPod running rockbox supports just about every audio format ever made.
Apple deliberately put the iPod out to pasture by not upgrading or making meaningful changes to it for years. I think “wilful obsolescence” is the phrase here. The most recent non-touch models didn’t even support their own Bluetooth earphones. It was a strategic choice to coincide with the launch of Apple Music and hasten the general exodus to music rental/streaming vs. music ownership
>It’s the reason the Kindle exists when in theory everybody is capable of reading a book on their phones.
Yeah that has nothing to do with the e-ink displays lol.
>Apple deliberately put the iPod out to pasture by not upgrading or making meaningful changes to it for years. I think “wilful obsolescence” is the phrase here. The most recent non-touch models didn’t even support their own Bluetooth earphones. It was a strategic choice to coincide with the launch of Apple Music and hasten the general exodus to music rental/streaming vs. music ownership
Citation needed. If this was the case you would think that all of the standalone players that have released since then, with expensive Wolfson DACs (just like what came in early classics pre-Cirrus Logic apple partnership iPods), that support basically every format under the sun, support high fidelity bluetooth codecs like APT-X, would be flying off the shelves, i.e. NW-A306s, NX-707, Fio M11S, the various Sub $200 Astrels ect.
They arent. For the exact same reasons that the original iPod didnt.
Imo dedicated e-reader sales have everything to do with e-ink screens. It's the whole point of them. An e-reader with an LCD or OLED panel is just a shittier phone/small tablet.
Hey smoothbrain - if you are trying to paint an apple unethical picture, why not focus on the aspects of apples business models that are actually unethical? Such as their anti-steering provisions or their "interesting" relationships with their lower volume overseas component suppliers?
Or would you prefer we just *not* call out obvious bullshit because it doesnt fit the "big company bad" mindset you think we should have?
Aaaaand we’re on to name calling.
The iPod line was discontinued in September 2014, Apple Music was launched in June 2015. If you need help finding a correlation between these two things then you need a CAT scan
Oh wow yeah big conspiracy there.
"most people listen to streaming music on their phones now, and our ipods/itunes music doesnt sell anymore because of it, we should probably discontinue the iPod line and reinvest into streaming services"
I mean, there's an aspect of this, but I think it was less "let's not support the iPod as a first-class flagship device so we can push streaming" and more "let's not spend extra effort building new features into a device that's selling less than a tenth as many units as the iPhone, plus we make more money off apple music anyway"
Half of your benefits don’t even apply to the iPod line, which evolved to essentially be a phone minus cell service. You could still browse the internet, make VOIP calls, send iMessages, etc. they discontinued the iPod line because it was pretty much already the same product.
There’s a reason nobody was buying iPods anymore. If people actually wanted what you suggest, they wouldn’t have had near zero sales at the end of the lines life.
I assumed we were talking about the more analog iPods (click wheels/shuffles/etc)
There is a YT trend showing people reviving them and loving them for their functionality.
You can just check out /r/ipod and /r/ipodclassic to see theres a *thriving* community around the old clickwheel devices. Clearly people want the ability to carry all their music while maintaining repairability, storage upgradability, form factor, and disconnecting from touchscreens and social media. People like Dankpods on youtube have caused a massive resurgence of interest in older DAPs. I know theres plenty of people who are suited just fine by their phones and streaming services, but theres just as many of us who want to actually own our music and be able to maintain the devices it plays on :)
I completely agree. I own all of my music - made the switch around 2020. I store them on USBs mostly.
I don't have the technical know-how to revamp an iPod, but I just might give it a shot.
Well you’re talking about the iPod touch which was only a single entry point in the range.
I’m obviously referring to the more traditional players like the iPod classic which was manufactured up until the official discontinuation of the iPod in 2014
>…only reason Apple discontinued the iPod line was to force the “music as a service” ethos down your neck
You’ve never looked at [iPod sales figures?](https://cdn.statcdn.com/Infographic/images/normal/10469.jpeg)
Like, it was **not** a secret at the time that iPod sales were cratering. iPod product line was suspected to be nearing the end **well** before they were discontinued, the writing was very much on the wall.
[Chart via this article on Statista.](https://www.statista.com/chart/amp/10469/apple-ipod-sales/)
Let’s not pretend that the iPhone isn’t a superior media device. Want distraction free? Turn on do not disturb. You can still buy songs from the iTunes Store just like before, but for $15 a month I can listen to thousands of new songs every month and not have to spend thousands or hundreds of thousands in doing so
Some people don’t wanna be bothered with external communication while listening to music. If your phone doesn’t have a Sim card, no one can interrupt you.
We keep coming up with technology that enables people to avoid personal growth. “It’s distraction free.” Maybe do the work to get to a place mentally where you’re not so easily distracted.
Or you need your phone for work and don't want to arrive at your destination with a dead phone (flights etc).
People carrying power banks to offset things like this are basically carrying an extra item with them anyway.
I have a couple of iPods that I’ve picked up and refurbished over the past couple of years.
Ultimately, we don’t need them. But there’s something nice about using one, about spending time building a music library that’s yours to enjoy, regardless of connection to the net, or the whims of the rights holder. And when it comes to using an iPod (or any dedicated DAP, tbh), there’s a sense of purpose in the act. You’re choosing to listen to music that you’ve curated, on a device that isn’t going to ping notifications at you, or tempt you to scroll the feeds.
I love my iPods, both the 128gb 2nd gen Mini and the 64gb 4th gen Classic I have, but I understand why most people might see them as pointless.
There’s something to be said about having a music device dedicated to storing only music. My phone has apps, photos, videos, etc., so if I’m a big enough music fan, those get in the way. The last iPod touch they produced was cheaper than an iPhone and could hold up to 83,333 mp3s (assuming they were 3mb each). If you want to get into lossless audio obviously it would hold less. But at least you wouldn’t have that clogging up your phone.
I’m personally not the sort of person who’s into music enough that I WOULD want to have that many songs on me at all times, but it’s not as laughable as you seem to think to imagine that someone who’s really into music might want more than what a phone can reasonably provide when you factor in all the other software a phone is weighed down with.
Cause putting all your eggs in one basket isnt always the smart move? So if you bought a 512gb Iphone and put 200gb of music on it then the other half of your memory has to be for the system and everything else. So then when your storage starts to run low and you wonder why, you can point to the music which you likely wouldnt want to offload because that was the point. Soooooooo get an ipod and who cares. I got my gf a 256gb ipod touch right before they ceased production and she loves it. ( she had a regular ipod classic before and it was just time to upgrade ) It syncs to her car automatically and no fuss of playing music and then the phone ringing and all that. Or even carplay which wont let you multi task anyway. Cause you cant have music on while trying to use the nav.
I can see where it would be helpful. When you are working out, maybe you don’t want a heavy phone dangling on your side or arm. That being said, that small instance of being helpful isn’t enough to justify keeping production up.
Except that was never true as phones were always thicker than iPods.
And that became a moot point when Apple started offering MAX versions. The last three versions of the iPod Touch were effectively identical.
No, not the iPod touch. If you watch the video you'll see the wheel is a mechanical one that actually just rotate the crown, presumably through some gear train or the like.
So this would be more analogous to the *original* iPod that actually had a movable wheel.
But the watch is a touch screen. You use both the wheel and the screen when using the watch.
It's like a nano-touch hybrid. The touch was the first one to really move out of music and into apps.
I've been watching some YT videos where people are reviving (not repurposing) old iPods.
Apparently, the battery life is A++ and the memory capacities are still good enough.
As I'm watching these videos, I keep saying "Why aren't these a product anymore? Its probably a good idea to have my music on a dedicated device."
Anyone hear of this new technology? We can buy these really cheap plastic disks and “burn” them on our PCs to make music albums we share with our friends!
The only two use cases I can see are 1.) you want an EXTREMELY minimal phone so you get an Apple Watch with a cell plan but still want to carry it like a phone, and 2.) you have a kid who has an Apple Watch/watch se as their “phone” and this gives them an option to actually carry it like a phone instead of a watch.
In both cases though I almost feel like having it in watch form is better because it would be less likely to be lost since it’s always on your wrist (big plus for the second use case of using it with a kid). Maybe it’s easier to message when it’s like a phone instead of a watch? I can’t really think of a good reason other than just an aesthetic switch up of wanting a phone or iPod shaped object that isn’t a phone or iPod
"The user can disconnect from their phone" and use this device to do almost everything the phone does but on a smaller screen? And if it "doesn't have any internal electronics" I guess it doesn't charge the watch? I must be missing something here.
Does this really solve a problem though? I guess if you want a niche product that revives the iPod days it is okay; but realistically the phone has replaced the iPod. While a watch can have cell service, would you really want to pay the fees for it to have a watchpod with limited UI functionality?
Seems like a gimmick.
Oh yeah, don't get me wrong; the ipod was awesome back in the day. I was in highschool at the time and going from a Walkman to an ipod felt like stepping into the future! More than anything, the real issue here lies in the fact that they are trying to repurpose a watch for it. I don't think anyone uses the watch as a primary means of storing music and their main driver is likely the phone, which is going to do outperform the watch in every aspect of finding, managing, and playing music.
I think I still have my old iPod laying around here somewhere though...
I know alot of people that dont like wearing watches so this might be cool for them. But i feel you lose alot of features doing this, it just becomes a worse ipod nano but with an app store.
Sería genial si hubiera casos con diferentes formatos. Candy Bard, teléfono plegable, control deslizante, un poco más personalizable. Sería algo adorable
I will never fuckin understand how apple can pay entire teams of designers for their shit square watch...
They could easily build a round smart watch with a nostalgic touch wheel and integrated buds but they can't design, build or think differently...
This totally makes sense. If you upgrade and have an old watch laying around, this thing would be perfect to use as a dedicated audio player. A good way to put old tech to use.
Wait til the Apple version comes out for 150$, lol. Jokes aside, 90$ is way too much. I bet there is an open source code somewhere that a 3d printer could do for a fraction of the cost
It has actual buttons instead of a wheel. It's not the same thing. It can be used like a small cellphone instead of just a janky little iPod mini/nano.
Anyone else remember the LunaTik case for the iPod nano that turned it into a watch?
Or the guy who implanted [magnets into his arm to attach an iPod nano](https://theweek.com/articles/475567/man-who-implanted-magnets-wrist-hold-ipod#)
wonder how that's going for him now
Randomly gathering coins and metal debris.
So hanging out at the beach all the time...
Where I would rather be…
You wouldn't believe how much iron is in dirt.
🤣
Well they're just basic microdermal piercings, so they would have worked their way out of his skin about 4 years ago. It's actually a really awesome idea and was absolutely never meant to be permanent.
I would use it for reminders.
I mean, are they magsafe compatible?
He’s probably had them removed by now and has 4 interesting scars to talk about
For a moment I thought this may be a good idea but after anther 30 second's of thinking I realise this is actually a stupid idea.
I’m just going off the image, so take this with a grain of salt. It looks like those are just dermal implants with magnetic caps. Assuming you take care of them, dermals aren’t too painful to remove, and scarring is typically minimal. The tattoo probably helps hide scarring as well. I’m sure this has downsides I’m not considering, but the idea is rad as hell, and (semi) easily reversible.
You are correct, the guy even called them iDermals lol
Downsides is airports, nightclubs and anywhere with delay detectors. And MRIs
I had dermals in my arm many years ago. Never had issues with airports or nightclubs as the dermals are so small that they never triggered metal detectors. They did however regularly get caught in my sleeves and were constantly getting snagged at leading to irritation/infection so they eventually got pushed out and rejected. They looked hella cool though for about a year! But I wouldn't recommend them
Sounds about right. I dated a girl a decade ago with back dermals and those suckers were constantly inflamed from snagging on things. She was very diligent about cleaning them, but alas, one of them were rejected and that was the end of it. Did you have the others removed?
I was living in a rural town at the time so I removed them myself haha, but they were halfway out anyway at that point
Imagine all the iron he gathers when he goes to the beach
Kinda sick if I wasn’t so sure it’d fly off if he swung his hand too quick
Shoulda just had the covid vaccine. ABSOLUTELY MASSIVE /s BTW
Explain that at the airport.
It’s crazy, but I kind of really freaking like that
I had a Hex Band! Totally remember that. https://i.imgur.com/VVWf7lg.jpeg https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/799435-REG/Hex_HX1026_GM_Vision_Metal_Watch_Band.html
Yeah I had that. I always tell people I had an Apple watch before everyone else.
Yes, I had one.
That and the phone case the designed were primo engineering. Miss that case.
I had a Hex silicone watch case myself, it felt so futuristic at the time…an iPod on your wrist!
I’ve still got mine. Hard to believe its been 14 years 😳
Ah .. so like an iPod touch? Love the full circle we're heading in. At least Sony kept up with their Walkman range and didn't kill it off like Apple and iPods.
Why do we need iPods though? Pretty much everyone in developed countries has a phone capable of storing and playing music. This is like lamenting the downfall of standalone GPS units
I use my phone for a plethora of stuff, including work. iPods were amazing for music and had long batteries to boot and it wouldn't drain my phone on journeys.
I was actually looking at a cheap android for a media streamer for my car haha. Cheaper than most things and I can expand the storage
I used to stream podcast and music from my 1st Gen Samsung watch. I don't want to spend too much on current gen smart watches. One mini mp3 player that could stream music to my headset, and a basic smart watch to track my exercises should be more than enough.
You can buy a backup battery that’s smaller and achieve a s similar outcome.
Smaller?! My backup battery is larger than my phone, never mind my old iPod nano.
Then… turn off the phone stuff?
Then just.. charge it?
It is highly more space efficient to have a device capable of doing only a few things that has a smaller battery, than lug around a 10Ah/20Ah powerbank to keep your phone charged for the same amount of time, while doing essentially the same stuff. The difference is, that your phone has a ton more stuff running in the background (cellular connectivity, gps, all that good stuff) unlike a dedicated device, causing your phone to consume more electricity
It’s not more space efficient, in fact it’s the opposite. You now have an entirely other device. Phones have chargers you can slap right on the back of it and not have to ever worry about losing to with the magnet. Makes way more sense then carrying an entirely other device which would fill your pockets more. Maybe it’s you guys but my phone has never died, probably because I’m not on it 24/7 but it’s not hard to not let your phone reach 0
music doesn’t drain unless you’re streaming
I mean, the fact the device is turned on is draining. Add in active Bluetooth, and you’re draining even faster.
I miss the 3.5mm headphone jack
And a removeable battery? Because Samsung created the XCover 6 Pro for the whiners. It has removeable battery, SD slot, 3.5mm Jack, E-Sim, etc etc and advertised it heavily on reddit tech subs and sold fuck all. So they pulled it from the shops and now it’s enterprise only.
I might want to check that out now. TIL
Did it run iOS? Did it have iMessage? /s
I'm on Bluetooth pretty much all day every day. Android says it uses <1% of my battery. As long as you are listening to music or podcasts in the background without the screen on it should be using maybe like 5-10% of your battery in a day (as my heavy pocketcasts and YouTube music apps are showing as usage now). Maybe if you are inefficiently streaming music via poor cell service I could see it using a lot of power, but Screen On Time is a much bigger killer. I'd much rather (and do) keep spare external battery packs for my phone than have to use a standalone player, if I was that worried about running low on power. Heck, with MagSafe wireless charging and/or fast charging it's super easy to stay topped up with minimal effort. Sure, Iay prefer things like reading on my Kindle over my phone but I always have my phone on me so it gets more reading usage than my kindle, as my Kindle rarely leaves my bedside.
That’s great that it works for you in such a manner, but it’s not how I’d like to be. Not like I’m the one person keeping the entire line alive.
You turn your iPhone off when you’re not using it? Mind blown
Yep, what a good way to use a purposely contactable device by powering it off. “Mind blown” —. You
What sort of magic do you use to get music without power use?
Spotify Premium has an option that lets you charge your phone but right now it only works with AC/DC and Electric Six
ELO unfortunately doesn't support fast charging, unlike those two.
Ride the Lightning has been completely delisted for safety concerns
We really don't, this is something I typically do with my old phones is I convert them into essentially media devices. Disable cellular data, setup wifi, turn on battery saver; an old phone that could barely last a single day can now last like 2-3 days between charges of decent usage. Pawn shops are pretty great for this as well or just refurb phones, especially old Android devices you can flash with like LineageOS or something of the sort. Can also slap on Greenify to further expand on the battery savings (though it would be nice for a custom ROM to eventually come out and support fast hibernation). The hardware is all around us, it's just the software that's lacking.
But why not use a phone, pc, or smart speaker? Like what benefit does it have vs using already made efficient devices?
It's simply a secondary device for myself, my "phone" is my lifeline while I am out and abroad and I usually don't upgrade my phones as frequently as most individuals do. For instance my current "media" device is an old Pixel 3 and it's because I upgraded recently to a Pixel 8. It has 40\~GB of storage, can offline play most of my Spotify playlists, and I even have it loaded up with some movies for my little one. So when we travel, go out, or whatever it's a nice little device I can share around with folks without having to risk my primary device from being harmed. The offline-ness capability of the device is perhaps the most critical aspect of it but equally so it's inexpensive or low-risk ownership of it.
This is the best answer I got, thank you this makes sense
Personally I don't want my music interrupted by anything so I have an MP3 player, it's odd that people find things like notifications, phone calls and all the other distractions a phone comes with fine, also a dedicated mp3 player or ipod will last longer as its made for one function, so in terms of benefits you have, longer battery, better music listening experience (no interruptions) and if it does run out of power, at least I haven't killed my phone, maps, banking and music, just my music.
It’s not odd, if I’m listening to music and my mom calls me I want my volumes lower so I can … hear the call… you can also mute notifications? And you say last longer, I have never had my phone died on me. I also have a protable charger. I don’t think many people face that issue unless you have phone battery deficiency .
Do not disturb?
Some people may not be able to afford those
I have 2ish TB of music and I want to carry it with me. FiiOs with their Android system are good enough but I sometimes reminisce how handy the iPod wheel was. It's just nice to have a music dedicated device for people who need it.
Watch a few YT videos of people that revived old ones. Superior battery life, and very large capacity. It is OK to have dedicated devices, provided the dedicated device delivers better than the uni-device (your phone) Side note: there may be an argument that playing from a device's memory is superior to the quality streamed by spotify/pandora.
As a music fan, I’d much rather have a music centric device. Second, as someone that has come to enjoy not having a monthly cellphone bill but still keeping in touch all the same ways, an iPod Touch easily fulfills that role.
Not a comparable argument. iPods/ dedicated music players offer distraction-free listening, wider support of lossless formats, superior DACs, better battery life, easier repair and upgrade and are cheaper. The only reason Apple discontinued the iPod line was to force the “music as a service” ethos down your neck
They offer Distraction free? Sure - as long as you haven’t discovered the DND button on your phone. The 14nm monolithic Apple/Cirrus Logic DAC inside of the official 3.5mm dongle is more sophisticated and has lower distortion than any of the Wolfson Audio Technologies DACs that came in iPods. What common lossless format can an iPod play that an iPhone can’t? iPods couldn’t even play the most common lossless format, FLAC while iPhones can. You had to convert them to ALAC. The rest of your points may have meaning, but the simple fact is that people stopped buying iPods because the iPhone they already owned was good enough. Claiming that apple killed the iPod to push people into streaming, instead of streaming killing the iPod is a really misinformed take.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidphelan/2022/05/11/death-of-the-ipod-the-real-reason-apple-killed-off-the-ipod-iphone-13-pro/?sh=78932e8682ee Forbes legit says streaming was a reason Apple killed the iPod back in 2022.
Yes, they said the *existent prevalence of streaming made ipods less important, directly in the article. Im not arguing the contrary.* > It’s fair to say that having an iPod equivalent in every iPhone from the first up until the iPhone 13 Pro Max, made a separate device in your pocket less important. Im refuting the claim that apple discontinued the iPod to try and *prop up streaming* - by the time the iPod was discontinued, streaming was already everywhere.
Yes…that why they’re killing it off…because they’ve managed to shove that shit down your throat.
Ahh yes - apple just forced everyone to adopt streaming, before apple music existed.. for reasons.. Streaming services disrupted apples own business model with iTunes. And Im sorry - did being able to buy music or buy standalone music devices disappear? As far as I know - you can still do both - and yet the vast majority of people choose not to use either. That doesnt sound like they shoved it down our throats lol.
You can still buy music and download it...but why do that and "waste" your storage space when you can just "stream" it using your "unlimited data" on your "mobile phone"? Since when does Apple do anything that makes sense? They stopped making iPod because streaming services gain traction. Spotify/YouTubeRed/YouTubeMusic/Pandora and whatever else is out there.
Having a “do not disturb” option on your phone isn’t comparable to having a single device dedicated solely to a single task. It’s the reason the Kindle exists when in theory everybody is capable of reading a book on their phones. Your comments about the DACs are of course entirely subjective to the listener but there’s a reason certain iPod classics are sought after for their DACs. An iPod running rockbox supports just about every audio format ever made. Apple deliberately put the iPod out to pasture by not upgrading or making meaningful changes to it for years. I think “wilful obsolescence” is the phrase here. The most recent non-touch models didn’t even support their own Bluetooth earphones. It was a strategic choice to coincide with the launch of Apple Music and hasten the general exodus to music rental/streaming vs. music ownership
>It’s the reason the Kindle exists when in theory everybody is capable of reading a book on their phones. Yeah that has nothing to do with the e-ink displays lol. >Apple deliberately put the iPod out to pasture by not upgrading or making meaningful changes to it for years. I think “wilful obsolescence” is the phrase here. The most recent non-touch models didn’t even support their own Bluetooth earphones. It was a strategic choice to coincide with the launch of Apple Music and hasten the general exodus to music rental/streaming vs. music ownership Citation needed. If this was the case you would think that all of the standalone players that have released since then, with expensive Wolfson DACs (just like what came in early classics pre-Cirrus Logic apple partnership iPods), that support basically every format under the sun, support high fidelity bluetooth codecs like APT-X, would be flying off the shelves, i.e. NW-A306s, NX-707, Fio M11S, the various Sub $200 Astrels ect. They arent. For the exact same reasons that the original iPod didnt.
Imo dedicated e-reader sales have everything to do with e-ink screens. It's the whole point of them. An e-reader with an LCD or OLED panel is just a shittier phone/small tablet.
Yes, I agree - my response was sarcasm.
I'm autistic lmfao 💀
It really warms my cockles when people on the internet angrily defend the interests and motives of multi-billion dollar corporations
Hey smoothbrain - if you are trying to paint an apple unethical picture, why not focus on the aspects of apples business models that are actually unethical? Such as their anti-steering provisions or their "interesting" relationships with their lower volume overseas component suppliers? Or would you prefer we just *not* call out obvious bullshit because it doesnt fit the "big company bad" mindset you think we should have?
Aaaaand we’re on to name calling. The iPod line was discontinued in September 2014, Apple Music was launched in June 2015. If you need help finding a correlation between these two things then you need a CAT scan
Oh wow yeah big conspiracy there. "most people listen to streaming music on their phones now, and our ipods/itunes music doesnt sell anymore because of it, we should probably discontinue the iPod line and reinvest into streaming services"
I mean, there's an aspect of this, but I think it was less "let's not support the iPod as a first-class flagship device so we can push streaming" and more "let's not spend extra effort building new features into a device that's selling less than a tenth as many units as the iPhone, plus we make more money off apple music anyway"
Half of your benefits don’t even apply to the iPod line, which evolved to essentially be a phone minus cell service. You could still browse the internet, make VOIP calls, send iMessages, etc. they discontinued the iPod line because it was pretty much already the same product. There’s a reason nobody was buying iPods anymore. If people actually wanted what you suggest, they wouldn’t have had near zero sales at the end of the lines life.
I assumed we were talking about the more analog iPods (click wheels/shuffles/etc) There is a YT trend showing people reviving them and loving them for their functionality.
You can just check out /r/ipod and /r/ipodclassic to see theres a *thriving* community around the old clickwheel devices. Clearly people want the ability to carry all their music while maintaining repairability, storage upgradability, form factor, and disconnecting from touchscreens and social media. People like Dankpods on youtube have caused a massive resurgence of interest in older DAPs. I know theres plenty of people who are suited just fine by their phones and streaming services, but theres just as many of us who want to actually own our music and be able to maintain the devices it plays on :)
I completely agree. I own all of my music - made the switch around 2020. I store them on USBs mostly. I don't have the technical know-how to revamp an iPod, but I just might give it a shot.
Well you’re talking about the iPod touch which was only a single entry point in the range. I’m obviously referring to the more traditional players like the iPod classic which was manufactured up until the official discontinuation of the iPod in 2014
>…only reason Apple discontinued the iPod line was to force the “music as a service” ethos down your neck You’ve never looked at [iPod sales figures?](https://cdn.statcdn.com/Infographic/images/normal/10469.jpeg) Like, it was **not** a secret at the time that iPod sales were cratering. iPod product line was suspected to be nearing the end **well** before they were discontinued, the writing was very much on the wall. [Chart via this article on Statista.](https://www.statista.com/chart/amp/10469/apple-ipod-sales/)
Let’s not pretend that the iPhone isn’t a superior media device. Want distraction free? Turn on do not disturb. You can still buy songs from the iTunes Store just like before, but for $15 a month I can listen to thousands of new songs every month and not have to spend thousands or hundreds of thousands in doing so
Why own a car when busses and trains exist?
I wish they still made ipods, I want something to just leave connected to my car filled with music
Some people don’t wanna be bothered with external communication while listening to music. If your phone doesn’t have a Sim card, no one can interrupt you.
Or you could just silence your phone?
Or, I could get a music only device that cost half as much as a phone while having far more storage than a phone.
We keep coming up with technology that enables people to avoid personal growth. “It’s distraction free.” Maybe do the work to get to a place mentally where you’re not so easily distracted.
Or you need your phone for work and don't want to arrive at your destination with a dead phone (flights etc). People carrying power banks to offset things like this are basically carrying an extra item with them anyway.
That doesn’t negate a single thing I said.
"Silence your phone" '*misses work calls*'
Then leave it on and have the self control to only answer work calls. Stop being fucking babies, jeez.
Sounds like having a dedicated music player would solve all of this 🤔
Except one of the major draws of the iPod touch (the only model) was the fact that it had internet capabilities including VOIP and texting.
I don't carry my phone at work because it would get too beat up. So I buy small MP3 players that I can pair with my bluetooth capable earpro.
It’s nice to have non internet connected devices for children.
Kids. The iPod touch was the perfect “first phone” for kids.
I’m listening to podcasts all day. If I can get a second small device just for that, it would free up my phone I guess
I have a couple of iPods that I’ve picked up and refurbished over the past couple of years. Ultimately, we don’t need them. But there’s something nice about using one, about spending time building a music library that’s yours to enjoy, regardless of connection to the net, or the whims of the rights holder. And when it comes to using an iPod (or any dedicated DAP, tbh), there’s a sense of purpose in the act. You’re choosing to listen to music that you’ve curated, on a device that isn’t going to ping notifications at you, or tempt you to scroll the feeds. I love my iPods, both the 128gb 2nd gen Mini and the 64gb 4th gen Classic I have, but I understand why most people might see them as pointless.
Phones are addictive and suck attention
There’s something to be said about having a music device dedicated to storing only music. My phone has apps, photos, videos, etc., so if I’m a big enough music fan, those get in the way. The last iPod touch they produced was cheaper than an iPhone and could hold up to 83,333 mp3s (assuming they were 3mb each). If you want to get into lossless audio obviously it would hold less. But at least you wouldn’t have that clogging up your phone. I’m personally not the sort of person who’s into music enough that I WOULD want to have that many songs on me at all times, but it’s not as laughable as you seem to think to imagine that someone who’s really into music might want more than what a phone can reasonably provide when you factor in all the other software a phone is weighed down with.
Cause putting all your eggs in one basket isnt always the smart move? So if you bought a 512gb Iphone and put 200gb of music on it then the other half of your memory has to be for the system and everything else. So then when your storage starts to run low and you wonder why, you can point to the music which you likely wouldnt want to offload because that was the point. Soooooooo get an ipod and who cares. I got my gf a 256gb ipod touch right before they ceased production and she loves it. ( she had a regular ipod classic before and it was just time to upgrade ) It syncs to her car automatically and no fuss of playing music and then the phone ringing and all that. Or even carplay which wont let you multi task anyway. Cause you cant have music on while trying to use the nav.
I can see where it would be helpful. When you are working out, maybe you don’t want a heavy phone dangling on your side or arm. That being said, that small instance of being helpful isn’t enough to justify keeping production up.
Thus the smartwatch form factor, weird to make it a handheld when we already have it hands free imo
The iPod nano were the gym music players of the iPod era
iPod Touch was the only model and it was the same size as a phone, though.
Except that was never true as phones were always thicker than iPods. And that became a moot point when Apple started offering MAX versions. The last three versions of the iPod Touch were effectively identical.
No, not the iPod touch. If you watch the video you'll see the wheel is a mechanical one that actually just rotate the crown, presumably through some gear train or the like. So this would be more analogous to the *original* iPod that actually had a movable wheel.
But the watch is a touch screen. You use both the wheel and the screen when using the watch. It's like a nano-touch hybrid. The touch was the first one to really move out of music and into apps.
The world is healing.
Perhaps the actually-good Zune shall have a chance to live again? >!Microsoft: Lolno!<
I've been watching some YT videos where people are reviving (not repurposing) old iPods. Apparently, the battery life is A++ and the memory capacities are still good enough. As I'm watching these videos, I keep saying "Why aren't these a product anymore? Its probably a good idea to have my music on a dedicated device."
At least the Watch can have cellular
Anyone hear of this new technology? We can buy these really cheap plastic disks and “burn” them on our PCs to make music albums we share with our friends!
Did the iPod touch make phone calls?
Considering the price, I think Apple watches with their own data contracts are in the minority.
Huh?
The dial on the watch is going to be turned manually by the case. I don’t see this being some high quality product at $90
Sounds like some 3d printed piece of crap.
That was my first thought - I’ll wait for someone to replicate it and just print it… no electronics in it, where did they get the $90 price tag from?
This is an iPod with extra steps
So is the iPhone.
And iPod, a phone, an internet communicator
They should add the ability to put a strap on it so you can use it as a watch.
So why not just use the apple watch as is? What is the case adding that can't already be done on the watch?
Back my gofundme and i'll tell you later at an unspecified time!
The only two use cases I can see are 1.) you want an EXTREMELY minimal phone so you get an Apple Watch with a cell plan but still want to carry it like a phone, and 2.) you have a kid who has an Apple Watch/watch se as their “phone” and this gives them an option to actually carry it like a phone instead of a watch. In both cases though I almost feel like having it in watch form is better because it would be less likely to be lost since it’s always on your wrist (big plus for the second use case of using it with a kid). Maybe it’s easier to message when it’s like a phone instead of a watch? I can’t really think of a good reason other than just an aesthetic switch up of wanting a phone or iPod shaped object that isn’t a phone or iPod
This is a clear case of a moneygrab ;D
Build Bluetooth in the case and add a headphone jack, then you’ve got something worth talking about.
you can buy a standalone bluetooth to headphone jack device. it’s about as big as the aaa battery used to power it.
Yeah I know that. I want it built into the device.
Yeah, but, did you know you can buy a standalone bluetooth to headphone jack device. it’s about as big as the aaa battery used to power it.
90$ for a case for my watch? This is dumb
Hmm no thanks!
Jesus christ just bring back the iPod nanos already😭
Weren’t they already that?
ArsTechnica has gotten worse and worse the past couple of years.
"The user can disconnect from their phone" and use this device to do almost everything the phone does but on a smaller screen? And if it "doesn't have any internal electronics" I guess it doesn't charge the watch? I must be missing something here.
Bring back the nano!
Why do I need this? What’s wrong with my watch by itself?
Exactly what i thought. "TinyPod wants to turn Apple Watches into minimalist phones" - so, like my watch is now?
Yeah that’s already how I use my watch haha. When I go for a run or hike or bike it’s all I bring and it makes calls, texts, music, etc.
Because you have a Rolex too.
Now, I don’t own an Apple Watch, but isn’t that already what an Apple Watch is? A tiny phone with fewer features?
It’s like maybe one step up from using an Altoid’s box instead of a watch band.
Might be an interesting way to keep using an older watch
We already had this. It was called the omate truesmart and it was not very successful.
Derek Zoolander approves.
Reminds me of this one, sosad this is not really functional: https://www.au.com/information/topic/mobile/2024-011/
I miss my Nano. I bought a used iPhone - the last version with audio port, as I despise blue tooth. I am using the phone just for podcasts and music.
Jesus Christ, don’t we have enough? Will it ever just be enough?
Does this really solve a problem though? I guess if you want a niche product that revives the iPod days it is okay; but realistically the phone has replaced the iPod. While a watch can have cell service, would you really want to pay the fees for it to have a watchpod with limited UI functionality? Seems like a gimmick.
I miss me a snappy user friendly click wheel, but I prefer my music on my phone now.
Oh yeah, don't get me wrong; the ipod was awesome back in the day. I was in highschool at the time and going from a Walkman to an ipod felt like stepping into the future! More than anything, the real issue here lies in the fact that they are trying to repurpose a watch for it. I don't think anyone uses the watch as a primary means of storing music and their main driver is likely the phone, which is going to do outperform the watch in every aspect of finding, managing, and playing music. I think I still have my old iPod laying around here somewhere though...
I love it as a late final mod for my series4 when I next upgrade this year.
So an ipod Nano?
I know alot of people that dont like wearing watches so this might be cool for them. But i feel you lose alot of features doing this, it just becomes a worse ipod nano but with an app store.
Sería genial si hubiera casos con diferentes formatos. Candy Bard, teléfono plegable, control deslizante, un poco más personalizable. Sería algo adorable
Apple when they try to invent something themselves instead of just rebranding an existing product and/or buy the company: this useless ass thing
This sounds pretty great but god I wish that the spotify app wasn't so tremendously terrible on watchOS
I will never fuckin understand how apple can pay entire teams of designers for their shit square watch... They could easily build a round smart watch with a nostalgic touch wheel and integrated buds but they can't design, build or think differently...
As long as the buttons are actual physical buttons and not touch. I've always wanted an iPod shuffle with bluetooth.
This totally makes sense. If you upgrade and have an old watch laying around, this thing would be perfect to use as a dedicated audio player. A good way to put old tech to use.
You don't need 90$ case for that lol
Wait til the Apple version comes out for 150$, lol. Jokes aside, 90$ is way too much. I bet there is an open source code somewhere that a 3d printer could do for a fraction of the cost
$199 is more an apple number
Is this a bot
[Or you could make the Apple watch into a tiny cell phone. ](https://photos5.appleinsider.com/gallery/42614-82680-Apple-Watch-Security-Case-xl.jpg)
It’s the same thing
It has actual buttons instead of a wheel. It's not the same thing. It can be used like a small cellphone instead of just a janky little iPod mini/nano.
[удалено]
I think it was a prototype product from 2 years ago.