Remembering the iPod

Photo by Herman Yung

This article by Lindsay Zoladz has been making the rounds lately and I finally got around to reading it last night. I really connect with this sentiment about the iPod classic (or any iPod really) being the pinnacle of portable music-listening. The iPod classic was the audio player that ushered in the digital music revolution. It wasn't the first MP3 player nor was it the most feature-packed, but its ease of use and design made it the must-have music player even at its relatively high price (prior to the iPod touch and the iPhone's release).

To me, the iPod was amazing. It stored every piece of music I had  (storage-wise, the iPhone still cannot compete) and allowed me to browse to any artist, album, or song effortlessly without being distracted by notifications or the internet as a whole. It was, as it was described, purely a device for enjoying music. I spent countless hours using my iPod classic and to this very day I still have mine around. I haven't updated it in years but every time I plug it in and turn it on, it's like going into a time capsule of my own life and music habits. I like doing it.

The iPod classic is no longer for sale but when its retirement was announced sometime in 2014, I thought for a second to spend a few hundred dollars and buy the last generation of it. Maybe I still should just in case my current iPod dies.