DS Forums

 
 

Are iPods now classed as a 'thing of the past'?


Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 17-01-2015, 11:18
Kargo
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Essex, UK
Posts: 6,238

Didn't really think about this until yesterday when I had my iPod on at work (we are allowed to listen to music in my workplace) and two of my colleagues (similar age) were pretty much shocked that I still owned such technology. "You still own an iPod?" and "Why don't you use Spotify?" were both mentioned.

I like to think that I'm quite with the times when it comes to technology but this was the first time when I started to wonder whether iPods and in general, having music stored locally was starting to go extinct.

I have never ever taken to music streaming services, I tried to give Spotify the benefit of the doubt a while back and took on a free trial of their premium offering. whilst the app itself was nicely built, the thought of now having to use my phone to listen to music was an ugly one. Every so often the music would fade out when I received a notification, text message or call and yes, whilst it made perfect sense for it to happen, I felt that there were far too many distractions in my listening experience. I also didn't like how by default, Spotify tries to link itself to Facebook and in doing so, tell the world and his wife what you're listening to.

Just today actually, I've logged in to Spotify after several months and noticed an album that was there before is no longer available. How can people rely on these streaming services so much? With an iPod at least when you sync music to it, its not going anywhere. Am I alone with this logic? Will there still be room in the market for digital music players in years to come?
Kargo is offline   Reply With Quote
Please sign in or register to remove this advertisement.
Old 17-01-2015, 11:35
Quackers
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Staffordshire
Posts: 4,665
Apple still sell millions a year, so not a thing of the past yet, but they are declining. I still have 3 iPods and i use them, Spotify drives me bonkers when i have tried it, i could not select the track i wanted on my iPhone it kept picking random ones off an album, not sure if the pay version would give me what I'm after but I'm not paying.
Quackers is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 17-01-2015, 12:08
jeffkey1
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Hampshire, UK
Posts: 352
Also if you listen to Spotify on your phone for long periods of time you may use your data allowance.

If your colleagues are using wifi is that ok with you company AUP (Acceptable Usage Policy) for the company network? I know its against mine for where I work.

P.S I still use my iPod Classic as well.
jeffkey1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 18-01-2015, 00:39
LostFool
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 59,706
I never owned an iPod (or any product made by Apple) but I did have a few MP3 players over the years (I think my first had a capacity of 128MB which I thought was huge at the time) but now I just use my phone for playing music and podcasts on the go.
LostFool is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 18-01-2015, 10:39
grumpyoldbat
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 3,636
I still buy and download all my music. Spotify is fine, but what about where there's no signal, e.g. on a plane? On holiday abroad?
grumpyoldbat is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 19-01-2015, 11:52
soulboy77
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Herts
Posts: 17,003
A separate device for music is not required now that most people including kids appear to have a Smartphone now days. I still see joggers with iPods though, so I assume they are lighter and more convienient for this purpose. Just thinking that we still have a couple of iPods somewhere in the house. Must have a look for them.
soulboy77 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 19-01-2015, 12:08
Radiogram
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 2,919
Listening to music on a smartphone is fine but if you are so n the house with no means of recharging then you are going to run out of juice in no time.

Meanwhile my faithful old iPod carries on for days on a single charge.
Radiogram is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 19-01-2015, 12:10
Radiogram
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 2,919
I still buy and download all my music. Spotify is fine, but what about where there's no signal, e.g. on a plane? On holiday abroad?
Spotify and Deezer have offline modes so you can download music to your device for when you are out of range of wifi or data.
Radiogram is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 19-01-2015, 12:27
Davonator
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 2,645
Well the Pono MP3 player was one of the biggest kickstarter Projects in history (asked for $800,000, got $6.2 million). So there must still be an active market out there.
Davonator is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 19-01-2015, 12:42
Betty Swollax
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 558
There is really is no need for an iPod these days when Smart phones do literally everything. The iPod Classic was quietly phased out when Apple introduced the latest iPads and iPhones in late September 2014 and I wouldn't be surprised if the iPod gets retired soon as well. I'm surprised the Classic lasted as long as it did. I had two of them but using a click wheel these days is so archaic.

I did think about getting a newer iPod but then I thought, what's the point? I'll just a get Smart phone and I'll have the best of both worlds in one device. Besides, now that I have my own purchased music backed up with iTunes Match I no longer need to have all my music on my phones memory. I can simply stream from iTunes Cloud or download my music beforehand if I need to.
Betty Swollax is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 19-01-2015, 15:26
richard_batt1
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Middlesbrough
Posts: 7
They still sell really well. In my opinion I still think they're useful devices because Spotify doesn't have the rights to every song in the world and using it on your mobile all the time will destroy your data allowance and battery.
richard_batt1 is offline Follow this poster on Twitter   Reply With Quote
Old 19-01-2015, 17:03
paulj48
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 1,096
The iPod Classic was quietly phased out when Apple introduced the latest iPads and iPhones in late September 2014.
Dont think it was, Apple made a statement that they had to stop making the 'Classic' because there was no one manufacturing the hard drives anymore so they couldnt source all the parts.
paulj48 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 19-01-2015, 18:37
stud u like
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: The Sunny Side Of The Street
Posts: 40,101
Apple still sell millions a year, so not a thing of the past yet, but they are declining. I still have 3 iPods and i use them, Spotify drives me bonkers when i have tried it, i could not select the track i wanted on my iPhone it kept picking random ones off an album, not sure if the pay version would give me what I'm after but I'm not paying.
The paid version allows you to select any track you like. The free version is annoying as it has adverts and only allows track shuffling.
stud u like is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 19-01-2015, 19:27
jarryhack
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: NE
Posts: 4,698
I only use my iPods for listening to music. I don't even have any songs on my phone anymore because there was no point as I never used the phone for listening to music. I have an iPod hooked up in the car, one on a speaker dock in the kitchen which I also use to stream radio, and iPod i use when I'm out and about. I have tried spotify but I didn't like it.
jarryhack is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 19-01-2015, 20:15
Andrewww342003
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Bilston, West Midlands
Posts: 179
I still use my iPod touch 4g mainly for music because of how poor smartphone batteries are, also spotify took ages to buffer on my mobile connection.
Andrewww342003 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 20-01-2015, 05:01
Lyceum
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 3,123
I know most see smartphones these days as all in one entertainment devices but I still like a device for each.

I've had an iPod touch for ages and I prefer that for music listening than my phone. I've always had a dedicated MP3 player. My first one was 128mb and I thought it was amazing. Then I got a creative. Then a Sony. Then a sensa. Then back to creative and finally an iPod (I held of for ages but was using iTunes for my phone and iPad anyway so it made sense).

I use my phone as a phone/browser. I use my iPod for music. I have an iPad for games and streaming TV/movies. I realise I could get a large phone and a massive SD card and have it all in the one place but I like having dedicated things.

I honestly have no idea if they're a thing if the past. If something suits my needs and does what I want it to do then I couldn't care less what its social status is.
Lyceum is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22-01-2015, 15:20
TheTruth1983
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Crapville
Posts: 13,162
Locally stored music will never die for me. I bought a Fiio X5 and 2 128gb micro SD cards not long ago as I don't like having to depend on 3rd party servers or an Internet connection to listen to music.
TheTruth1983 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22-01-2015, 16:13
welwynrose
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Welwyn Garden City
Posts: 29,549
There is really is no need for an iPod these days when Smart phones do literally everything. The iPod Classic was quietly phased out when Apple introduced the latest iPads and iPhones in late September 2014 and I wouldn't be surprised if the iPod gets retired soon as well. I'm surprised the Classic lasted as long as it did. I had two of them but using a click wheel these days is so archaic.

I did think about getting a newer iPod but then I thought, what's the point? I'll just a get Smart phone and I'll have the best of both worlds in one device. Besides, now that I have my own purchased music backed up with iTunes Match I no longer need to have all my music on my phones memory. I can simply stream from iTunes Cloud or download my music beforehand if I need to.
Iphone & ipads just don't have the capacity though
welwynrose is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22-01-2015, 17:12
psionic
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Crystal Palace TX
Posts: 19,702
Still use my iPod Classic for my large audiobook collection. Nothing else I've found so far has the battery life and capacity I need. I guess I'll have to rethink this when it eventually dies.
psionic is offline Follow this poster on Twitter   Reply With Quote
Old 22-01-2015, 20:06
a11ie
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 372
I still use my ipod nano down the gym as most smartphones would look enormous strapped round my arm!
a11ie is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22-01-2015, 22:59
c4rv
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Essex
Posts: 16,218
Dont think it was, Apple made a statement that they had to stop making the 'Classic' because there was no one manufacturing the hard drives anymore so they couldnt source all the parts.
indeed. the shuffle, nano and touch are all still for sale on apple store
c4rv is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22-01-2015, 23:34
Pete Callan
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 22,354
I swear by my iPod Classic. Wi-Fi is too unreliable and phones just don't have the capacity to store my enormous collection.
Pete Callan is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 23-01-2015, 23:39
Chuck Wao
Inactive Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: London/Paris 👀 父
Posts: 2,663
i've got an ipod classic (bought 2004 so must be classic i guess) Stopped using it a couple of years later due to other purchases - then started using it this year . The retro look suddenly has a lot of appeal .
Chuck Wao is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 23-01-2015, 23:43
jeffiner1892
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 8,723
A separate device for music is not required now that most people including kids appear to have a Smartphone now days. I still see joggers with iPods though, so I assume they are lighter and more convienient for this purpose. Just thinking that we still have a couple of iPods somewhere in the house. Must have a look for them.
One of the reasons I still use an mp3 player. Mine is a clip one as well so it means I can keep my pocket free for my phone.
jeffiner1892 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 25-01-2015, 12:10
gomezz
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Buckingham
Posts: 28,549
There is really is no need for an iPod these days when Smart phones do literally everything
There are at least three reasons why I prefer to listen using my MP3 player rather than my smartphone:

1) When running, I do *not* want my listening pleasure to be interrupted by a call, text or message alert;

2) When working I am frequently using the Play/Pause button. A physical button that can easily be found and used by feel alone is much preferable to fiddling around with a locked touchscreen;

3) If the work van was to get broken into it would be a much lesser hassle having a cheapish MP3 player (hooked up to the van radio) stolen than an expensive smartphone with a load of personal information on it.
gomezz is offline   Reply With Quote
 
Reply




 
Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 16:27.