After 21 years, Apple will retire the iPod

Apple has announced that the iPod Touch, a music player that was warmly hailed for revolutionizing how people listen to music, would be discontinued.

The initial iPod, released in 2001, had a 1,000-track capacity. Apple’s streaming service now has over 90 million songs available. The iPod Touch was created by the same team that eventually created the iPhone, which swiftly surpassed the iPod in popularity. The iPod was last updated in 2019.

The iPod

The iPod wasn’t the first MP3 player, just as the iPhone wasn’t the first smartphone, but its distinctive Apple design was precisely what digital music needed to entice consumers away from CD and cassette players — and file-sharing.

The music business was struggling for survival in 2001, as songs were pirated and disseminated on sites quicker than record companies could make legal threats.

The introduction of iTunes, and later the iPod, gave it a lifeline in the form of cash from properly purchased downloads. It also helped Apple, which had been struggling in a market dominated by Windows PCs.

‘Sold Out After Being Discontinued’

The iPod touch is currently labeled as “sold out” in several configurations on Apple’s online store in the United States, only one day after Apple announced it is abandoning the portable music player, which is still available “while supplies last.”

In the United States, the iPod touch with 256 GB of storage is no longer available in any color on Apple.com, and the 128 GB model is similarly “sold out.” Although stock levels may change in the next few days, it is evident that Apple’s remaining iPod touch inventory is rapidly running out.

While supplies on Apple’s online shop are running out, the iPod touch is still available in select Apple Store locations and Apple Authorized Resellers. The seventh-generation iPod touch debuted in May 2019 with a 4-inch Retina display, an A10 CPU, and a traditional Home button without Touch ID.

Apple will stop selling iPods after the iPod touch is totally sold out, signaling the end of an era.