iPod nano

September 25, 2006: Apple ships its second-generation iPod nano, offering a fancy redesign of the pocket-size original.

“iPod nano is the world’s most popular digital music player, and we’ve completely redesigned it to make it even better,” said Apple CEO Steve Jobs in a press release. “The all-new iPod nano gives music fans more of what they love in their iPods.”

Among the new iPod nano’s improvements are a slimmer, anodized aluminum casing; a brighter screen; longer battery life; and a wide range of colors. And, oh yes, it also includes gapless music playback for the first time!

The iPod music player, a product that was once the definition of tech coolness, rode off into the sunset on Tuesday. The last iPod nano and iPod shuffle models went on Apple’s list of obsolete products, which means the classic iPod lineup officially obsolete.

The music player that transformed Apple and the worldwide music culture will no longer be supported or serviced by Apple. It’s the end of an era.

The same is true for iPhone 6.

It’s the end of an era — Apple has stopped making the once-iconic iPod. The little music player helped save Apple, and made the company a powerhouse in the music industry, but its day is over.

The last model is the iPod touch, which “will be available while supplies last,” Apple said Tuesday in a press release.

Editor’s note: We originally published this illustrated history of the iPod to celebrate the device’s 10th anniversary on Oct. 22, 2011 (and updated it a decade later). We republished it on May 10, 2022, when Apple finally pulled the plug on the iPod.

The iPod grew out of Steve Jobs’ digital hub strategy. Life was going digital. People were plugging all kinds of devices into their computers: digital cameras, camcorders, MP3 players.

The computer was the central device, the “digital hub,” that could be used to edit photos and movies or manage a large music library. Jobs tasked Apple’s programmers with making software for editing photos, movies and managing digital music. While they were doing this, they discovered that all the early MP3 players were horrible. Jobs asked his top hardware guy, Jon Rubinstein, to see if Apple could do better.

Once the crown jewel in Apple’s treasure chest, the iPod continues its slow march to the end. This week, the last generation iPod nano, which debuted with new color options in 2015, officially debuted on Apple’s “vintage” list.

New photos reveal an original Apple Watch prototype apparently used for internal testing before the wearable made its official debut in 2015.

The device is protected by a security case, which looks a little like an iPod nano, to disguise it during transportation. It also comes in a brown cardboard box marked “Apple Confidential.”

The seventh-generation iPod nano, Apple’s last model, will be added to the company’s list of “vintage” products later this month.

First introduced in 2015, the device was marketed as the thinnest iPod ever, with the ability to connect to Bluetooth headphones and speakers, a built-in FM radio tuner, and a 2.5-inch color display.

Apple reportedly explored adding an iPod port to the Mac mini. Images of a prototype unit surfaced online over the weekend, showing a product Apple decided not to release.

In the three short years since Apple Watch debuted, Cupertino has massively improved its smartwatch. Remember the early days, when Glances took ages to load, only to show out-of-date information? When the Fitness app refused to stay in the foreground during a workout? Or when the side button launched a doodling app?

Since the launch, Apple has rolled out big upgrades to watchOS every year at its Worldwide Developers Conference. But there is still loads more that could be done to really unleash Apple Watch’s full potential.

With this year’s WWDC confirmed for June, here’s my wish list of the all the new watchOS stuff I’m hoping will be announced in San Jose, California. It’s a pretty long list, so I’ve broken it down into three separate posts, starting with usability. In followup posts, I’ll focus on fitness, apps and setup.

Apple is no longer providing repairs or service for the sixth-generation iPod nano.

The device was added to the company’s list of vintage and obsolete products on August 30, and a memo distributed to Apple stores and Authorized Service Providers confirms that repairs are no longer being carried out … unless you live in California.

Apple pulled the iPod nano and iPod shuffle from its website today, confirming that the models have been discontinued.

The iPod touch, which just received a storage boost, remains as the company’s only dedicated music player.

The new PRODUCT(RED) iPhone is the latest limited-edition Apple product to turn a crimson paint job into a pile of green, all for a worthy charity.

Apple got involved 11 years ago with The Global Fund to benefit AIDS programs in Africa. In that time, Apple has raised millions of dollars for the charity — and released some pretty sweet special-edition products to boot.

Here are our picks for the best Apple PRODUCT(RED) products (plus, the absolute worst of all time).

Nick Wellings listens to music on his iPhone, preferring not to disturb any one of his 108 iPods.

He figures his collection would hold 231,000 songs, but only one has ever been touched or seen the light of day. They remain factory-sealed in their boxes.

The iPod’s status as an icon was brief but seismic, a sleek and at-times-colorful trigger of upheaval to the music industry in the middle of the century’s first decade. Soon the iPhone, which grew more powerful with each generation, relegated the iPod to junk drawers, closets and boxes, next to that cassette-tape-playing Sony Walkman.

Looking for a way to put your existing iPod to good use? How about a career in crime?

Police in Manchester, U.K., have issued a warning to local using ATMs, after a cash machine was discovered fitted with a converted iPod rigged to record footage of customers’ PIN numbers, while also trapping their bank cards.

Today’s iPod refresh came as an odd surprise to some and maybe even a long-awaited update to others. Now that the iPod line is finally up-to-date after being dormant for a few years, you might even be considering buying one.

Regardless of how you feel, do yourself a favor: Don’t buy one.

After a short amount of time offline, the Apple Online Store is back up and running — selling a refreshed line of iPods, featuring some feature upgrades, and a nifty new gold color option.

Apple has released new iPod shuffle, nano, and touch devices, representing the first major upgrade for the product lines since way back in 2012. While the shuffle and nano both get the new gold color — alongside five other color options — the biggest upgrade is reserved for the iPod touch.

You may have written off the iPod as something Apple doesn’t care to breathe new life into by this point, but the iPod is exactly what appears to be getting an update. Alongside the release of iTunes 12.2 to support Apple Music, some users quickly discovered that images of the iPod family within the app feature new, unreleased colors.

Looking for a use for that old iPod nano you’ve got lying around the house, gathering dust? Why not become a credit card thief?

Okay, so that’s probably the worst piece of advice you’ve received today, but it was still good enough for a pair of ne’er-do-wells from Stockport, England.

Using an iPod nano, a bit of duct tape, and a plastic contraption which attaches to the card slot of ATMs, the duo discovered a way to record videos of people entering their PIN numbers to withdraw money — using Apple’s one-time music players as a makeshift spy camera.

The tagline for next week’s Apple media event is “It’s been way too long.” While that might be nothing more than a sarcastic nod to the fact that Cupertino announced the Apple Watch and iPhone 6 just last month, it could be a cryptic indication that we’ll see updates to some of the company’s neglected products.

Rumors suggest new iPads and Macs will share the stage at Apple’s October 16 event, and we’ll probably get OS X Yosemite’s release date and more talk about iOS 8 and Apple Pay, but what about the rest of the product lineup?

Here’s a look at Apple products currently languishing in update hell, along with some rumors and speculation about what the future might hold.

We’re still months away from the big reveal of the iPhone 6, which means concept designers still have plenty of time to toss around fanciful dreams of what Apple might do for the redesign of the iPhone.

Teaming up with Martin Hajeck, iCulture created the following concept mockups that would see the iPhone taking some design cues from the iPod Nano, with curved edges, a narrower bezel, and larger screen to boot.

Take a look:

What if Apple’s iWatch is’t an iWatch at all? What if it’s a spec, like CarPlay, that lets folks like Casio and Rolex put an Apple chip inside their watches to make them talk to your iPhone?

Problems solved:

• Apple doesn’t have to get into the fashion watch game, or make “ladies” and “gents” watches.
• The watch industry gets a shot in the arm (pun intended) as watches get useful again.
• You don’t need a power-sucking display. The iPhone is the display.

The consensus within the rumor mill seems to be that Apple will release not one, but two larger iPhones later this year. According to a new report from Japanese site Macotakara, the new designs will borrow heavily from the existing iPhone 5c and iPod nano.

https://youtu.be/6oV12xzErxg

Wondering what the new “slate gray” iPhone 5s will look like compared to the black-and-slate iPhone 5? A new video shows off the color as seen in Apple’s recently released slate gray iPod nano.

This morning’s keynote focused on the iPhone and iOS 7, but Apple pushed out a few quiet updates this afternoon as well, including a new color option for iPods.

Apple is now selling the iPod Nano, Touch, and Shuffle in the new Space Gray color option the iPhone 5S just received. The space gray iPod Touch won’t be available at Apple Stores until the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C arrive on September 20th, but Apple.com says you should be able to pickup the new Nano and Shuffle as soon as September 12th.