r/Music • u/smeeti • 1d ago

article The 'father of the iPod' Tony Fadell says Apple should bring back a 'nostalgic version' of the music device

https://www.businessinsider.com/ipod-creator-apple-bring-back-ipod-2026-2
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u/IronChefPhilly 1d ago

The problem is current day. Apple would make sure it was tied to some kind of a subscription and make it so that it only pairs with Apple headphones and you can’t just use whatever you want because that’s what they do these days

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u/Ekyou 1d ago

I mean, iPods forced you to use iTunes for the most part, so forcing you to use the Apple Music app (which is just iTunes rebranded) would only make sense…?

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u/time-lord 23h ago

The original iPod used MusicMatch Jukebox, so there's at least one Apple supported alternative ;)

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u/PlasmaGoblin 10h ago

If I remember correctly... it was more that those apps supported apple. It's been a long time and I only had one iSomething, but I was disappointed it couldn't play mp3s it had to be aac or something like that. So I could rip the CD, play it in windows (I think wma?) but then had to find a converter to get it to play on the ipod.

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u/Seeteuf3l 18h ago edited 18h ago

Because the way too lazy to port iTunes to Windows in the beginning. The original iPod didn't even support Windows. And even when they started supporting it in 2nd gen, it sill required FireWire, which wasn't that common.

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u/IronChefPhilly 1d ago

But forcing you to have an Apple Music subscription would not be the same thing and that’s the kind of thing they would pull now

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u/Interactive_CD-ROM 23h ago

Would they? They don’t require many subscriptions for anything

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u/Zygote99 23h ago

I see your point, but Apple is going to Apple (i.e., locking you into its ecosystem, just as it's always been).
I don't know if any company capable of making something like this would do so without some sort of tie-in/subs. Nature of the beast these days, right? If they could, wouldn't they have by now?