Dear Tim Cook,
I understand why Apple discontinued the iPod in 2022. The way most people listen to music has changed since the iPod reshuffled the music industry in 2001. I get it, I do.
And yet. I need you to consider this request. Please bring back the iPod!
Even if a new iPod might not generate the same sales it did a decade ago, there is still a hardcore demographic out there, absolutely desperate for the iPod: parents. Trust me.
In any parenting Facebook group — or, really, across all social media — the desire for an old-school iPod keeps coming up.
“I want something like an iPod-type thing,” one parent pleaded on Facebook recently. “No internet access, no messaging, nothing … just a way for him to listen to music of his choice while on the bus to school. I’m kinda coming up short with my search.”
Why parents want a phone-free music player
Many parents are worried about the potential harm that can come from using social media — and phones — and are choosing to restrict their kids’ and teens’ access to screens or hold off on giving them a phone.
But how can we give our kids access to music without giving them access to an entire phone’s worth of apps, or a phone at all? (That’s where you come in, Tim.)
Unfortunately, most adults aren’t active CD or record buyers, and we listen to music through streaming services like Spotify (and Apple Music, of course).
This leaves music-loving kids in the lurch: How can they listen to their favorite tunes? We can all agree that it’s character-building and healthy for a middle schooler to start developing their own musical tastes and listen to music of their own choice.
And as much as we parents might wax nostalgic for the days of downloading viruses from Kazaa onto the family computer, or taping songs off the radio onto a cassette tape, we don’t actually want to send our kids back into the Dark Ages. We just want a music player that doesn’t also have Snapchat.
The post-iPod options are crummy
Parents seem to have come up with a variety of solutions that seem to vary in success. Here’s some of what I’ve heard parents are using:
- An actual CD player/boombox and CDs.
- The Yoto player, a device made for young kids that plays audiobooks and music through credit card-sized cards you insert into the speaker device.
- A cheapo MP3 player from Amazon, of which there are a wide variety at various price points and with a variety of features like touchscreens or video.
- The Mighty, a screen-free portable music player designed for kids that can sync Spotify playlists offline.
- A vintage iPod on eBay. Urban Outfitters even sold refurbished ones in 2023 as retro tech.
Although these are all interesting options, there doesn’t seem to be one single solution for everyone. Older kids and teens might find the Yoto too babyish to bring on the bus, for example. Some of the MP3 players out there have poor Amazon reviews for crummy software or low battery life. Like this one:
“I’m trying to find an easy-to-use MP3 player for my 8-year-old. I bought a non-brand one off Amazon, and it’s awful. The music can’t be organized; it’s just one big playlist,” a parent wrote in a Facebook group. Basically, I want an original iPod from 2005, lol.”
There seems to be a gap in the market for a product with an elegant design, top-notch firmware, and baked-in compatibility with a large, familiar music library.
A small, white, clickwheel-sized gap, perhaps. You know … like something Apple might make?
The company didn’t respond to my question about whether it would bring back the iPod or forward my request to Mr. Cook, so I have no choice but to ask him, right here:
Tim, you have the power. Make us happy again. Give us the iPod!
Perhaps we can cyberbully Apple with some highly unscientific market research:
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