Wondering if Apple revived the iPod today, would it actually take off? Feels like everyone’s trying to cut back on phone time.

I daily drive an iPod (currently listening to it on a flight). Some benefits:

- Listening to music doesn't drain your phone. Also it's offline, which is a bonus for hiking/biking/flights.

- Underrated convo starter. Set one down on a bar top as you sit down and i promise you'll be talking to everyone around you

- The battery life is unmatched, including by modern DAP's. Mine is running a stock battery (still!) and gets days of playback. Weeks/months when idle (use it too much to know for sure).

- iFlash [1] has replacement boards for $30-$40 that let you use modern nvme storage over spinning media. Simple swap and has been rock solid for me for years.

- Audio quality over 3.5mm aux ports is noticeably superior to bluetooth in most (older?) cars

Would they take off today? I think there could be a retro-y scene for them, especially if they had any wifi connectivity. The device remains one of the best purpose-built consumer devices, and that's hard not to appreciate. My 10yr old daughter thinks it's less cool than i do, though.

1. https://www.iflash.xyz/

I believe there would be a market for it, but it wouldn't take off as such. I don't know if this is down to Apple stopping production of it or some other reason, but ipod sales dropped from a peak of nearly 60M sold / year in '08 to a final number of 14.4m sold in '14 according to [0]. The bigger number though is the percentage of Apple's revenue, which peaked in 2006 at 40%, down to just 1% in 2014.

By then, the iphone and associated app revenue had long taken over their revenue. But on the other hand, if they applied the same metrics to Mac they would've discontinued that years ago too, but they need Mac for people to build iPhone apps.

[0] https://www.statista.com/chart/10469/apple-ipod-sales/

Doubt it, there’s plenty of mp3 players out there including 2nd hand ipods. You don’t see them in use much. Ratio of for sale / in-use is probably a good indicator for a new product not to take off.

Also most watches can function as music players with wireless headphones nowadays. For a while I ran a low-notification apple watch purely for the time, nfc (payments and to enter the gym) and music functions.

I think the apple watch fills that role now. The watch is easier to carry for activities, while reproducing the core functions of the phone (music/podcasts, payments, messages/urgent notifications), leaving little reason to check the phone at all. Also the combination of not possessing the iphone's more distracting elements, and the way that it's tiring to hold the arm upwards+inwards for an extended period probably also help keep the wearer focused on their task.

I see the difference often in the gym. The people with smart watches for music aren't getting distracted from their workouts, while the people with their phones for music tend to take long pauses, or even get caught up watching tiktok/stories/reels.

The biggest barrier today would be that most people stream their music. So the new iPod would need 5G, which means increased price, carrier contracts etc. At that point it is close enough to a phone that it doesn't make sense as a standalone device.

And also, for people who really want to get away from their phone the Apple Watch is already a standalone music player.

It could only work as an internet streaming device.

It was released in a time that people bought mp3s, even ringtones!

Click wheel patent's expired I think, thought I'd see it on at least one not-Apple device someday...

Most people don't consider listening to music on your phone to count as "Screen Time".