To ask when (or even if!!) people stopped using iPods?

[LBirch02]

OK I admit - I may/may not be in the minority here as I’ve never owned an iPod. At one staged you’d hear ‘MP3’ player being said a lot - now you don’t hear it.
So I missed all the different versions iPod Nano, Shuffle etc .
So what are your thought on this? Do some people still use them?

Yes they do, but now smart watches etc can play music. If you are training etc then wireless headphones are the most practical, so a device that they can be connected to is needed. MP3 players will do. But lots of people feel safer carrying a phone.

Ah I didn’t even realise Smart Watches can play music! Tgank you!

Thank you!

Initially the ipod or mp3 player was much better sound quality than a phone but now phones are just as good why would you want 2 devices?

Fair enough DayDate - thinking back I think iPod ownership seemed to peak before Smart Phones were really a thing so circa 2006

It was a gradual shift as everyone moved to smartphones. The storage on smartphones got big enough for people to consolidate their iPods onto their phones, and then Spotify (and to a lesser extent Apple Music/ Google Play etc) became free, open to all and ubiquitous. Add in unlimited data and public Wifi and you've got no need for a device which needs to be manually synched.

I got rid of my iPod around 2010/2011 I think, and was by no means a trailblazer.

Err, because you have an iPod but don't want a smart phone?

You used to upload all your cds to an i pod i recall but most people use spotify or similar now on phones etc easier than carrying your i pod as well.

Plus with streaming services you're limited to devices that work with it.

Ah thanks Claudia - I’ve also never really used any of these streaming sites apart from YouTube!

I still use and iPod. Am I old?

DH and me both still have and use ipods/mp3 players (yes plural). We both have walking commutes and it means not having to have a phone around for that 40 minutes so you can just focus on the music and the day ahead/gone.

I use my cheap little one whenever I walk to town or the supermarket (I've always had music on to help offset sensory overload when out and about). No worrying about losing WiFi connection, or intrusive beeps, or losing blue tooth headphones, and worse comes to worst if anything happens to it, I've lost less than £20 worth of tech.

I use my iPod all the time!
I don’t have an expensive phone, I just want to be able to call and txt so I don’t have big storage on it or loads of apps.
Also, I have loads of downloaded stuff in my iPad that I put on there when I had a desk top pc and you could work with iTunes…..can’t do that with the iPad

Haven't used an iPod since 2011.

That's when I got my first iPhone, which incorporates iTunes / spotify. I play my music through those apps. Via wireless earbuds. It's the same as an iPod in many ways.. but it's obviously a phone as well.

I think I stopped using my iPod around 2016. I had Spotify on my phone by then but would use my iPod for long bus journeys home from uni to preserve my phone battery.

I still use a little mp3 player. The only differences between the one I have now and the one I used to listen to on the bus circa 2003 are the battery type and the size of the memory. I'm not 40 yet. I've got an iPod I take on holiday too

They stopped making all but one version of the iPod in 2014 - and that last version stopped being made in 2019.

Some people will still have them and use them, but sales dropped off massively around 2012, and usage dropped a lot around 2014/2015. Most people now use their phones.

Thanks all of you for your responses!! And no no ones ‘old’ for having an iPod I just missed out on the stage completely

TakeYourFinalPosition thanks for including those year stats that’s really interesting

@DayDate

Initially the ipod or mp3 player was much better sound quality than a phone but now phones are just as good why would you want 2 devices?

Battery life, that's the reason I still use an MP3 player.

The first iPod came out 20 years ago now!

Then somewhere down the line, Apple did a touchscreen version of the iPod, which would then eventually become the iPhone in the late 2000s. Then like others said here, sales started dropping off in the 2010s in favour of the iPhone.

I was too poor for Apple stuff, so my MP3 player was a Creative Zen.

I still use my iPod - it has all my own cds downloaded on it, many of which are not available on streaming services. In the old days I had iTunes, and ripped them onto my laptop and thence to the iPod. Lots of them are comedy things which are never going to get out on Spotify etc.

But I also have Spotify on my phone, so I tend to alternate between the two, depending on what I want to hear.

I still use my iPod - daily basis. Have found a company who repairs them too, so I will be continuing as long as poss.

Like MrsTulip lots of stuff on there which isn't available on streaming and never will be.

Fair enough DayDate - thinking back I think iPod ownership seemed to peak before Smart Phones were really a thing so circa 2006

I had an ipod. Before the iphone you needed a separate phone, mp3/video (the newer ipods played video), camera etc all as separate devices. I remember thinking i wish they’d hurry up and bring out one device that would at least be an all in one camera/phone/music player.

So when they did the ipod was rapidly replaced. I do still use mine as an emergency storage drive though.

TrickorTreacle that’s a very sobering thought - 20 years!!

I still have and use my Ipod nano regularly. Only holds a few hundred songs but easy to swap and change.

I plug it into our portable radio or clip it to my coat or bag strap if I am walking anywhere. I like the simplicity of it. No messing with phone or playlists etc.

It's great on holidays as tiny and not valuable and battery lasts hours.

With spotify and Amazon music, paying for individual songs on iTunes became too expensive but I downloaded all my old CDs onto itunes years ago.

Like pp my phones have never, until now, have never had enough storage for music.