Apple has announced that the iPod Touch, a music player that was warmly hailed for revolutionising how people listen to music, will be discontinued. The initial iPod, released in 2001, had a 1,000-track capacity. Apple’s streaming service now has over 90 million songs available.

The iPod Touch was created by the same team that eventually created the iPhone, which swiftly surpassed the iPod in popularity. The iPod was last updated in 2019.

Various iPod versions have been developed throughout the years, including the Nano and Shuffle, but the iPod Touch was the last to be discontinued in 2007.

Apple said it will be available for purchase “while supplies last.”

According to Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice-president of worldwide marketing, the device “redefined how music is discovered, listened to, and shared.” iPod users have gone to social media to express their feelings at the news and memories associated with the music players.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the first generation of the iPod in 2001, with considerable hoopla and anticipation, and dressed in his usual trousers and black turtleneck.

After the invitation for the launch event said, “Hint: It’s not a Mac,” there were rumours that the business was going to introduce a new music player.

“Music’s a part of everyone’s life. Music’s been around forever. It will always be around,” Jobs said during his hour long presentation.

“1,000 songs in your pocket,” was the major headline for the night.

Many celebrities, including John Mayer, U2, and Oprah Winfrey, have lent their celebrity to the iPod throughout the years. Most automobile manufacturers followed suit after BMW developed the first automotive entertainment system with an integrated iPod system.

However, experts believe that the iPhone will eventually replace the iPod.

“When Apple created the iPhone it knew that it would ultimately mean the beginning of the end of the iPod,” Ben Wood, chief analyst at technology advisory firm CCS Insight, said.

According to Carolina Milanesi of Creative Strategies, the drop of iPod sales is linked to the rise of iPhone sales, similar to the shift from digital to streaming sales.

“The demise of the iPod is probably the best example of Apple not being concerned about cannibalising its own products,” she said.

The iPod wasn’t the first MP3 player, just as the iPhone wasn’t the first smartphone, but its distinctive Apple design was just what digital music needed to entice people away from CD and cassette players – and file-sharing.

The music industry was fighting for survival in 2001, as songs were pirated and disseminated on sites quicker than record labels could make legal threats.

The introduction of iTunes, and later the iPod, gave it a lifeline in the form of cash from properly purchased downloads.

It also helped Apple, which had been struggling in a market dominated by Windows PCs.

On October 23, 2001, the late Steve Jobs debuted it on stage at an event.

“With iPod, listening to music will never be the same again,” he said. And in many ways, he was right.

(Adapted from BBC.com)