The iPod, the most famous digital music player that revolutionized musical uses in the 2000s, decided to stop production after its sales lost momentum. Much to the chagrin of the latest aficionados of the small dial case.
End clap for the iPod. More than twenty years after its birth, Apple announced on Tuesday the end of production of its famous digital music player, even if the iPod Touch will remain available while stocks last in the brand’s points of sale. But the disappearance of this mythical product of the 2000s, which revolutionized the way of consuming music, arouses a wave of emotion throughout the world.
After Apple’s announcement on social networks, many users united under the hashtag « #iPodRIP » to say a final farewell, AFP noted on Wednesday. « Noooo, iPod touch, you were too pure for this world! » For example, tweeted American entrepreneur Anil Dash, CEO of Glitch (software development start-up).
« Clearly, this is one of the products launched by Apple which has completely changed our lives », also explained to AFP Francisco Jeronimo, analyst at the firm IDC, specializing in new technologies.
« Well above anything that was done at the time »
« When it came out, I was working in the department at Fnac and it really marked me », tells BFMTV.com Mathieu, who was 22 at the time. « I really liked the object, and besides, I still like it a lot 20 years later. I remember that it was both an object that you had in your pocket all the time and a decorative object. C was way above anything that was being done at the time. »
At the height of its glory, this small device sold tens of millions of copies each year. With its iconic design and despite a price of 400 dollars at launch, the iPod quickly crushed all competition with a promise: « Put 1000 songs in your pocket. »
« I really fell in love with this product, which I subsequently collected, I had them all and unfortunately I used them to the bone! », remembers this man of today. now 41, no longer with a working iPod.
For him, the iPod « truly marked an era. From Kylie Minogue to film soundtracks, I had everything on it. It was eclectic. It was the moment when, like many people, I illegally downloaded It had become an extension of me, I always had it in my pocket loaded and ready to be unsheathed, « recalls this man, now customer relations manager for a large computer hardware group in Nantes.
« As long as it works I will continue to use it! »
Others have carefully kept their copy. Always seduced by its design, they still use their old device religiously. Michaël, 42, uses his white iPod classic, for example, to « listen to music in the car ». « It allows me to plug in my iPod and keep the phone to do something else, especially the GPS », he confides to BFMTV.com, even if he admits that he also occasionally listens to music. streaming to his phone.
« My iPod, the classic 80 GB version from the 2000s, is still holding up and as long as it works I will continue to use it! I had put it in a sleeve but it passed away before it did », says surprises even the forties, in charge of studies in the associative sector in Versailles. « Amazingly, its battery still lasts so well, which is rare for an Apple product! Afterwards, I don’t know exactly how many thousands of songs I have on my iPod, but even if it’s full, I still have a lot of things to listen to. »
« But I also use it on vacation, on the beach or by the pool or in the evening (if a speaker has a USB socket) », confides this amateur. « When you think about it, for the time its storage capacity was impressive, and then the screen and the touch wheel navigation were innovative and very pleasant », he still praises.
And the forties are not the only ones to regret the end of the iPod. « A page turns » also for young Clément, 16, whose iPod Shuffle was « the first technological device ». « My parents gave it to me for Christmas when I was 10, » says this high school student from Aubagne (Bouches-du-Rhône). « I had lost it for a while then I got my hands on it three years ago and since then I have used it often, in addition to my smartphone », says the student in Terminale class, who says to himself « very disappointed » by the cessation of production. « I am one of those who was hoping for a reboot (see new launch). »
For him, the iPod and streaming, « it’s not incompatible ». « There, for example, I have just passed the baccalaureate. Well, I was happy to have my Ipod before the tests so that I could concentrate and be in my bubble. I have all my playlists streaming on my smartphone, but I I also like having my basics on my iPod. It’s super practical when you want to isolate yourself, not be disturbed by calls or notifications from your mobile. »
« He didn’t just change the way we listen to music, he changed the entire music industry, » Apple founder Steve Jobs said in 2007. largely contributed to propelling the American company, the iPod did not survive the arrival of the iPhone in 2007, from which it was however initially inspired. Five years after its release, the iPod already only accounted for 10% of the Apple brand’s revenues, notes AFP, and it was selling much less than the iPhone.