this post was submitted on 14 Apr 2026

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The World Is Basically Begging for Another iPod (gizmodo.com)

submitted 7 months ago by alyaza@beehaw.org to c/technology@beehaw.org

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[–] kayzeekayzee@lemmy.blahaj.zone 26 points 7 months ago (1 child)

It is?

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[–] artyom@piefed.social 2 points 7 months ago

I mean "its back" in the sense that demand is rising for nostalgic purposes. Not in the sense that anyone wants a new one.

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[–] mesamunefire@piefed.social 22 points 7 months ago (3 children)

Theres a metric ton of open source clones.

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[–] caurvo@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Also plenty of low tech Chi-fi options like Fiio/Snowsky.

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[–] u_tamtam@programming.dev 4 points 7 months ago (1 child)

Maybe I'm the weird one here, but when I look at fiio, and they are essentially smartphones (beefy Exynos or Qualcomm SoCs, running a bloated Android), minus some connectivity apps and a mobile antenna, I'd rather just use a phone, thanks. Most portable music players have this minimalistic appeal of devices that were engineered for just one single purpose and to do it well, and fiio certainly isn't having that vibe.

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[–] caurvo@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 point 7 months ago

Yeah that's fair, I am personally leaning deeper into things like the Echo Mini or soon to be released Echo Nano from their sub brand. I think DAPs are in a weird place, and do wish there was a higher quality iPod-like solution.

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[–] jlow@slrpnk.net 19 points 7 months ago (8 children)

Remember owning stuff?

Uh, yes? I have all the mp3s I want to listen to on my phone (and my NAS),I don't need an Ipod for that.

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[–] caurvo@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 7 months ago (7 children)

While you're not wrong, and at the moment I am the same, there is also something very appealing to me about decoupling music from my phone.

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[–] dmention7@midwest.social 4 points 7 months ago (4 children)

If you're moderately tech-inclined, its not super difficult to set up a streaming music server that you can access from anywhere. The most basic solution that almost anyone can spin up is a cheap NAS (or always-on PC), and setting up a VPN between your phone and router to access your library.

From there you can add complexity by configuring a true music server like Navidrome, adding web-facing access, erc

After typing this, I realized maybe you meant completely decoupling music from your phone, not just decoupling the storage

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[–] caurvo@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 7 months ago

Yeah I have dabbled with hosted music, but I do mean "offline" device + storage. Like MP3 players of old. I have also been blursed with an interest in audio gear so it becomes a very appealing rabbit hole for me.

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[–] djdarren@piefed.social 2 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Navidrome serving up my 200gb library from home, via Tailscale, and all it cost me was the music that I bought* over the years. Oh, and a fiver for Symfonium on my phone. But Feishin is free on my computers.

Then I worked out how to redirect it through the VPS I use for my website, and now I have my own streaming service. It's pretty sweet.

_ *well, some of it...

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[–] dmention7@midwest.social 1 point 6 months ago (1 child)

That's my setup almost exactly, with the addition of Lidarr to grab new music. It's been amazingly solid, no regerts!

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[–] djdarren@piefed.social 1 point 6 months ago

I might look into Lidarr. Currently, I have a folder in SymcThing that my server monitors, so any audio I drop in there automatically gets moved to my Navidrome folder. It works well enough, but is a little clunky.

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[–] adespoton@lemmy.ca 2 points 7 months ago (1 child)

Really? There’s something appealing to me about decoupling my cellular modem from my phone; I used an iPod Touch instead of a smartphone for years (with Wifi and VoIP).

At this point I have zero interest in a dedicated audio player.

And if I wanted one… my watch holds more MP3s than the original iPod did. I can just play music from my watch.

Or my graphing calculator.

Or, for that matter, my over the ear headphones which have a microSD slot.

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[–] caurvo@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 7 months ago

Yeah, that's totally fair. I prefer wired listening devices and want less "smart" things in my life. At the moment my music library is about 180GB so a bit much for the smaller available offline devices, and mostly FLAC so the DAC needs to be powerful enough. Absolutely a me problem, as I mentioned in another comment my hobby rabbit hole into audio makes the full decouple very appealing to me.

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[–] AceTKen@lemmy.ca 26 points 7 months ago (1 child)

Yes, but not one made by Apple.

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[–] ulkesh@piefed.social 14 points 7 months ago

Bring on the Zune!

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[–] sad_detective_man@sopuli.xyz 13 points 7 months ago

YES MORE PLASTIC BULLSHIT pleeeeeeaasse I need another tracking device that's already superceded by having a phone! and remember: no headphone jacks

[–] cybernihongo@reddthat.com 11 points 7 months ago (4 children)

Sorry but

Why would I need another iPod? My phone does everything the iPod did but better, and more. I've loaded it up with all my DRM-free MP3s from Google Play Music before that shut down, and I can watch whatever I want on it offline. Why buy what would certainly be an even more enshittifird iPhone with less features at Apple's totally sensible prices?

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[–] jnod4@lemmy.ca 4 points 7 months ago (3 children)

Does it do jack, sd card, and the ability to use it without being flooded by notifications, calls, alarms, reminders? In my case I just want to shut off the world and listen to music without having this addictive machine near me.

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[–] cybernihongo@reddthat.com 3 points 7 months ago*

Yeah I specifically picked a phone with a jack and SD card slot (iPods never supported these afaik). Do Not Disturb is also an Android feature, or airplane mode like the other reply said.

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[–] deliriousdreams@fedia.io 2 points 7 months ago (1 child)

You have the ability to turn on airplane mode or do not disturb, yes?

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[–] TehPers@beehaw.org 2 points 7 months ago

Could also buy a device and not connected it to a cellular network. I have old phones that would fill this role perfectly, actually.

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[–] luciole@beehaw.org 7 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Look. We already have a little computer in our pocket. Besides Apple can go fly a kite with their DRM audio files. Just let me own my phone.

EDIT: iTunes used to sell DRM music a long time ago and then I stopped paying attention. They're DRM free now, my bad.

[–] 01011@monero.town 2 points 6 months ago

Hiby, Shanling, Fiiio and Ibasso already make such devices. People who wanted to keep large libraries, use their favorite headphones never stopped using mp3 players/DAPs.

[–] liminis@beehaw.org 2 points 7 months ago

Eternally sad I can't sync my old iPod Classic from highschool with Apple Music. Maybe I need to go find out what replaced What.CD and work out a good storage solution once the current silliness over storage(/RAM) ends.

(On that, I bought a Samsung SATA SSD at the start of the year knowing things would get worse; lo-and-behold, three months later it's x4'd in retail price.)

[–] ComradeMiao@beehaw.org 1 point 7 months ago

While I like my iPods I think this trend is mostly found on YouTube, rarely irl. Maybe somewhat more popular in Japan too.

[–] djdarren@piefed.social 1 point 7 months ago

iPods are still out there, and you can still buy parts to mod them. Mod a 6th gen iPod Classic with 500gb of flash storage and a new battery, and you need never worry about another music player. You can even wedge bluetooth into them now. And a USB-C connector.