Dear iPod Classic 6th generation,
You’re the 2.5” screened light of my life. We’ve known each other for many years now, but your anodized aluminum is still so smooth, and your shape virtually unchanged. I can’t imagine what life would be like without your long-lasting battery life or even that click wheel that keeps on ticking. Unlike those other models, you’re just sensitive enough to get things right. My pockets were made to put you in them, and you hold with just the flick of a switch. A world where you aren’t around is unimaginable, but I’m afraid to say inevitable. Once you retire, that’s it. Kapoot. You are officially replaceable, and, well, discontinued.
As of September 9, 2014, the thirteen year reign of the iPod Classic has come to an end. The final product of it’s click wheel, and touch-screen-less kind to have graced the Apple brand with it’s steady presence is no longer being produced. In a world once inhabited by dinosaurs known as “walkmen”, the iPod Classic was a happy medium between simple design and being innovative enough to have achieved their full capacity. 36 hours of playback time allowed me to live my on-the-go life without the concern that I would run out of things to listen to, or have to manually enter what would be on the menu for this week every time I’d synch that bad boy up.
Apple is now dominated by the ever-changing iPod touches, nanos and shuffles. These products are all great, I’m sure, but they’re not for me. As soon as I unwrapped my Classic, there were sparks (not literal) and I knew that we were meant to be. The iPod Classic has been what I’ve always wanted in a device – no touch-screen, tons and tons and TONS of space (I don’t think I’ve ever filled half of the memory up), and being sturdy enough to endure years of use and ensure the attachment does not end in heartbreak. I mean, I’ve dropped this thing so. many. times.
My experiences with other Apple mp3 devices have all ended in disaster, one after the other. Every year I would become enamored with the newest, shiniest iPod nano, which completely distracted me from the fact that my previous nano had aged so much in just one year that I was ready for the new one anyway. This is problematic and smart as hell. Apple devices can maintain a healthy lifestyle just long enough to be replaced. Talk about commitment issues.
Dear iPod Classic, you’ve given me the best few years of my life. I know when it is your time to go things will never be the same again. Your legacy will be selling for hundreds of dollars on eBay, and withstanding the ebb and flow of time and changes in the world of technology for so long. The ever fragile touch-screens have shattered you, ironically. This is it, the bitter end.
Goodnight, sweet iPrince.
Featured image credited to Fe Ilya via Flickr creativecommons
