The iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle have played their swan songs, though they weren't afforded a farewell rock-out session with a dancing silhouette. TechCrunch confirmed that Apple is discontinuing the two personal music players, making the iPod Touch the only remaining iPod product for sale. If you try to go buy one online now, and you'll be redirected to the Apple Music site.
Apple released the Nano and Shuffle in 2005, four years after the original iPod hit the market (the Classic was discontinued in 2014). 2005 was a major year for music: It brought us singles like "Gold Digger," "Candy Shop," "Lose Control," "We Belong Together," "My Humps," and "Speed of Sound." It was also the year that Rihanna hit the charts — and the world's radar — with her first album, Music of the Sun. Soon after, Umbrella, ella, ella, was echoing in your ears.
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The iPod Nano and Shuffle were for all those hits, and to pump it into your head via earbuds. As many have pointed out, the fact that the devices would be discontinued has been a long time coming. Apple hasn't been updating either with the frequency it has with its other products, which is always a warning sign of imminent extinction. Plus, the company has made a hard sell for converting users into Apple Music subscribers on iPhones, which competes with Spotify and Pandora for the top streaming service. (The Nano and Shuffle only had access to iTunes, and not Apple Music.)
When you consider that music eats up a huge chunk of storage space on your iPhone, there is some appeal to having it on a separate device. However, the easier go-to for many people is to keep everything on just one device, ensuring that you can multitask, listening to the latest hit while shooting off texts and answering emails.
But it is sad to say goodbye to a device that almost had a comeback. That might be a stretch, but the recent summer Blockbuster Baby Driver miraculously made iPods relevant again (even if just for the current cultural moment) thanks to the title character's affinity for them.
At the very least, we'll still have the iPod Touch. If you are looking for a device that's closer in size to the Nano, consider Spotify's Mighty, a tiny, clip-on player that holds over 1,000 songs and doesn't require your phone to stream.
Don't be took quick to get rid of your Nano or Shuffle, though. The devices are already going for hundreds of dollars on eBay and will likely be worth much more — as they become collector's items — in the coming years.