After all, what's more retro-futuristic than pairing a 2007-vintage iPod to the latest Apple AirPods? Although it’s possible to plug an off-the-shelf Bluetooth transmitter into the iPod’s headphone jack or 30-pin port, modders were hungry for an elegant, internal solution that didn't require soldering a bundle of tiny wires. If there was a white whale for the iPod modding community, it would have to be Bluetooth. Groups of hardware modders are adding things like Bluetooth capability, Taptic Engine feedback, custom colored cases, and terabytes of silent, power-sipping flash storage to their iPods, bringing the device fully into the 2020s-all without Apple's blessing. Fans of the iPod, on the other hand, have been growing in number as vintage players are dusted off, repaired, and upgraded with new parts. Six years later, in 2021, Apple let the 20th anniversary of the iPod pass as quietly as it had let the iPod Classic fade into obscurity.
Clearly, some people were not ready to face up to a future that felt inevitable: a move away from vast collections of MP3 files stored on dedicated music players and toward a world of streaming music delivered over the air for a $10 monthly fee. Soon thereafter, reports circulated that new-in-box models of the last iPod bearing that original design-then called the "iPod Classic"-were selling on internet auction sites for at least double the retail price.
The pocket-sized device with the click wheel and a small color display simply disappeared from Apple's online storefront just as the products that were announced that day-the Apple Watch and the iPhone 6-were being added.
After almost 13 years on the market, the iconic portable music player was retired without fanfare. On Tuesday, September 9, 2014, Apple finally killed off the iPod.
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