If you miss the good old days of the iPod, this nifty browser-based music player is a great way to relive those fond memories, while enjoying your thoroughly modern playlists from Spotify or Apple Music.
Software developer Tanner Villaret has recreated the iPod Classic as a web app, complete with the click wheel interface that allows you to scroll through your music.
- Read our iPod touch (7th generation) review
- Spotify vs Apple Music: which is best?
- The best portable music players of 2021
It's best used on your phone or tablet so you can use your finger to turn the click wheel, but you can use it on a desktop or laptop if you prefer. Be warned, though – trying to use the click wheel with a mouse or touchpad isn't the easiest endeavor.
To get started, you need to sign in to your Apple Music or Spotify account by scrolling to 'Sign In' at the bottom of the menu. Then, a selection of your most listened-to artists will appear on the virtual iPod, as well as some of your personal playlists.
It even comes with the iPod's built-in Brick Breaker game if you want to go on a real nostalgia trip.
Can you still buy an iPod?
Older iPod models are available to buy on Amazon, though these are renewed or refurbished models.
If you want something a little more modern, Apple released a new iPod in 2019. The iPod touch (7th generation) was the first upgrade to its portable music player since 2015, and came with “enhancements to power, capability, and communication”, with a focus on gaming – which makes sense, as it was released around the same time as Apple's gaming service, Apple Arcade.
The 7th-gen iPod touch looked and operated much like an iPhone, albeit without the capacity for mobile data, which begs the question: who would buy an iPhone that can't make calls in this day and age, when music streaming via your smartphone is so easy?
Parents, for one. Without mobile data, parents don’t have to worry about kids downloading games over a mobile network and gobbling up expensive data plans with a few swipes, and limiting Wi-Fi access is much easier.
Plus, for parents concerned about exposing their kids to the potential hazards of the online world, the iPod touch could represent an attractive middle ground between regular ‘dumb’ phones and a fully connected iPhone.
Apparently, there's a new iPod model on the way this year, too. That's according to MacRumors contributor @SteveMoser and tipster @AppleLe257 on Twitter, although they're keen to label this as a 'rumor' rather than a 'leak' – so it sounds like it's something that's been heard in passing from inside sources, rather than something there is hard evidence for.
There are a couple of reasons we're inclined to believe it: number one, Apple's recent announcement of a lossless upgrade for Apple Music, and number two, it's the 20th anniversary of the original iPod this year.
We're also waiting for the long-rumored Apple AirPods 3. Could Apple announced the new AirPods alongside an upgraded iPod later this year, perhaps to coincide with the expected release of the iPhone 13 in September?
Only time will tell, but for now, this cool web app will remind you why the iPod was so popular in the first place.
Via The Verge
