The original iPod is back — at least in your web browser. The company snuck an interactive recreation of its iconic music player into the Apple Music website, giving fans a nostalgic way to revisit the device that helped transform how the world listened to music.
Friday, October 23, is the 25th anniversary of Steve Jobs unveiling the original device. Giving music fans a way to relive 2001 is Apple’s way of honoring the product’s birthday.
The iPod is back for its 25th anniversary… sort of
The first iPod promised a device that could put 1,000 songs in your pocket. At the time, digital music players were not new but far from mainstream. Apple changed that.
The iPod became ubiquitous thanks to compact hardware, easy-to-use software and tight integration with the Mac and iTunes. Soon, carrying a personal music collection became an everyday habit.
A full 25 years later, the iPod has been supplanted by the iPhone. But now it’s back on Apple’s website in virtual form.
It’s slightly hidden, though. Finding it requires typing in a music.apple.com URL that doesn’t actually exist. For example, put in music.apple.com/iPod25th (which I just made up) into a web browser. The resulting page says “Looking for something? Give this a spin instead” and shows the virtual device.
An overdose of 2001 nostalgia
Apple’s virtual music player recreates the first-generation iPod Classic’s white front, monochrome display and mechanical scroll wheel, along with a collection of songs that recall the early 2000s.
It lets visitors navigate menus, browse songs and use the familiar click wheel to move through the interface.
The web-based recreation comes loaded with music from artists including Coldplay, Britney Spears, Daft Punk, Eminem and Alicia Keys. Selecting a song lets you listen to a short preview, not the whole track.
A classic iPod Easter egg!
But there is a hidden bonus for anyone willing to explore the menus: the classic Brick game, a Breakout-style title that appeared as an Easter egg on the original iPod Classic.
To find it on the virtual music player, navigate to Settings, open About and hold the center button for several seconds.
Not the iPod 25th anniversary some were hoping for
Many Apple fans hoped this milestone iPod anniversary would bring more than a trip down memory lane. Apple could have marked the occasion with an updated version of its iconic music player with modern hardware and streaming music capabilities.
A dedicated music player could appeal to people who want to listen without the distractions of an iPhone, while tapping into nostalgia for a device that helped reshape the music industry.
Instead, Apple opted for a virtual recreation of the original iPod Classic, offering a fun reminder of the player’s legacy but no new hardware for fans to buy. Seems we’ll have to settle for updating our old models.
Ed Hardy has been writing full-time about tech for 26 years, and using it for much longer than that. His intro to Apple was a Macintosh SE/30 (which he still has), but now he uses a 13-inch iPad Pro as his primary computer.
That’s because he’s a “tablet first” type of guy. Rather than use a Macbook, he connects a keyboard case to the iPad. And instead of a desktop Mac, he connects his tablet to a 27-inch display and full-size keyboard. (So don’t try to tell him that everyone has to use a Mac to be productive.)
Before coming to Cult of Mac, Ed wrote for NotebookReview, TabletPCReview and Brighthand, as well as other sites.
