<div>The death knell was all but being sounded for Apple’s iconic music player, the iPod. Its journey began in October 2001, when it was a little hard disk with a huge dial, a bit of a screen and anything from 16 to 64GB of space for what was then referred to as your entire music collection.</div><div> </div><div>It was heavyish, but users loved it and coveted it much as they do the iPhone today. The iPod evolved, shed the hard disk to move to flash storage, and became sleeker and thinner. It also got a touch screen. It obliterated the MP3 player market for everyone else, who was promptly forgotten.</div><div> </div><div>As the iPhone came along, some versions of the full iPod Touch began to look rather like the small brother of the iPhone. And it with music and photos that users began to fill up the iPhone. In time it seemed one of these devices was on the way to redundancy, and it certainly wasn’t the iPhone. Apple made tiny clip-on versions of the iPod and offered users a bevy of choice on how they could carry their music around. Still, iPod sales aren’t in the league of the iPhone – and may never be.</div><div> </div><div>All the same, with Apple Music, the company’s new music service offerings, having launched recently, it’s true that increased music listening and streaming will take its toll on the battery. So, why not refresh the iPod and give it a new lease of life.</div><div> </div><div>And that’s exactly what Apple has just done. As of today, the full new iPod is pretty much an iPhone without the phone – though you can explore a number of internet calling apps. The new iPod now has an 8 megapixel main camera and a 5 megapixel rear one. Considering it’s what the iPhones have, a user can look forward to some pretty good photography with that music player. The camera has an f2.4 aperture and even does slow motion video. Other specs have been refreshed too.</div><div> </div><div>There’s a 64-bit A8 processor – like the iPhone. So, one can take photographs, track fitness, use all the apps sitting on the newest version of iOS and access the new music services. The prices are:</div><div>Rs 18,900 for 16GB</div><div>Rs 22,900 for 32GB</div><div>Rs 26,900 for 64GB</div><div> </div><div>All these are a fraction of the cost of an iPhone in its latest version – and yet you get the iPhone experience. Minus the calling, of course. Sales will show what happens with the iPod family. But what’s your opinion? Should Apple have given up on iPods already?</div>
 (1)_20241001214828_original_image_25.webp)
