Remember the iPod? It\u2019s making a quiet comeback.<\/p>\n
Four years after Apple<\/a> killed off its digital music player, secondhand sales are surging. It\u2019s fueled in part by young people interested not just in its retro looks but a desire to listen to music in a focused way and with playlists not determined by algorithms.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a growing trend, particularly amongst younger users, to mitigate the ease with which they can be distracted by smartphones, often driven by mental health and well-being concerns,\u201d said Ben Wood, chief analyst at CCS Insight. \u201cHaving a dedicated music device, such as an iPod, is a good way to reduce your dependence on a smartphone and avoid being drawn into other activities, like doomscrolling through social media feeds, when you only really want to listen to music.\u201d<\/p>\n If you\u2019re interested in joining the iPod revival, here are some pointers:<\/p>\n How to get an iPod<\/p>\n You can\u2019t buy a new iPod<\/a> anymore but it\u2019s not too hard to get your hands on a used one. There are still a lot of them around because Apple sold 450 million<\/a> over two decades.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a thriving secondhand market, as evidenced by thousands of listings for used iPods on eBay. \u201cBased on my discussions with people in the market, there has definitely been renewed interest in refurbished iPods,\u201d said Wood. <\/p>\n But watch out, because eBay, strangely, also has thousands of listings for new iPods. On closer inspection, they\u2019re from China-based sellers and some buyers have left feedback complaining they received a used or refurbished device in counterfeit packaging. <\/p>\n Facebook Marketplace, peer-to-peer reselling site Mercari and refurbished electronics platform Back Market also have plenty of listings. Back Market, which operates in the U.S., Japan and more than a dozen European countries, said iPod sales last year jumped 48% from 2024.<\/p>\n This article is part of AP\u2019s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health. Read more Be Well.<\/a><\/p>\n There are also businesses dedicated to selling refurbished iPods.<\/p>\n And there\u2019s a chance someone you know has one gathering dust in a drawer somewhere. My 16-year-old daughter recently discovered her grandmother\u2019s silver iPod Nano, complete with original charging cable and white earphones, in a guest room nightstand during a recent visit. <\/p>\n For support, there\u2019s a vibrant online community of users swapping tips and sharing pictures of their devices, many with aftermarket modifications like faceplates in non-original colors. <\/p>\n Which iPod is it? <\/p>\n There\u2019s not just one single style of iPod. <\/p>\n The original iPod, released in 2001, came with a scroll wheel that became a design signature. When the sixth generation was released, Apple started calling it the Classic.<\/p>\n It was followed by the smaller Mini and Nano versions, and the Shuffle, which had no screen. Then came the Touch, which had a glass touch screen and ran on iOS to support mobile apps \u2014 basically an iPhone without the phone. <\/p>\n If you\u2019re not sure which model you have, check Apple\u2019s identification page<\/a>. <\/p>\n Bringing it back to life<\/p>\n So you\u2019ve found grandma\u2019s old iPod, but does it work? The battery could be dead so you will need a charging cable. <\/p>\n Later generations of the iPod Touch used Apple\u2019s Lightning cable but all other models require a 30-pin charging cable, which has a distinctive wide, flat plug. Apple doesn\u2019t make these anymore but replacements are available from aftermarket manufacturers.<\/p>\n If charging doesn\u2019t revive it, the battery might need replacing. Or maybe there\u2019s something else wrong, like a broken earphone jack or a damaged display. Apple still repairs<\/a> iPods, but only for the two final generations of the Touch. <\/p>\n You can send it to a repair service or fix it yourself if you\u2019re feeling handy. Repair website iFixit has detailed step-by-step repair guides for replacing various components. You\u2019ll need to source spare parts yourself. <\/p>\n IPod Touch owners should beware of software limitations. The most recent version of Apple\u2019s operating system that will work on the seventh generation iPod Touch \u2014 the last version ever sold \u2014 is iOS 15, and previous models are limited to even older versions. <\/p>\n This is not an issue with other iPod variants because they don\u2019t run iOS.<\/p>\n Adding music <\/p>\n Grandma\u2019s silver iPod Nano appeared to be working fine, but I decided to start fresh by doing a factory reset to wipe the audio files left on it and restore the original settings. You\u2019ll need a computer, either a Mac or Windows, to do this. Apple has a page<\/a> that outlines the steps. <\/p>\n Those of you with Windows computers can use Apple\u2019s iTunes program to manage your iPod and sync up your song library. To add digital music files from your computer, drag the files into iTunes and drop them in the iPod\u2019s music library. To add a song that you\u2019ve bought previously in iTunes, download it first to your computer, right click on it and select \u201cAdd to Device.\u201d <\/p>\n Apple discontinued iTunes for MacOS in 2019 so Mac computer users will have to use Apple Music, but it\u2019s an equally easy process of dragging and dropping files.<\/p>\n Take note, Apple Music subscribers: you should be able to stream music on later generations of the iPod Touch. But for every other type of iPod, you\u2019ll only be able to add and listen to music files ripped from a CD or purchased from a digital music platform. <\/p>\n Upgrading the software<\/p>\n Most iPods are pretty basic, in part because they\u2019re limited by the device\u2019s onboard firmware.<\/p>\n But part of the iPod\u2019s appeal is that it\u2019s easy for hobbyists to tinker with them, said Wood. <\/p>\n \u201cThere is definitely a movement of people looking to take iPods and modify them for modern use,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n One popular hack is replacing the iPod\u2019s firmware with open-source software such as RockBox, which can be used \u201cto upgrade an iPod to offer greater control and add features that Apple had not included or did not exist at the time,\u201d Wood said. <\/p>\n This includes support for high-resolution lossless music files, the ability to manage music without iTunes, and tracking what you\u2019ve been listening to so you can upload your playlist to a platform such as Last.fm, Wood said.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n