Pour one out, or better yet, weave in a French twist for the iconic iPod Shuffle. Once the world’s smallest digital music player, Apple’s iPod Shuffle has now been relegated to the tech giant’s growing scrap heap, officially joining countless other “outdated” equipment that will no longer receive service or support from the company.
The distinction should come as no surprise. The last iPod Shuffle was released in 2015 and Apple stopped selling it in 2017. Apple relegates most products to the discard pile after seven consistent years of support. This year, the entire iPhone 6 series will be added to the iPod shuffle. The Shuffle will soon be joined by the iPod touch 4th generation and iPod touch 6th generation, which are currently part of Apple’s Vintage group. They are no longer distributed, but still have some service and support from Apple.
Still, there was something special about the iPod Shuffle. When it arrived in 2006, it was a major redesign of the original Shuffle, itself a player the size of a gum pack that looked more like a lanyard than a digital device. The 2006 Shuffle was small (they never weighed more than a dozen ounces), rectangular (later a square), and could easily be hidden in the palm of your hand. Not only did it retain the 3.5mm headphone jack, but it cleverly made it dual function, coming with a dedicated dock that charged via that same port. Instead of a screen, the face still had the classic round iPod hardware controls. It even had a physical off switch!
What really set the player apart, however, was the full-body clip. This allows you to attach the iPod Shuffle to your shirt, jacket, backpack or bag. And since the player came in several attractive colors (blue, pink, red, gold…), you wanted to show it off.
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♬ original sound – Paris Campbell Grace
Although Apple sold the iPod Shuffle for nearly two decades, it, like the rest of the iPod line, was long ago eclipsed by the multi-function iPhone, which duplicated the iPod’s music function and, of course, added countless others.
In recent years, however, the iPod Shuffle has had a strange second act as a hair clip. Some claim it is in between Generation Z’s favorite hair accessories. It’s certainly popular on TikTok. Some even charge up the old portable digital players and find that they work like both have a hair clip And as a music player.
I can report that the second generation iPod Shuffle I dug out of a drawer still functions as a music player (glad I still have 3.5mm headphones) and when I connected it to my Macbook Air M3 using from the USB-based dock, Apple Music recognized it as my wife’s old iPod and showed me all the music she had stored on it. I wonder if I can add some more music and convince my wife to wear it as a new hair clip.
Probably not.