Audio nostalgia is a thing right now, and it’s not just wired earbuds enjoying all of the shine. A yearning for wired audio is bringing its good friend along for the ride: the king of all things MP3. The one, the only, the iPod.
That’s right, the iPod is f*cking back. Not in an official sense, of course—it was discontinued officially in 2022—but it’s back in a very unofficial capacity. By nostalgia’s standards, the iPod is relevant once more, and you’ve probably got your phone (or the icky apps in it) to thank for that.
Okay, but how “back” is it?
The iPod is pretty back, to be honest. As the AP notes, secondhand sites like eBay are basically loaded with listings for used iPods, and on a more empirical level, Back Market, which also sells used and refurbished electronics, tells the AP that used iPod sales jumped 48% since 2024.
Anecdotally, I’ve been seeing the iPod everywhere, not just in a literal sense, but in a spiritual one. As I’ve written about before, digital audio players (DAPs) are seemingly a real category again, and new DAPs come in all shapes and sizes. There are DAPs shaped like cassette players, big utilitarian rectangles, and tiny little MP3-playing hunks of plastic. None of them has the iPod’s iconic click wheel, of course, but the spirit that the iPod helped popularize is still there. It’s a dedicated device that carries your music and almost nothing more.
On a more iPod-specific note, there are also people trying to replicate the iPod experience on your phone, like this guy building an iPod maker. Or how about people marrying AirPods Max with an iPod—wires and all. It’s even inspiring new products, like this upcoming AI gadget from two ex-Apple employees who tell Wired that the iPod Shuffle was a big inspiration design-wise. Those are all just window dressing, though, compared to the loads of people who actually bother to refurbish iPods, whether for personal use, resale, or because they’re nostalgic about the days when you could walk around listening to music without your phone delivering stress-inducing emails.
None of this interest in iPods is brand new, by any means—people have been modding iPods or selling them secondhand for a while now, but it feels as though it’s reached a tipping point. It’s hard to pinpoint why exactly iPods feel more relevant than ever, but nostalgia doesn’t quite cover it.
There’s also the Spotify of it all.
Remember owning stuff?
There’s no denying that nostalgia is a driving force in the iPod’s renewed relevance. Gen Z in particular has zeroed in on the early-2000s for inspiration, whether in fashion or tech, and there’s not a more iconic gadget from the early aughts than the iPod.
According to Anshel Sag, a tech analyst for Moor Insights & Strategy, renewed interest in the iPod has been a long time coming. For one, Sag says there’s a resurgence in interest in wired earbuds, specifically EarPods, Apple’s wired earbuds that predate AirPods. Not only are they cheap, but they also deliver much higher fidelity than lots of wireless earbuds you can buy, even in the midrange.
Then there’s the comeback of formats like vinyl and CDs, which have helped to create more interest in the idea of owning music as opposed to just borrowing it through a streaming service. Owning things! Remember that?
It’s that last part, streaming, that feels particularly potent, though. As convenient as streaming music is, people have felt the slow creep of subscriptions on their wallets, and Spotify is a part of that. In January, Spotify raised its prices once again, this time reaching $13 a month. For context, in 2023, subscription fees rose from $9.99 to $10.99, and again in 2024 from $10.99 to $11.99. Apple Music is more affordable, but not by much at $11 per month.
It’s been a slow turn of the dial, but coupled with the weight of other streaming services, the burden is palpable. And how does one deal with that burden? By opting out, of course.
“I think people are evaluating all their streaming services, whether it’s music or TV or movies…because the price has ballooned,” Sag told Gizmodo. “Every time a service goes up in price, they become hyperaware of all the streaming services they’re paying for, and that includes music.
Sag also says that the younger generation is also more aware of how artists make money and how much of a cut they get from streaming services. “They might not want to actually pay for the streaming service because they don’t think the artists are getting what they deserve and might otherwise just pay for the music directly from the artist and put it on their iPod, or whatever their choice of music player is.”
As others have covered, it’s impossible to discount the ripple effects from the backlash against phones when it comes to nostalgic gadgets like iPods. There’s a yearning for phone-free experiences, and iPods deliver that. Sag notes that there’s also independence with gadgets like iPods or CDs and vinyl that appeals to those (particularly Gen Z) who feel bereft of things to hold onto.
“There’s a demand for something that isn’t tied to a streaming connection that always sounds good, no matter where you are—and you’re in control of the experience,” Sag says. “And that’s why I think stuff like iPods is having a bit of a comeback.”
Mostly, it’s what Sag calls “a perfect storm.” There’s no one answer to why iPods are back, and whether our love of them ever left is debatable, but somehow they do feel magnetic again. We’ll probably not live to see the day when new iPods exist, getting churned out of Foxconn like the next iPhone, but that’s for the best. They’d probably just have Apple Music on them anyway.
