We Don’t Need These Stinkin’ iPods Anymore [Apple]

Tomorrow Apple will hold their annual fall event and Steve Jobs will introduce the newest and greatest iPods to the realm. But as smartphones become increasingly adept at playing music, it’s essential to wonder: Why bother with iPods at all?

When the first iPod was introduced in October of 2001, I was listening to my fledgling collection of MP3s in Winamp on a junky Windows laptop. But that didn’t stop me from buying an iPod. The postulate of porting all my music around from place to position, contained cozily in its little white pod, seemed futuristic and awesome. Sure, there were other MP3 players available at that point. And certain, transferring MP3s to and fro with the janky, unofficial Windows software that quickly emerged was a pain, but I was immediately sold on the belief of not just portable music but a conveyable library of music, one who i’ll keep in my pocket wherever I went.

The family grew. There were Minis and then Nanos and Shuffles and Touches. But as gadget-lovers’ (and then just regular old people’s) MP3 collections swelled, smartphones became increasingly capable of playing audio files. The multimedia-friendly smartphone set plays MP3s in their sleep. And with the most recent release of Blackberry 6, RIM showed its understanding that even a business-centric device had to be a complicated music player in addition.

And if everyone’s phone plays MP3s painlessly, why would we would like to fill our pockets with another device dedicated to the task. There are some members of the iPod family that are supposed to, and should, survive: the iPod Touch is a big pocket computer, especially for those that don’t have an iPhone because they have to be capable of make calls. (How quaint!). And adding Facetime and/or photo and video capabilities would only solidify its status as an uber-gadget.

Our workout obsession carves out the alternative iPod niche: one for a small, durable music gizmo that you should tuck in an armband and submerge in sweat without thinking twice. But outside of those two devices-the do-everything app-machine Touch and the joggers-best-friend Shuffle-the iPod’s world is shrinking. Fast.

The 1.7″ touchscreen iPod which will likely be announced tomorrow, whether it’s a souped-up Shuffle or a shrunken-down Nano, will serve up soundtracks for everyone’s self-flagellating workouts. The Facetime-enhanced Touch we’re all expecting will continue to distance itself from anything resembling a trifling iPod. Everything else-the hold-everything iPods that don’t do hundreds besides playing music-can and will go the manner of the Dodo.

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This post is tagged: anymore, Apple, iPods, need, stinkin