I daily drive an iPod (currently listening to it on a flight). Some benefits:
- Listening to music doesn't drain your phone. Also it's offline, which is a bonus for hiking/biking/flights.
- Underrated convo starter. Set one down on a bar top as you sit down and i promise you'll be talking to everyone around you
- The battery life is unmatched, including by modern DAP's. Mine is running a stock battery (still!) and gets days of playback. Weeks/months when idle (use it too much to know for sure).
- iFlash [1] has replacement boards for $30-$40 that let you use modern nvme storage over spinning media. Simple swap and has been rock solid for me for years.
- Audio quality over 3.5mm aux ports is noticeably superior to bluetooth in most (older?) cars
Would they take off today? I think there could be a retro-y scene for them, especially if they had any wifi connectivity. The device remains one of the best purpose-built consumer devices, and that's hard not to appreciate. My 10yr old daughter thinks it's less cool than i do, though.
1. https://www.iflash.xyz/
- Listening to music doesn't drain your phone. Also it's offline, which is a bonus for hiking/biking/flights.
- Underrated convo starter. Set one down on a bar top as you sit down and i promise you'll be talking to everyone around you
- The battery life is unmatched, including by modern DAP's. Mine is running a stock battery (still!) and gets days of playback. Weeks/months when idle (use it too much to know for sure).
- iFlash [1] has replacement boards for $30-$40 that let you use modern nvme storage over spinning media. Simple swap and has been rock solid for me for years.
- Audio quality over 3.5mm aux ports is noticeably superior to bluetooth in most (older?) cars
Would they take off today? I think there could be a retro-y scene for them, especially if they had any wifi connectivity. The device remains one of the best purpose-built consumer devices, and that's hard not to appreciate. My 10yr old daughter thinks it's less cool than i do, though.
1. https://www.iflash.xyz/