Gen Z is Reviving the iPod, Rejecting Modern Tech for Nostalgia

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As technology continues to protrude uncomfortably into more of our lives, some younger folks are pretty much over it. It's not just generative artificial intelligence, which Gen Z is slowly souring on, but current technology as a whole. The younger generation isn't ditching tech entirely, but they're rolling things back to the late 2000s. Yes, while those who lived through that period will primarily remember the horrors of the financial crisis, it seems today's youths have decided we were also living through the era of peak gadgets. Case in point? The iPod is making a comeback.

Apple hasn't released a new iPod since 2019, when it launched the final version of the iPod Touch. The iPhone had by that point swallowed the iPod along with many other standalone gadgets, obviating the need for what had previously been the company's largest moneymaker. But now, old iPods are in high demand with the youth. In February, Axios reported that eBay searches were up for the iPod Classic and iPod Nano by 25% and 20%, respectively. While a large portion of iPod buyers are older, 32% of respondents to an informal survey by Emily White, a plurality, were Gen Z.

The iPod was once an object of cultural homogeneity. It was the epitome of cool, so embedded in the public consciousness that its advertisements often showed nothing more than a dancing silhouette with telltale white earbud wires flailing in the air. How ironic, then, that the same gadget which once identified its owners as a part of the dominant zeitgeist now signals the exact opposite, a type of retrograde iconoclasm defined by its rejection of the latest iPhone. Why not buy an old Zune, wayward youths? Now that would be truly countercultural.

The trend toward tech gadgets from two decades ago appears driven primarily by exhaustion with the current state of technology. That exhaustion cuts across generations, but Gen Z was not able to experience the early days of the PC and Internet. That generation of young people, the oldest of whom are on the cusp of their thirtieth birthday and the youngest of whom are just starting high school, have seen only a precipitous and ongoing decline in digital privacy and the relentless enshittification of once useful products and platforms.

Emily White's survey found that Gen Z was driving the resurgence in iPod ownership, motivated primarily by a desire to minimize distractions, listen to music more intentionally, and to assert ownership over their music and listening experience. There's a lot to be said for those desires. Are you truly taking in an album if your phone's notifications are interrupting it interstitially, distracting you with emails and social media drama? And, as for ownership, we've seen music streaming services shuttered before (RIP Google Play Music). If Spotify were to delete your account tomorrow without giving you your playlist data, how would you even begin to rebuild your music collection?

Those who lived through the iPod's heyday may remember the holdouts who continued to collect vinyl and CDs while the rest of us loaded our digital media players with more music than they could fit in their entire homes. In many ways, though, those stalwarts had a point. How many among us have managed to lose our old music files, whether due to forgetfulness or to a corrupted hard drive? Today's iPod nostalgics may well be to the streaming era what those vinyl collectors were to early digital adopters.

What's clear about iPod adopters, young or old, is that they're generally not audiophiles. There are plenty of modern devices which cater to Hi-Fi heads with niche features while also supporting Hi-Fi streaming services like Apple Music, Tidal, and Qobuz. An old iPod, however well preserved since the mid-2000s, is less capable than you might think. In addition to lacking support for high-resolution audio formats, it may have experienced internal component degradation over the years which could affect sound quality. Moreover, syncing an iPod is no longer a convenient, plug-and-play affair. With iTunes dead and buried, iPod owners must now turn to independently developed software. There's a time-consuming DIY element to contemporary iPod ownership.

Unless what you're after is a dose of blog-era nostalgia you can't get from any other media player, it's worth looking outside Apple's ecosystem. iPod Classic models are selling for up to $300 on eBay at press time, which is a lot of money considering you'll miss out on modern conveniences like Bluetooth connectivity and support for high-resolution audio. Modern digital audio players (DAPs) from companies like Sony, Fiio and HiBy are built from the ground up for an audiophile-grade listening experience. They bridge the gap between the iPod and iPhone eras by running custom Android versions packed with under-the-hood system tweaks and user-facing software to prioritize and customize sound quality.

Granted, these newer devices can bleed your wallet at the high end, commanding multi-thousand-dollar price tags, but there are plenty of options at every price point. For $320, you can pick up the HiBy Digital M500 X Hatsune Miku, a device themed around the titular virtual pop star and stuffed with enthusiast audio features. It also has an array of physical buttons along the side, reminiscent of an old, Walkman-style cassette player. Speaking of which, those looking to go even cheaper can take a gander at the wonderfully chintzy Fiio SnowKky Echo Mini, which is even more Walkman-inspired and packs a lot of value for $60 despite missing out on some enthusiast features. Splitting the difference are products like the Fiio JadeAudio JM21, which, at $180, impresses even the notoriously hard to please Hi-Fi community by including features like a balanced 4.4mm TRS output alongside the classic 3.5mm headphone jack.