Apple kills off the iPod Nano and Shuffle, just as nostalgia for the original peaks

Remember iPods? The coolest tech device until the iPhone make it almost completely obsolete?

The original music storage device has been in the public eye a lot lately, thanks to the hit film “Baby Driver,” in which the main character, a getaway driver, uses the old-fashioned players to listen to music, instead of now-ubiquitous streaming platforms.

The New York Times, The Ringer, Engadget, Polygon and The Current have all written stories in past month about iPod nostalgia, and the director of “Baby Driver,” Edgar Wright, inspired plenty of social media users to reveal that they still use the now-chunky looking devices.

But nostalgia doesn’t equal financial viability, and the number of iPod devices that Apple manufacters has been steadily reduced over the years, taking a significant hit Thursday.

According to Business Insider, Apple will no longer produce the iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle, the only two versions left of the iPod that don’t support Bluetooth or Apple Music, Apple’s own streaming service.

That leaves the iPod Touch, essentially an iPhone without cellular service, as the only remaining model of iPod.

“Today, we are simplifying our iPod lineup with two models of iPod Touch now with double the capacity starting at just $199 and we are discontinuing the iPod Shuffle and iPod Nano,” Apple said in a statement Thursday, per USA Today.

The move has long been expected, as no iPod model has been updated since 2015, and streaming is widely considered the future of the music industry, regardless of one movie’s popularity.

Still, fans took a brief moment to mourn the loss, however inevitable, on social media Thursday.

This story was originally published July 27, 2017 at 3:39 PM with the headline "Apple kills off the iPod Nano and Shuffle, just as nostalgia for the original peaks."