I jumped on the iPod bandwagon early and rode that baby all the way to the end of the line, and it was a sweet ride. The iPod revolutionized the personal music player market. No more big devices to carry around, and more importantly, your portable music library was no longer limited to the number of cassettes or CD's you could lug around with you. Your whole music library, available all the time, right in the palm of your hand. Heady stuff, Jetson-esque stuff, and it still is. Digital data opened up a whole new world for us. Then the iPhone came along, a natural progression, and eventually phased out the iPod completely.
There's still a need for them, though. I love my iPhone, but it's not the right tool for every situation. If I'm going to be anywhere near whirling blades or water hazards, I don't want my iPhone in the vicinity. I also don't want to be constantly draining its battery; I want it charged and ready for when I need it. My iPod Nano is my go-to device for things like yard work, or long walks off a short pier. It's small, sleek, and functional. No dial tone, no annoying spam, no data stealing apps, just a good standalone music player, cuz sometimes that's all you need.
Apple had really hit the sweet spot with the Nano, and the 7th gen was their best device in my opinion, from both a size and functionality standpoint. It has Bluetooth, an FM tuner, a moderate amount of storage, and relatively little else, but it does the trick. If Apple built a new model based off of the 7th gen design with a beefed-up storage capacity, say 64 or 128GB, I'd be first in line to buy one. I'd even grudgingly accept Wi-Fi for ease of syncing, just as long as it didn't increase the size and battery drain by too much and they limit the apps that run on it. No mail, no texts, I want none of it. I'm sure they'd wedge their Apple Music streaming app on there, it's not something I need or want, but I could live with it as well.
I know there are other DAP's (Digital Audio Players) out there on the market, some with incredible specs like the high end A&K's and the Sony's, but they're all very pricey and Android based, and would entail duplicating my iTunes library or just outright converting my iTunes library into an app that works for both Apple and Android devices, but that's a hassle and entails subscription costs. My library is huge at this point with extensive playlists, so that ship has sailed for me. I'm pretty much locked into the iTunes world, warts and all, but I'm okay with that; it's free, familiar and relatively uncomplicated.
Uncomplicated, that pretty much sums up this whole argument. These days people are craving a "do not disturb" kind of device, it's not just nostalgia. There's most definitely a large market for it, and a new iPod is just the ticket. So, give us a new iPod, Apple, I'm begging you. My batteries are slowly giving up the ghost, its time, so let's get cracking.
