4 ms·

Ah, the last device to allow me to listen to terrestrial radio and MP3s without using data or my limited phone battery is now gone. I know, who still does that

Ah, the last device to allow me to listen to terrestrial radio and MP3s without using data or my limited phone battery is now gone. I know, who still does that? Well, actually many of us in the NYC area who listen to NPR in the morning... because the data drops out and our phone batteries are dead from the frantic early morning emails we all do. Sure, we all love our spotify downloads and our podcasts, but the MP3s I've collected, and the simple OTA radio just worked, in many places were data didn't. And I'm even sadder that they never went to digital or "HD" radio. Sometimes we think we are so clever with our streaming stuff, when we are literally suffering with a crummmy stream when we could just get it free OTA. Compressed, staticky, and annoying, sure, but free! So RIP, my iPod friends. From hard drives to SSD, you faithfully carried books and music for me across the world and at every hour of the day, something I can't say of my phones, and you did it well.

claudiulodro 9y ago
This seems a little dramatic. I mean you can still choose from dozens of other mp3 players. On the low end this is 14 bucks and seems to meet your needs: http://www.tmart.com/8GB-MP3-Player-with-FM-Function-Red_p139437.html http://www.tmart.com/8GB-MP3-Player-with-FM-Function-Red_p13... On the higher end the Sony Walkman is now an mp3 player: https://www.sony.com/electronics/walkman-digital-music-players/t/walkman https://www.sony.com/electronics/walkman-digital-music-playe... It's probably not worth Apple's time to focus on such a niche market, but there are still plenty of other players in the space.
- userbinator 9y ago
  On the low end this is 14 bucks and seems to meet your needs FYI that is an S1, a design that has amazingly been in production for over a decade: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S1_MP3_player https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S1_MP3_player Seeing those brings back some good memories for me... and they're still being sold! I don't think any other chaep consumer electronics has remained in production for this long. They take a single (replaceable) AAA battery and don't require any special software, just USB mass storage.
- sampo 9y ago
  > On the low end this is 14 bucks The same model is under $4 in AliExpress.
khedoros1 9y ago
The Sandisk Clip line of players do that. So do models from a lot of other brands.
- StreakyCobra 9y ago
  Indeed. I recently looked for an MP3 player for trail running. My sister has an iPod nano that I liked for having tried it a few times, but when I saw the price it was a no go, especially when I saw that I can get the same functionality for 1/3 of the price. I got an Sandisk Clip Sport Plus: 16Gb, Bluetooth, 3.5 Jack, FM tuner, micro-USB, ~20h battery, FLAC support, water-resistant. Don't expect the same product quality as the nano though (plastic case, no touchscreen, smaller screen, etc…) but at least for sport you don't need this anyway.
  - khedoros1 9y ago
    I have a simpler model; no bluetooth or color screen, but it has a microSD card slot. 4GB base memory, with a 16GB card in it. I think it was about $20 when I bought it years ago, and it's still going.

claudiulodro 9y ago

This seems a little dramatic. I mean you can still choose from dozens of other mp3 players. On the low end this is 14 bucks and seems to meet your needs: http://www.tmart.com/8GB-MP3-Player-with-FM-Function-Red_p139437.html http://www.tmart.com/8GB-MP3-Player-with-FM-Function-Red_p13... On the higher end the Sony Walkman is now an mp3 player: https://www.sony.com/electronics/walkman-digital-music-players/t/walkman https://www.sony.com/electronics/walkman-digital-music-playe... It's probably not worth Apple's time to focus on such a niche market, but there are still plenty of other players in the space.

userbinator 9y ago
On the low end this is 14 bucks and seems to meet your needs FYI that is an S1, a design that has amazingly been in production for over a decade: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S1_MP3_player https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S1_MP3_player Seeing those brings back some good memories for me... and they're still being sold! I don't think any other chaep consumer electronics has remained in production for this long. They take a single (replaceable) AAA battery and don't require any special software, just USB mass storage.
sampo 9y ago
> On the low end this is 14 bucks The same model is under $4 in AliExpress.

khedoros1 9y ago

The Sandisk Clip line of players do that. So do models from a lot of other brands.

StreakyCobra 9y ago
Indeed. I recently looked for an MP3 player for trail running. My sister has an iPod nano that I liked for having tried it a few times, but when I saw the price it was a no go, especially when I saw that I can get the same functionality for 1/3 of the price. I got an Sandisk Clip Sport Plus: 16Gb, Bluetooth, 3.5 Jack, FM tuner, micro-USB, ~20h battery, FLAC support, water-resistant. Don't expect the same product quality as the nano though (plastic case, no touchscreen, smaller screen, etc…) but at least for sport you don't need this anyway.
- khedoros1 9y ago
  I have a simpler model; no bluetooth or color screen, but it has a microSD card slot. 4GB base memory, with a 16GB card in it. I think it was about $20 when I bought it years ago, and it's still going.