Apple discontinues the iPod touch and no longer sells any iPods

The news: After years of stagnation, Apple has put the final nail in iPod’s coffin: the iPod touch has been officially discontinued.

Sam’s take: “The music lives on.” That headline made me oddly emotional today. And as out-of-left-field as it is for a press release announcing the death of the iPod, it’s pretty beautiful. And it made me start reflecting on the iPod and how it unequivocally changed my life.

I got the second-generation iPod touch for my 11th birthday in 2009. I still vividly remember taking it out of the box for the first time, powering it on and seeing the white Apple logo and promptly installing my first ever app from the App Store: Tap Tap Revenge. I sat there for hours that night going through every part of the operating system and quickly became enthralled with the device. It was the first thing I had ever touched that felt like it could do everything I ever wanted. And for me, it was everything.

I could text my parents and my friends on an app called textfree. I could play Angry Birds on long family road trips for hours on end. And most importantly, I could sync all of my iMovie creations directly to my iPod touch. I could bring them anywhere. I could show anyone, anywhere what I made. It was magical.

And it still is today. Only now, the videos I shoot go up on a website called YouTube…and making them is my career: not the quirky hobby of an only child looking to pass the time.

So to the iPod touch, I say thank you. Thank you for giving me a new way to express myself. Thank you for showing me media in a way I had never seen before. Thank you for showing me how to love a piece of technology. Thank you for the magic.

If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be writing this today.