An iPod 5th generation was purchased by me earlier this year. It was originally made in 2006. Although I bought it as a hobby, I have been using it almost every day. I have come to the conclusion that Apple should make the iPod back, but modernized for today's age. While it should retain the click-wheel, I cannot stop thinking about how great an iPod would be, especially in the age of music streaming, AirPods and high-res displays. It might sound absurd, but I will explain.Apple should release a new iPod for a number of reasons. It would be a way for Apple to capitalize on the nostalgia for the iPod age, which is evident in recent iPod-themed web apps, mods, and web players.Another reason is perhaps less obvious. The iPod is a music-centric device and Apple literally offers Apple Music. Although the company loves services revenue, many of its devices are not very good at playing music. It is difficult to connect multiple headphones to the iPhone, and Siri interrupts your listening when you ask it to do something that doesn't warrant an audible response (like turning off HomeKit-powered lights).Many, if not all of Apple's devices can't play the most high-end lossless files Apple Music can deliver now without additional hardware. Apple can't point to a product and claim that it offers the best Apple Music experience.Apple Music should be integrated tightly into a new iPod. However, it would be wonderful if it could also play music from other services and if it had a completely Classic mode that only played files synced from a PC.It would not only save the company from being under scrutiny by the government and other competitors (like Spotify), but it would also prevent some of the strangeness that streaming music can bring. Apple Music has been acting up a lot lately, requiring me to restart it to get the content I want.Is anyone else experiencing this problem? The song I'm trying to hear will start to play randomly, and then it becomes a flurry high-pitched digital-sounding squeals. It almost sounds like I'm listening to 100 Gecs songs on a Discman being vigorously shaken.Apple still sells an iPod after all these years. The iPod Touch. The iPod Touch is a great device, especially for kids and those who want an inexpensive iOS device. The iPod Touch is not a music player that's purpose-driven. It can be used as an iPhone without the phone.So what? It can listen to music from Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal and Amazon Prime Music through its headphone jack, play games, surf, read books, and so on.That's where the problem lies for me: while the iPod Touch is a great computing device that Apple should update more often, sometimes the best tool to do a job isn't the one that does everything. It's the one that does one thing very well.Although the iPod Touch is a great device, sometimes the best tool doesn't have to be the one that does everything.When I listen to music on my iPhone, I find myself scrolling through Twitter in the background, rather than listening to it. My 2006 iPod is not like that. People prefer e-readers to reading on their phones or tablets because they are more focused.Practically speaking, Apple would not be able to make a portable music player that doesn't have a touchscreen and smartphone OS. This would leave it behind in the race against Android-powered players like Fiio and Sony.Hardware is also an issue. If Apple created a new iPod that was solely for listening to music, it wouldn't need to be powerful enough to run 3D Games or Safari. Instead, it could invest in a better DAC/amp (perhaps one capable of playing Apple Musics at 24 bits, 192 kHz lossless).My belief is that a new iPod will never reach the same level of popularity as the older models. People are content to listen music on their phones. If they weren't, Apple wouldn't have stopped making iPods. Apple is a large company and could make a niche device that focuses on music, even if the last one did not do well. It would be a real treat to see a new iPod, as I am an old iPod fan.P.S. P.S. I don't think there is room for an iPod Shuffle that uses VoiceOver instead of the offline Siri, but...
