The iPod Shuffle is now obsolete but remains an amazing hair clip

3 weeks ago 10

(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)

Pour one out or better yet, braid a French twist for the iconic iPod Shuffle. Once the world's smallest digital music player, Apple's iPod Shuffle is now relegated to the tech giant's growing scrap heap, officially joining countless other "obsolete" gear that will no longer receive service or support from the company.

The distinction should come as little surprise. The last iPod Shuffle was released in 2015 and Apple stopped selling them in 2017. Apple relegates most products to the discarded pile after seven consistent years of support. Joining the iPod shuffle this year is the entire iPhone 6 lineup. The Shuffle will soon be joined by the iPod touch 4th Gen and iPod touch 6th Gen, which are currently settled in Apple's Vintage grouping. They're no longer distributed but still have some service and support from Apple.

Still, there was something special about the iPod Shuffle. When it arrived in 2006, it was a wholesale redesign of the original Shuffle, itself a gum-pack-sized player that looked more like a lanyard than a digital device. The 2006 Shuffle was tiny (they never weighed more than about a dozen grams), rectangular (later a square), and could easily hide in the palm of your hand. It not only kept the 3.5mm headphone jack but cleverly made it dual-purpose, shipping with a special dock that delivered a charge through that same port. Instead of a screen, the face still featured the classic, circular iPod hardware controls. It even had a physical off switch!

What truly set the player apart, though, was the full-body clip. With it, you could clip the iPod Shuffle to your shirt, jacket, backpack, or bag. And because the player shipped in a variety of attractive colors (Blue, Pink, Red, Gold...), you wanted to show it off.

@pariscampbellgrace ♬ original sound - paris campbell grace

Even though Apple sold the iPod Shuffle for almost 20 years, it was, like the rest of the iPod line, long ago eclipsed by the multi-purpose iPhone, which duplicated the iPod's music feature and, of course, added countless others.

In recent years, though, the iPod Shuffle has enjoyed an odd second act as a hair clip. Some claim, it's among Gen Z's favorite hair accessories. It's certainly popular on TikTok. Some even charge up the old, wearable digital players and find they work as both a hair clip and as a music player.

I can report that the iPod Shuffle second generation I dug out of a drawer still functions as a music player (glad I still own a 3.5mm headphone) and when I connected it to my Macbook Air M3 using the USB-based dock, Apple Music recognized it as my wife's old iPod and showed me all the music she stored on it. I wonder if I could add some more music and then convince my wife to wear it as a new hair clip.

Probably not.

A 38-year industry veteran and award-winning journalist, Lance has covered technology since PCs were the size of suitcases and “on line” meant “waiting.” He’s a former Lifewire Editor-in-Chief, Mashable Editor-in-Chief, and, before that, Editor in Chief of PCMag.com and Senior Vice President of Content for Ziff Davis, Inc. He also wrote a popular, weekly tech column for Medium called The Upgrade.

Lance Ulanoff makes frequent appearances on national, international, and local news programs including Live with Kelly and Mark, the Today Show, Good Morning America, CNBC, CNN, and the BBC.

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