How one dongle dilemma destroyer synced an authentic iPod to their M4 MacBook

Key Takeaways

The unique iPod is taken into account iconic, however Apple has bullishly reduce help for legacy applied sciences through the years.
Apple has made controversial strikes, like axing the headphone jack, citing a need to push the business ahead.
One X consumer efficiently synced a first-generation iPod mannequin to a brand-new M4 MacBook, and it solely took 3 separate dongles to realize.

The original iPod from 2001 is broadly thought of to be one of the crucial iconic devices of all time. The product line helped reinvigorate Apple’s management place within the shopper tech area, and it performed a task in serving to spawn the iPhone and the iPad only a few quick years later.

The primary-generation iPod stays ubiquitous within the public eye, nevertheless it’s not precisely probably the most accessible piece of tech to rise up and operating nowadays. That did not cease one X consumer by the title of NekoMichi from making an attempt to sync his iPod by way of his brand-new M4 MacBook Pro.

Miraculously, this consumer was in a position to efficiently sync the 2 Apple merchandise collectively, proving that something is feasible with a little bit of persistence and perseverance.

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So as to take action, nonetheless, NekoMichi was compelled to embrace the much-maligned dongle life to its absolute excessive — the setup course of required three separate cable adapters:

FireWire 400 — Firewire 800 adapter cable
FireWire 800 — Thunderbolt 2 by way of Mini DisplayPort adapter cable
Thunderbolt 3 by way of USB-C — Thundebolt 2 adapter cable

With these stipulations in tow, NekoMichi managed to get the unique iPod to point out up and sync by way of macOS 15.2 Sequoia‘s Finder interface. Again within the day, for reference, iPods utilized the now-defunct iTunes software program to handle music and sync over consumer knowledge.

3 iPod nanos against an orange background of a person wearing jeans

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So much has modified within the tech business for the reason that days of the iPod

Symbolically, the unique Apple iPod is a relic of a bygone period

As an organization, Apple notoriously leads the cost in slicing off help for legacy applied sciences. In latest a long time, the tech large has made decisive strikes in axing such {hardware} as the three.5-inch floppy drive, the CD-ROM drive, the FireWire I/O port, the three.5mm headphone jack, amongst different once-popular parts.

Apple’s bullish tendencies have performed an plain function in pushing the tech business ahead.

Apple’s bullish tendencies have performed an plain function in pushing the tech business ahead, however they’ve invited criticism and backlash alongside the way in which. The corporate’s elimination of the headphone jack, in addition to its transition away from the 30-pin connector and towards the Lightning connector, come to thoughts as significantly controversial strikes made by the tech large.

Person laying on bright color pop background listening to iPod playing Sound of Silence

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It is fascinating to see the longer-term penalties of Apple’s heavy-handed strategy to {hardware} in motion. If you happen to instructed somebody in 2001 that their brand-new iPod would require 3 separate dongles to connect with a Mac within the 12 months 2024, I might think about that they’d have been downright baffled.

It is fascinating to see the longer-term penalties of Apple’s heavy-handed strategy to {hardware} in motion.

Apple cannibalized its personal iPod product line with the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, after which went on to discontinue its last iPod model in 2022. The place it was as soon as a revelation to hold 1,000 songs in your pocket, right now we’ve entry to hundreds of thousands of songs on demand by Apple Music, Spotify, and different streaming providers. However, the iPod stays one of the crucial iconic tech merchandise of all time, cementing itself as an all-time nice.