The iPod's Rise, Collapse, and Quiet Comeback — SkimNews
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- MP3 players launched commercially in 1998 with the MPMan F10 in Asia and the Diamond Rio PMP300 in the West, both shipping with just 32MB of storage and triggering an RIAA lawsuit against Diamond Multimedia over the spread of MP3s.
- Apple's iPod debuted in November 2001 and went on to account for over 70% of media player sales, with roughly 20% of Americans owning a personal media player by 2007.
- The iPod faded after iPhone sales eclipsed iPod sales in 2011; Apple retired the Classic in 2014, cut the Nano and Shuffle in 2017, and discontinued the entire lineup in 2022.
- The portable media player market collapsed from a $21.6 billion industry in 2008 to just $613 million by 2012, according to research firm Mintel, as smartphones and streaming replaced dedicated devices.
- High-end players from Sony and Astell & Kern now sell for over $3,000, with Sony's NW-A306 at $399.99 as the only mainstream-price option, while vintage iPods fetch hundreds of dollars on eBay and a cottage modding industry has emerged to add Bluetooth and USB-C to old units.
- Sleevenote, a startup from musician Tom Vek, is attempting a fresh take on the category with Wi-Fi syncing, Bluetooth, a grid of album art instead of scrolling text, and integration with Bandcamp, Qobuz, Amazon Music, and other digital storefronts.
- Kane Kramer is credited with inventing the first digital audio player in 1979, patenting it in the UK in 1985 and the US in 1987 — with features including an online music store that later appeared in iPod and iTunes — though his patents lapsed in 1988.
Why it matters: The portable MP3 player has shrunk from a $21.6 billion market to a niche, but anti-streaming and slowtech trends are fueling real demand: Google searches for "MP3 player" have nearly tripled in the past year, modded vintage iPods sell for hundreds on eBay, and startups like Sleevenote and the AP30 Music Boy crowdfunding hit are entering a space with no clear mainstream successor to the iPod — making this a genuine consumer shift, even if it never returns to mass-market scale.
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