The iPod Shuffle Lives

My main machine at home runs Catalina. It’s nice. I’ve grown to like it, and despite losing 32-bit apps, I appreciate the direction Apple is taking the Mac (for the most part).

When I found my old iPod Shuffle at the bottom of a box of parts, I wondered if it worked. Plugging it in to my Mac had it verified and Music.app open in a flash. However, when I tried to sync music onto it, nothing. Other users have reported similar problems, a loss of functionality with Catalina. Maybe an old device like this is just not on Apple’s radar?

However, things are different on my Power Mac G5. iTunes still works. I was able to access the iTunes Store, download purchased music (since streaming music won’t load on these ol’ shuffles), and quickly sync a number of songs to the iPod. Easy peasy. Another reason to keep old tech around.

I do give credit to Apple for making sure iTunes is backwards compatible at least to Leopard. At some point, it will break, but for now, load up those old Shuffles and keep using them.

The iPod Shuffle is a great form factor. I dig the chewing gum size of the device, and it’s overall sturdiness. The thing still works. I imagine the battery life is less than it used to be, but it’s darn cool even in its aged state.

The only other issue I’ve had with the iPod Shuffle is that newer EarPods with the mic need to be plugged in carefully. Don’t push the jack all the way in. Otherwise, you end up with a weak, strange sound. Pull it out just a tad, and you still have a quality listening device for workouts or whatever.

Looks like various iPod Shuffles go for around $15 on eBay if you are in the market for one.

— Nathan

iTunes: How long?

iTunes

Apple just announced the iPhone 6, and with it, a new version of iTunes (11.4).

All of this raises a question – how long will iTunes keep working for us PowerPC users?

It’s a darn good question, and unfortunately, there is no easy answer. Right now, iTunes (10.6.3) is still the de facto music player on your G5. You can buy music (even getting the new U2 album for free evidently). Music Match still lets you upload your music into the cloud to play on your various devices. That’s pretty cool.

But other new features are done. I doubt you could sync your iPhone 6 with the old iTunes. There is no fancy digital album experiences, no iTunes radio, and so on. This software has got an expiration date, for sure – but when? For how long? Only Apple knows.

I do recommend Music Match if for no other reason than it makes a nifty backup for your music in the mythical cloud. In case, iTunes suddenly quits working and your PowerPC dies a horrible death, you could still grab your music from Apple’s servers to place on a newer machine. It’s an easy way to back stuff up.

In the meanwhile, are there other workarounds? I have no idea, although open source audio/video players can probably rock whatever content you desire. That’s not really the problem, though. iTunes’ expiration is really tied to its still working access to the store and limited cloud features. When those go, the music player will still work – you just won’t be able to buy music like you once did.

Oh, and by the way, the classic iPod is dead. A moment of silence please.

– Nathan