In the summer of 2005, a chubby faced eight year old version of myself received an unprecedented piece of fashionable technology. A slab of metal, coated in a shiny green exterior that had the power to play songs from any album at any time. Until that point, I’d only ever been able to consistently access the “Australian Idol – The Final 12 (Season 1)” CD that I would put into my walkman device.
The concept of a small magic box that could hold endless amounts of music at once was simply mesmerising and mind boggling. With glee and wonder in my eyes, I watched as my parents bought me four songs from the primitive version of the itunes store. Lose Yourself by Eminem, Eye of the Tiger by Survivor, Angels Brought Me Here by the recently crowned Australian Idol season 1 champion Guy Sebastian and finally my favorite song. The song that I swore I would love until my dying breath by a man I swore was the greatest musician I’d ever heard.
Wasabi by Lee Harding.
Much like Harding, the Nano was a flash in the pan for my long standing infatuation with music. The announcement that Apple will stop producing the iPod Nano and Shuffle comes as no surprise, nor does the revelation that Harding didn’t become a rock god.
With the advent and improvement of phones to current smartphones, the progression of music streaming from buying individual songs to subscriptions to services like Apple Music, Spotify and Soundcloud, the Nano and Shuffle were left behind to wither and die.
However both will live on in my dreams and memories.
Rest in peace iPod Nano and Shuffle. September 2005 – July 2017.
