Meet the iPod-heads

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Apple's iPods are a time capsule of the era before online streaming of music took over. Five iPod users tap into this nostalgia to share vignettes of a bygone culture that included downloading audio files to upload them on the device, creating album art, exchanging playlists and carrying music on a separate device.

Subscribing to a shared plan

Vedika Sangtani, artist, 29
Today, everyone shares music streaming accounts, but back in the day I shared an iPod Nano with my younger brother. We had this mutual understanding when it came to a schedule. I would use it on my commute to school and while cycling; he would get it during the evenings. Plus, digging into his playlists allowed me to tap into new music. When Apple let people personalise their iPods with their names, I wanted to paint my device so it could match my personality. Its smooth clean surface poked at my creative impatience. Of course, I also had to cover up my brother's need to constantly sign his name on the iPod.

Cool kid on the block

Rhea Vora, brands and communications manager, 27
I was around 11 when I was handed my sister's bulky iPod Classic; my parents had given me that to check if I could handle such an expensive device responsibly. It was my initiation into the Apple world. I was still at the age when I was figuring out my music taste. The trackpad was so sophisticated; it made me feel quite cool. Of course, once I got the hang of it, I wanted more. I later got my own iPod Nano, in a hot pink shade. I was able to use it only for two years before it was stolen. It was super slender and could pack in 1,000 to 2,000 songs. I also had the Shuffle later, and it was so compact to use on the go.

Romantic throwback

Pushan Mukherjee, advertising professional, 37
My father's scientist friend who lived abroad had the iPod 6, which he got home. I remember downloading music and uploading it on the device; I would get to use it once in a blue moon! When I went to Pune to study in 2006-7, I bought a second-generation Shuffle, which was tiny and white. It cost me around R5,000. I had saved up some travel money to buy it. I would charge it, fill it up with 100 to 200 songs and travel with it every day. It was all the rage then; friends would want to take turns listening to it. Back then, if I'd meet a girl I liked, we'd sit and listen to music at the university, sharing earphones.

Investing in playlists

Divya Pal, business analyst, 29
I graduated from bulky cassette and CD players around 2010 with the iPod Nano, third generation. Discovering music then meant writing the songs your friends were listening to and downloading it or exchanging digital files. I remember investing many hours creating some really good playlists, downloading music, and adding my own album art to it because the files from Limewire came without art attached to them. You could scroll through the album art like it was displayed on a physical stand. I loved that feature. I carried my iPod everywhere and charged it like my life depended on it.

Plus-one for new girl in the city

Ruchita Madhok, founder of Kahani Designworks and Storycity, 37
It completely changed the way we thought about interface, human behaviour and interaction with a device. When I was leaving for college in London in 2009, my mother got me an iPod. When I reached London, I got a hot pink case for it. It cost a lot [around R18,000] back then for a music player but it kept me company as I was living alone for the first time. I still have a version of the playlist I created then - ‘weird work mix' - that featured music from the '90s; another playlist had music I picked up from my German and French classmates. It allowed me to have a little world of my own; I used it till 2018, and it still works.