OG iPods are still cool

We rebuilt the original HTML iPod for an article called Limit the number of details. It was there to make a simple point: when most of a device runs through one control, that control has to be really good. The wheel turned, the buttons worked, and you could move through a small list of songs. After the article, I used Cursor to turn it into Mac and iPhone apps connected to my Music library. The basic versions were working after a few prompts.

Music

A Design for Life — Manic Street Preachers

The Architect — Kacey Musgraves

Blueprint — Fugazi

Prototype — OutKast

The Model — Kraftwerk

Designer — Aldous Harding

Modern Art — Art Brut

Art School — The Jam

Mis-Shapes — Pulp

Turn a Square — The Shins

Technologic — Daft Punk

The Robots — Kraftwerk

Computer Love — Kraftwerk

The Man-Machine — Kraftwerk

The Grid — Daft Punk

The Game Has Changed — Daft Punk

End of Line — Daft Punk

Code Monkey — Jonathan Coulton

The Engine Driver — The Decemberists

Welcome to the Machine — Pink Floyd

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger — Daft Punk

Everything in Its Right Place — Radiohead

Get the Balance Right! — Depeche Mode

Everything Counts — Depeche Mode

Changes — David Bowie

Step by Step — New Kids on the Block

One Piece at a Time — Johnny Cash

Little by Little — Oasis

Do It Again — Steely Dan

Try Again — Aaliyah

No Surprises — Radiohead

The Line Begins to Blur — Nine Inch Nails

Copy of A — Nine Inch Nails

Less Than — Nine Inch Nails

Algorithm — Muse

Under Pressure — Queen & David Bowie

The Hardest Button to Button — The White Stripes

Glitch — Taylor Swift

Buggin' Out — A Tribe Called Quest

Fix You — Coldplay

Digital Witness — St. Vincent

The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness — The National

Human Behaviour — Björk

Undo — Björk

Sound and Vision — David Bowie

Control — Janet Jackson

Building Steam with a Grain of Salt — DJ Shadow

The Plan — Built to Spill

Work It — Missy Elliott

Making Plans for Nigel — XTC

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The artwork started with Jack’s Mockup of the First iPod from the Figma Community, shared under CC BY 4.0. I modified it ever so slightly and used it as the basis for the interaction and the apps.

I made the rest in Cursor, mostly using Auto with a little Fable 5. We tightened the wheel, added a small haptic tick on supported trackpads and gave it a little grime so you could see it turn. It comes in four sizes on the Mac and can float above your other apps.

That was enough. I could kind of feel my old iPod again. Digital things used to click, spin and turn. The original iPod did one thing really well, and the whole object was designed around it. I miss that.

I mostly use Spotify, so I wanted that to work too. New Spotify apps can only authorize five people, and making one public requires Spotify’s approval. So for now, iPod Player works only with Apple’s Music app.

The iPhone version is even simpler. You can park the iPod at the top, middle or bottom of the screen. The rest stays black.

Placement

Top

Middle

Bottom

topmiddlebottom

That’s about it. We made it in a day. Apple Music doesn’t support Winamp skins, so we made one anyway—in honor of a great little device from nearly 25 years ago. The Mac version is available to download, and there’s an iPhone beta too.