The iPod is nearing the end of the road. Apple news blog TUAW broke the story. They claim a reliable source told them the company will kill the iPod Classic and iPod Shuffle later this year. For anyone who follows Apple, this should be no surprise. The Classic was last updated way back in 2009. Once the flagship product, it's become the black sheep of the iPod lineup. Apple is looking to replace older, non-touch models with it's iPhone derivatives. Despite a higher storage capacity, the Classic is no longer cost competitive against smartphones. At $279, it seems expensive and archaic compared to the virtual Swiss Army Knife that is the iPhone.

For those who really love music, the death of the iPod marks the end of an era.

The 6th generation iPod Classic may be the last. It hasn't been updated since 2009.

The original iPod first launched in 2001. While it wasn't the first MP3 player, it marked a major paradigm shift for the music market. Apple considered contemporary players to be too big, too clunky to use, or too small to be useful. The company wanted something that could fit 1,000 songs comfortably in your pocket, complete with Apple's trademark user friendliness.

The original iPod was smaller, lighter, and could store an incredible amount of music for the time. The innovative scroll wheel made navigating your music collection a breeze. The first iPod had a 5gb hard drive, which could store roughly 1,000 MP3s. Its rechargeable battery lasted about 10 hours, which was on par with its AA contemporaries.

The iPod and iTunes changed the way we consume music

While Napster had already kicked off the digital music revolution, the iPod supercharged the trend. When the iTunes store launched two years later, putting the CD on death row. Apple quickly rose to become the largest music retailer on the planet. While other companies tried their hands at MP3 players, iPod is still synonymous with the devices.

Smartphones killed the iPod, but it's contribution to music history was legendary.

Update: I'll be restoring a 5th generation iPod Classic. Stay tuned for that tear down.