When it was first introduced in 2001 the Apple iPod allowed users to store 1 000 songs in a relatively tiny package. At the time, this was astounding with most MP3 players offering storage space for an album or two.

Now, nearly 21 years later, Apple has said that it will stop making the iPod Touch. Well it technically hasn’t said those exact words instead stating that the “iPod touch will be available while supplies last”.

The press release announcing this does however feel very much like a farewell with senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, Greg Joswiak, reminiscing about how the iPod quite literally changed the world.

The press kit for this announcement is also labelled “Apple iPod end of life” so without saying it, the iPod’s death sentence has been handed down.

“Music has always been part of our core at Apple, and bringing it to hundreds of millions of users in the way iPod did impacted more than just the music industry — it also redefined how music is discovered, listened to, and shared,” Joswiak said.

Rather than explaining why it made this decision or how existed devices will be supported in future, Apple chose to talk up products you can buy that you can also listen to music on.

The firm talks up its smartphones, Apple Watch and AirPods, even the iPad and HomePod gets a shoutout.

As for why the iPod Touch is being discontinued, that answer is obvious – the way we listen to music has changed. Folks don’t buy music thanks to the pervasive nature of mobile broadband and streaming services. Whether the product will continue to receive software updates and indeed continue to function is unclear at this stage.

That having been said, if you want to keep a piece of Apple history, the iPod Touch is currently available at iStore with prices starting at R3 999 for the 32GB iteration of the music player.