I noticed an article in the NY Times a few days ago Apple iPod Phasing Out that Apple is discontinuing production of its iconic iPod music player after 21 years.
I got an iPod Nano for my birthday in about the middle of that time span (2009). It was a 5th generation Nano (the first with a video camera) and it has served me well over the years. It's been on scores of trips across the US and quite a few across the Pacific and Atlantic. The Nano was pretty much the perfect functional design for me - very compact size, nice color display, easy interface using the click wheel, and outstanding battery life. I still use it rather than my iPhone to listen to music on long flights. I regret that Apple did not continue this particular model. And now the rest of the iPod line is over...
I just used the Nano on a flight to Hawaii and discovered that the battery is finally reaching the end of its life. It will no longer fully charge (maybe gets to 80%) and it ran out of gas around 4 hours into the 5 1/2 hour trip, so I had to plug into the seat USB power. I took a couple of pics of it - it is the smaller 8GB version and I have over 900 songs on it.
I didn't use the video camera much. I took a look at the few videos on it. I have a video of snow outside a hotel in Massachusetts in February 2010 (I think that was my rental car). We always used to joke that no matter what the project plan - wafers would always be out for Thanksgiving and packaged modules for Christmas - so, it seemed that I was always away from home in the winter and missed a lot of holidays. I did get to enjoy a lot of time in airports with weather delays and flight cancellations 
. Made me appreciate the convenience and battery life of the iPod.
I'll miss my iPod when it dies, but then again - I'm probably phasing out too.....
