Apple's iPod Hi-Fi Launched 18 Years Ago – and Lasted Just 554 Days

Reflecting on the iPod Hi-Fi, launched 18 years ago, many long-time readers may remember it as Apple's ambitious foray into the home audio market, long before smart speakers were a thing.

ipod hi fi
Priced at $349, it promised audiophile-quality sound within a compact design, offering home audio without the clutter of traditional stereo components. It featured a built-in Universal Dock for iPods, providing a seamless integration that allowed users to charge their device while playing music.

With its capability to produce a wide frequency range and room-filling sound without distortion, the iPod Hi-Fi combined Jony Ive's minimalist design aesthetic and high-quality audio performance. Its versatility was further highlighted by the inclusion of an Apple Remote, and the option for AC or battery power, making it portable.

Many products in the iPod series achieved remarkable success, but the iPod Hi-Fi wasn't one of them. The device was praised for its big rich sound, bass response, and ease of use, but its high price was a turn-off for many Apple device users. Also, the connector prominently positioned atop the speaker unit exposed docked iPods to potential knocks and damage.

Despite its innovative features, the iPod Hi-Fi remained a niche product in Apple's lineup​​, and the combination iPod dock/speaker system never took off. Apple discontinued it on September 5, 2007, just 554 days after its launch.

Popular Stories

best buy holiday

Best Buy Reveals Black Friday Plans With Sitewide Sales Available Now

Friday November 8, 2024 10:05 am PST by
Black Friday sales are continuing today with Best Buy kicking off early Black Friday deals that will last for the next few days. Similar to other retailers, Best Buy's early Black Friday event includes sitewide savings on Apple products, headphones, TVs, monitors, video games, and more. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may...
mac mini thermal architecture feature

New Mac Mini Has Modular Storage, 256GB Model Will Have Faster SSD

Friday November 8, 2024 7:06 am PST by
Apple has returned to using two 128GB storage chips in the new Mac mini with 256GB of storage, according to a partial teardown video shared on social media today. This means the base-model Mac mini with the M4 chip will not have significantly slower SSD speeds compared to higher-end configurations of the computer with 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB of storage, as multiple NAND chips allows for faster SSD...
General Final Cut Pro Feature

Apple Likely to Announce Final Cut Pro Update This Week With These New Features

Sunday November 10, 2024 12:13 pm PST by
In its announcement video for the new Mac mini last month, Apple teased an "upcoming" version of Final Cut Pro for the Mac. Apple will likely announce the update during the annual Final Cut Pro Creative Summit, which begins this Wednesday. The conference is held in association with Apple, and attendees will be visiting Apple Park on the first day. Apple already teased four new features...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases Firmware Updates for AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4

Monday November 11, 2024 11:28 am PST by
Apple today released firmware updates for both AirPods 4 models (version number 7B20) and the AirPods Pro 2 with both Lightning and USB-C charging cases (version number 7B21). All of these AirPods models were previously on firmware version 7B19. It is not immediately clear what new features or changes are included in firmware versions 7B20 and 7B21, but we will update this story if we find...
Generic iOS 18

Everything New in iOS 18.2 Beta 2

Monday November 4, 2024 12:34 pm PST by
Apple today seeded the second betas of upcoming iOS 18.2 and iPadOS 18.2 updates to developers, and Apple is continuing to refine the Apple Intelligence capabilities. There are also a handful of smaller features that are worth knowing about. Find My Find My has a new option to Share Item Location with an "airline or trusted person" that can help you locate something that you've misplaced....
iphone passcode green

Cops Suspect iOS 18 iPhones Are Communicating to Force Reboots, Making Unlocking Harder

Thursday November 7, 2024 2:20 pm PST by
Law enforcement officials in Detroit, Michigan are warning other police officers about an alleged iPhone change that causes Apple devices stored for forensic examination to spontaneously restart, reports 404 Media. iPhones that are undergoing examination have apparently been rebooting, which makes them harder to unlock with brute force methods, and Michigan police think that it's due to a...
iphone 6 thickness

iPhone 17 'Air' May Not Be Much Thinner Than iPhone 6

Monday November 11, 2024 5:18 am PST by
Next year's iPhone 17 "Air" model may not be as thin as Apple planned, according to a rumor originating in Korea. According to the news aggregator account "yeux1122" on Naver, citing industry sources, Apple has run into problems making the new iPhone 17 model sufficiently thin. The device's reduced thickness is apparently dependent on manufacturing a battery with a thinner substrate, but...
maxresdefault

Hands On With Apple's New M4 Mac Mini

Friday November 8, 2024 12:21 pm PST by
Apple launched the new Mac mini, iMac, and MacBook Pro models with M4 chips today, and because the Mac mini is the only one of the machines that got a design update, we thought we'd check it out to see how it compares to the prior version. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. The 2024 version of the Mac mini is much smaller than the previous M2 model, so it takes up...

Top Rated Comments

mattkally Avatar
9 months ago
I bought it 10 years ago. Still going strong

Attachment Image
Score: 66 Votes (Like | Disagree)
FocusAndEarnIt Avatar
9 months ago
Still have mine. Bought a device to stream music to it via AirPlay. Still sounds amazing.
Score: 45 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HobeSoundDarryl Avatar
9 months ago
iPod Hifi: "Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father."

HP Gen 1: "He told me enough! He told me you killed him!"

iPod Hifi: "No. I am your father." ;)

Great sound, fairly portable, somewhat like the modern day variations of the boombox... BUT... too locked down (though, unlike HPs, at least it had an optical input to use with other sources, making them still quite useful 18 years later, even without Apple audio sources), too relatively expensive, etc.

About 10 years later: "Let's roll out another branded speaker... but this time let's make it even more locked down (no AUX input at all) and offer it at the 'same great price' popularly judged as 'too expensive' before."

So when "Luke" was discontinued and < 2 years after Luke "went missing", "Rey" is rolled out with cuts in hardware (tweeters and microphones) to then basically offer what otherwise appeared to be the same for $50 less.

Cue The Imperial March ('https://youtu.be/-bzWSJG93P8?si=4c296G1SJU9jPPCb') theme music: "And let's make it so that Rey can't dyad pair with Luke so that one must buy TWO Reys if they want stereo." Crank up some big spatial echo and insert that Emperor Palpatine laugh ('https://youtu.be/4aCEjb5qnSY?si=eNpUpWxvJEptVKCM') here.
Score: 32 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Account25476 Avatar
9 months ago
A project 1000 times better than building a car from exactly zero experience.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
RodThePlod Avatar
9 months ago

I bought it 10 years ago. Still going strong
I got mine shortly after launch. I don't use it much these days, but it still works and sounds great!

I use it with my old iPod 3rd gen - which doesn't get updated in terms of music anymore. So it's great to listen to the music that I listened to back in the early-mid 2000s. Good for when I'm feeling nostalgic ?



Attachment Image
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
GfulDedFan Avatar
9 months ago
Still in use and lovin it

Attachment Image
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)