Posted by CharlesW 5 days ago
We've largely forgotten what a strangely big deal iPod launches used to be. I remember being mildly amused/amazed by the fact you could see them announced online and in use on the London Underground within hours.
What was the SDK/toolchain like? Did you have any way to test the software in an emulator/simulator on a PC? What was debugging like? Was the iPod software/hardware you were developing against in any way special?
[1] - IIRC after the binary is decrypted, loaded into memory at a fixed address, and a symbol table (based on numeric IDs, not strings) is used to populate a trampoline with function pointers that the app requested. There seems to be no privilege separation between the app and the rest of the OS, as is the case for the iPod software in general.
If someone like me wanted to see a playthrough. What a trip down memory lane. Still remember having Mr Bean's Holiday on my clickwheel iPod and watching it every time my parents took me somewhere to the point I remembered all the dialogues.
Good times.
Also most watches can function as music players with wireless headphones nowadays. For a while I ran a low-notification apple watch purely for the time, nfc (payments and to enter the gym) and music functions.
A friend told me that in competitive climbing people are required to be in isolation before the climb. As https://climbingbusinessjournal.com/strategies-to-help-youth... says:
"Communication in and out of Iso is always prohibited because someone could relay pictures of the competition routes for climbers to preview, resulting in an unfair advantage. Therefore, all electronics with internet connection are not allowed. An iPod without internet capability is allowed for warming up, but you are forbidden from listening to music while you are climbing the competition routes. I guess this sentence should be obvious, but no walkie talkies, cans on a string, smoke signals, etc."
There's also parents who get internet-free music devices for their kids. I've even heard of a kid who could take an old iPod Shuffle with them to a "no screen" camp, as it has no screen.
If you need to grab the phone every time you change songs it’s likely you’ll check notifications or something of the sort.
The same goes for going for a walk with music but not the phone, to be unreachable. You could use airplane mode but there’s value in the added friction.