Classic iPod that replaced mass media with personalized media killed by iPhone

As they celebrated the iPhone 6 and Apple Watch, Apple quietly killed (without so much as a funeral or death notice) the patriarch device that personalized the way we use media, the iPod.

The fate of the new devices will determine whether Apple CEO Tim Cook is seen as an innovator or a caretaker living in the shadow of the great Steve Jobs, who died three years ago.

The “I” in the original iMac and iPod stood for “Internet,” but they could have also stood for the individually tailored menu of choices that took us from mass media to personalized media tailored and personalized for every recipient.

More Americans were interested in the latest Apple announcements than in President Obama’s national address declaring he would destroy ISIS. News outlets noted Cook made his announcement in the same place where Job announced the first Macintosh 30 years ago.

They also noted the iPad was initially scoffed at (depressing Jobs) but then quickly took off. Oddly, most of what was announced today had been leaked (almost daily in dribs and drabs) over the past year.

Why all the fuss over a watch and bigger smart phones? The latest Apple devices are part of the legacy of an (initially) little-noticed 2001 music player that…