How one dongle dilemma destroyer synced an original iPod to their M4 MacBook

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Key Takeaways

The original iPod is considered iconic, but Apple has bullishly cut support for legacy technologies over the years.
Apple has made controversial moves, like axing the headphone jack, citing a desire to push the industry forward.
One X user successfully synced a first-generation iPod model to a brand-new M4 MacBook, and it only took 3 separate dongles to achieve.

The original iPod from 2001 is widely considered to be one of the most iconic gadgets of all time. The product line helped reinvigorate Apple’s leadership position in the consumer tech space, and it played a role in helping spawn the iPhone and the iPad just a few short years later.

The first-generation iPod remains ubiquitous in the public eye, but it’s not exactly the most accessible piece of tech to get up and running in this day and age. That didn’t stop one X user by the name of NekoMichi from attempting to sync his iPod via his brand-new M4 MacBook Pro.

Miraculously, this user was able to successfully sync the two Apple products together, proving that anything is possible with a bit of patience and perseverance.

From iPod to streaming era: What we’ve gained — and lost

What started as iPod’s dream for “1000 songs in your pocket” has become 100 million at our fingertips.

In order to do so, however, NekoMichi was forced to embrace the much-maligned dongle life to its absolute extreme — the setup process required three separate cable adapters:

FireWire 400 — Firewire 800 adapter cable
FireWire 800 — Thunderbolt 2 via Mini DisplayPort adapter cable
Thunderbolt 3 via USB-C — Thundebolt 2 adapter cable

With these prerequisites in tow, NekoMichi managed to get the original iPod to show up and sync via macOS 15.2 Sequoia‘s Finder interface. Back in the day, for reference, iPods utilized the now-defunct iTunes software to manage music and sync over user data.

3 iPod nanos against an orange background of a person wearing jeans

I got my old iPod back up and running in 2024. Here’s how you can too

I broke out my old iPod and uploaded new songs for some nostalgic, old-school music listening in 2024. Here’s how I did it.

A lot has changed in the tech industry since the days of the iPod

Symbolically, the original Apple iPod is a relic of a bygone era

As a company, Apple notoriously leads the charge in cutting off support for legacy technologies. In recent decades, the tech giant has made decisive moves in axing such hardware as the 3.5-inch floppy drive, the CD-ROM drive, the FireWire I/O port, the 3.5mm headphone jack, among other once-popular components.

Apple’s bullish tendencies have played an undeniable role in pushing the tech industry forward.

Apple’s bullish tendencies have played an undeniable role in pushing the tech industry forward, but they’ve invited criticism and backlash along the way. The company’s removal of the headphone jack, as well as its transition away from the 30-pin connector and toward the Lightning connector, come to mind as particularly controversial moves made by the tech giant.

Person laying on bright color pop background listening to iPod playing Sound of Silence

Why using my old iPod wasn’t the simple listening hack I imagined

Retro tech is in, so I broke out my old iPod and I’m thinking it’s a more of a temporary moment rather than a full comeback.

It’s fascinating to see the longer-term consequences of Apple’s heavy-handed approach to hardware in action. If you told someone in 2001 that their brand-new iPod would require 3 separate dongles to connect to a Mac in the year 2024, I’d imagine that they’d have been downright baffled.

It’s fascinating to see the longer-term consequences of Apple’s heavy-handed approach to hardware in action.

Apple cannibalized its own iPod product line with the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, and then went on to discontinue its last iPod model in 2022. Where it was once a revelation to carry 1,000 songs in your pocket, today we have access to millions of songs on demand through Apple Music, Spotify, and other streaming services. Nevertheless, the iPod remains one of the most iconic tech products of all time, cementing itself as an all-time great.