Apple has discontinued the iPod, 20 years after it was released.

The US tech giant said its iconic music player has been replaced by other devices, making the iPod redundant.

Greg Joswiak, Apple‘s senior vice-president of worldwide marketing, said: “Today, the spirit of iPod lives on.

“We’ve integrated an incredible music experience across all of our products, from the iPhone to the Apple Watch to HomePod mini, and across Mac, iPad, and Apple TV.

“And Apple Music delivers industry-leading sound quality with support for spatial audio – there’s no better way to enjoy, discover, and experience music.”

In October 2001, Steve Jobs debuted the original iPod and it was the first MP3 player that could hold 1,000 songs and had a 10-hour battery life.

“With iPod, Apple has invented a whole new category of digital music player that lets you put your entire music collection in your pocket and listen to it wherever you go,” he said at the time.

“With iPod, listening to music will never be the same again.”

Similar MP3 players released by Microsoft and Sony did not have the same success as the iPod.

Apple has released five versions of its music player – the Classic, Touch, Shuffle, Mini and Nano.

The company has been slowly killing its iPod range in recent years, with mobile phone technology enabling customers to listen to music services on their phones.

In 2014, the classic click wheel model was discontinued, and the Shuffle and Nano were killed off three years later.

The seventh-generation iPod touch was the only model still on sale today.

Without the iPod, there would never have been an iPhone or iPod, according to its inventor Tony Fadell.

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