The ULTIMATE iPod Tier List!

We rank every iPod ever made—even the HP iPods—but not the Tony Hawk iPod. Frick U2.

In this episode, we fall back (yet again) on trends from 2019 by doing a tier list from S-to-F on every iPod model Apple made; best to worst. Is your favorite iPod S-Tier or F-Tier? Watch now to decide.

00:00 Introduction
00:19 1st-gen iPod
02:24 2nd-gen iPod
03:40 3rd-gen iPod
05:53 1st-gen mini
07:10 HP iPod?!?!
08:37 4th-gen iPod
09:11 Bono Player
09:38 4th-gen (Photo)
10:32 2nd-gen mini
11:00 1st-gen Shuffle
12:12 1st-gen nano
13:18 5th-gen iPod (Video)
14:29 not an ipod
14:53 2nd-gen nano
15:25 2nd-gen Shuffle
16:15 1st-gen iTouch
18:41 3rd-gen nano
20:06 iPod "Classic"
21:21 4th-gen nano
21:41 2nd-gen iTouch
22:31 3rd-gen Shuffle
23:24 5th-gen nano
24:20 3rd-gen iTouch
25:06 4th-gen Shuffle
26:01 4th-gen iTouch
27:02 6th-gen nano
28:09 5th-gen iTouch
29:27 7th-gen nano
30:47 6th-gen iTouch
31:51 7th-gen iTouch

[DankPods]

Seeing my fav pod at a D stings a little but fair enough as it was the first "cheap" full sized iPod, worse screen than the 3G with less stuff included. At least it charged over USB!
I still love you Mono4G 💋

[tsjmcgrath]

Up until the iPod was finally cancelled, I always wished that Apple did one last hurrah for the Classic. Stick an SSD in it, give it an absolute tonne of storage, a great DAC, and make it a bit of a celebration of everything the iPod was. The Classic had a pretty big cult following towards the end of the iPod’s life and I’m kinda surprised they didn’t do something like this. Wouldn’t have sold tonnes but I feel like it would’ve made a lot of people very happy.

I also had a 3rd gen nano. Amazing iPod and still one of my favourite ever Apple products (but my M1 Air is king).

[justanotheryoutuber]

as a kid i was on a plane back from london, looking through a magazine and seeing the first gen ipod shuffle. I then looked at the floor and boom. just like magic it was lying there. I simply took it without asking anybody if they dropped/lost it and... was the happiest kid on that plane for sure. used it for many years and really loved that small thing. I really hope the owner didn't regret their loss that much and would have been proud of how much happiness this ipod brought me

[customjohnny]

Quinn, I think that I enjoy your Tier List videos the most (out of other channels’ lists), because you back it up with informed history of the devices, which make them extra-nostalgic and fun to see! Thank you!!

[AndrewBatiuk]

"Even though that model had a measly 512 'GB' of storage" - iPod shuffle 😂 11:45

[adreus]

We need Snazzy to do a deep dive into DACs on consumer electronics. Especially which ones to get in the Apple Universe for good music playback. Support the audiophiles out there!

[AntVenom]

11:50 ohh how long we’ve been on gigabytes / terabytes for you to not notice that little flub :p

[trunghieuang]

The 4th Gen iPod Touch not getting iOS 7 update is because of its 256mb of RAM, just like the 1st gen iPad. The iPhone 4 comes with 512mb.

[zumuvtuber]

The 7th gen Nano is definitely a very flawed device. But there's just something about it... I don't know what it is, but I really like it. Still use mine fairly regularly.

[robertwittjr]

i think DankPods would approve of your presentation, well done.

[noahisamathnerd]

The 6th-gen Nano was my first Apple device. I bought it with my own money in first grade, I believe. It was so awesome. The first time I saw the low battery screen is a memory that is forever implanted into my brain: it was this white screen with (I think) two yellow danger icons (⚠️) and low battery icon in the middle with big text saying “LOW BATTERY. CHARGE NOW.” That was the most terrifying shit as a 6 year old. I ran away to my dad sobbing.

[DanielLavedoniodeLima_DLL]

I remember I bought an iPod touch 4th generation in a trip to the US in 2011. It was so far ahead of the flip phones of that era that it stunned me and a lot of friends from high school asked me to play games in that between classes. A few years after that the smartphone revolution swiped through, but the iPod touch will always be the device that blew my mind on what would become commonplace in the future.

[mtotheatothedoubled]

A girl in my HS used to pretend her iPod touch was an iPhone till someone asked to make a call on it
She never recovered from that

[cleanycloth]

I have a SD card modified 5.5G iPod Video and the DAC is just incredible. Super happy with the fact you gave it an S tier.

My first iPod was a 2nd gen Touch and I was absolutely pissed that it never got iOS 4.3, because that's what Minecraft Pocket Edition needed. I even tried jailbreaking it to see if I could fake the version so it would install, I was that desperate as a kid. I remember enabling wallpapers that way and it ran just fine.

[SonicManEXE]

I loved the 4th generation Nano marketing as a kid. I thought the rainbow barf was such a unique way of advertising it. My funny story with it is that my middle school did a lot of art projects with students and the teacher on the walls around the time I went there, so there’s a mural of 4th gen Nanos by the office. It’s also right by a bunch of “self portraits” students did right before I got there, so around 2008-2009. And they’re all memes and stuff that was relevant at that time. So my middle school hallways are stuck in the mid-late 2000s 😂

[Whamola]

When Apple recalled the 1st gen nano my wife opted in for a replacement and they sent her a 6th gen nano. Pretty nice upgrade.

[MattCoversTech]

Small correction at 20:50, there was a 7th gen 160GB model of the iPod Classic. It was slim and had the new DAC. The slim have the curved headphone jack, the fatter originals did not. If I recall this was the last iteration of the classic to ever be made.

[jamesdrayton]

I don’t understand how one can talk about the 7th gen nano without even mentioning Bluetooth. That’s the selling point more than the size, and makes it one of the best in a modern context along with the lightning port as a smartphone detox device.

[edmn]

Now release the iPod sock tier list! 🧦

[TTYLIG]

I remember me and my brother getting the 4th gen iPod touch for Christmas. It was an absolute dream, the fact that I could play games on it, watch Netflix and YouTube, use FaceTime to talk to people and take photos. It was my first ever introduction into the world of smart devices and was the stepping stone for fascination with technology and I’m forever thankful to my parents for gifting me with such technology as a kid.