The Vergecast · Thursday, October 1, 2026
The hosts discussed the viability of a market for dedicated music players like the iPod, acknowledging a trend towards tangible technology but questioning its longevity. They cited the example of film photography's resurgence and Kodak's hesitation to invest heavily due to fads potentially fading, suggesting companies might wait to see if demand for devices like the iPod is a lasting trend.
“The question becomes, is this the future or is this a fad? And I've seen this happen so many times. In 2020 and 2021, film was blowing up again and there was not enough capacity at Kodak to make enough film. And so they had to raise the prices.”
“And everyone says, why don't you just make more film? And in order to do that, Kodak had to invest hundreds of millions of dollars into new cutters, into new film machines. And they wanted to wait out a few years to make sure this wasn't just a fad, right? Because fads come and go.”
“So I think before these companies come out and just start, pumping out iPods again, they're probably going to wait a couple more years to see if people actually want it.”