1,029 Songs Now Playable on Apple Music's Broken Pages
The company marked 25 years since the iPod's debut by placing an interactive version of the device, along with its hidden game, on pages that fail to load.
By Hugo Khalil ·
Apple has placed a working virtual iPod on its Apple Music error pages to mark 25 years since the original device was unveiled. The company confirmed that users who hit a dead link can now access a playable copy of the classic hardware, along with a library of 1,029 songs.
The page displays the standard 'page not found' message above a prompt reading 'give this a spin instead.' Selecting it opens an interface that reproduces the original layout, including sections for Playlists, Artists, Songs and Settings. The click wheel responds to user input, though the experience has reported glitches. The virtual iPod also includes Brick, a Breakout-style game that shipped with the first hardware. Players reach it by holding the center button on the About screen for a few seconds, the same method used on the original device. Playback on each track is capped at 90 seconds. Access to the feature does not require an active Apple Music account.
The original iPod launched with a pitch centered on storing 1,000 songs in a pocket-sized device. The current library of 1,029 tracks runs from Baha Men, blink-182 and Eminem to Daniel Bedingfield, The Fratellis and Klaxons. The song list varies by region, and Engadget's writer, who is based in the UK, noted that the lineup for users in the US may differ.
Engadget reported that the interactive player could not be made to work on a desktop computer, though it functioned on phones and tablets where touch input more closely matches the physical hardware. The company has not explained why it built a feature that most visitors to a broken page may never find.
Source: Engadget
