Apple Music’s 404 page hides a playable first-generation iPod with a Brick game
The Apple Music website now shows an interactive replica of the original iPod on its “Page Not Found” screen. Opening any invalid music.apple.com address, like this one, brings up the virtual player next to the message "Give this a spin instead," with links to the Home, New and Search sections.
The replica recreates the original iPod’s scroll wheel, monochrome display and menu structure, with Playlists, Artists, Songs and Settings menus. On desktop, the arrow keys and Enter key can also be used for navigation. The Settings menu includes Shuffle, Repeat, Backlight Timer, a Clicker toggle and Reset All Settings.
The About screen also hides a version of Brick, the Breakout-style game that the original iPod included as an Easter egg. As on the 2001 hardware, the game is launched by holding the center button on the About screen. On the web version, the button has to be held for five seconds.
Playback uses Apple’s standard preview clips rather than full tracks. In our testing, songs longer than 2:30 stop after 90 seconds, while shorter tracks such as Vampire Weekend’s A-Punk stop after 30 seconds. This matches the rules Apple introduced in 2010, under which only songs longer than 2 minutes and 30 seconds get 90-second previews, while shorter songs stay at 30 seconds. The limit also applies when signed in to an Apple Music account.
The virtual iPod is free to use and does not require a subscription. The page appears on the 25th anniversary of the iPod’s announcement. Apple announced the original iPod on October 23, 2001, with a price of $399, and it went on sale on November 10, 2001, with a 5 GB hard drive. Apple officially discontinued the iPod product line on May 10, 2022.
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