The iPod is put out to pasture

The click-wheel mp3 player that was once revolutionary has had its day.

Apple has removed the 160GB iPod Classic form its range of products, meaning that the device that brought the company back from the brink in 2001 has been consigned to history alongside the original Sony Walkman, Mini Disc players and VHS video recorders.

Consumers that simply want to listen to music on the go can still snap up a much smaller iPod shuffle, iPod Nano or iPod Touch, but many will be sad to see their much bigger and older brother, designed for carrying an entire record collection around, bow out. But as times change, the way that consumers discover, access and listen to music is also changing.

Just as physical copies of albums are giving way to digital versions, digital files will soon be replaced by streaming and digital radio services, meaning that a fast mobile internet connection -- rather than gigabytes of storage space -- is more important.

The iPod was the bait that hooked a new generation of consumers on Apple's wider product range and led to the launch of iTunes which revolutionized the digital music market.

It also established the blueprint that Apple continues to follow to this day -- to arrive late to market but with the most coherent, desirable and easy-to-use product and take it over. The iPod's success was mirrored by that of the iPhone and then the iPad.

And, with the launch of Apple Watch, the company's first wearable technology device, which, interestingly enough, works as a standalone MP3 player, the company is looking to be revolutionary again.

The Click-Wheel iPod: October 23, 2001 - September 9, 2014.