Apple Error Pages Serve a Working iPod With 1,029 Songs Inside

Apple has turned its own broken pages into a working iPod. Visitors to an Apple Music address that returns a "page not found" message now see a line beneath it reading "give this a spin instead." Following that prompt opens a replica of the original player, complete with a click wheel that responds to input, along with menus for Playlists, Artists, Songs and Settings.

The library behind the wheel holds 1,029 tracks, each playable for 90 seconds. The date marks 25 years since Apple first showed the original iPod. The player launched with a pitch about holding 1,000 songs in a pocket. The song selection leans toward the early 2000s, with artists such as Baha Men, blink-182 and Eminem listed. A reporter in the UK also saw Daniel Bedingfield, The Fratellis and Klaxons, and could not confirm whether those names appear for people in the US.

Notebook Check found a second layer to the release. Brick, the Breakout-style game that shipped on the first iPod as a hidden extra, is available here as well, reached the same way as on the original hardware: hold the center button on the About screen for a few seconds. The replica runs without an Apple Music account.

The controls work, but the experience is not seamless. Engadget reported the interface was somewhat buggy, and its writer could not get it running at all on a desktop computer; the site recommends trying it on a phone or tablet, where touch input resembles the physical device. Apple has not said why it built the feature or how long it will remain available.