Remember the iPod? It is making a quiet comeback.

Four years after Apple killed off its digital music player, second-hand sales are surging – fuelled in part by young people interested not just in its retro looks but in listening to music in a focused way and with playlists not determined by algorithms.

“There’s a growing trend, particularly among younger users, to mitigate the ease with which they can be distracted by smartphones, often driven by mental health and well-being concerns,” says Ben Wood, chief analyst at market research company CCS Insight.

“Having a dedicated music device, such as an iPod, is a good way to reduce your dependence on a smartphone and avoid being drawn into other activities, like doomscrolling through social media feeds, when you only really want to listen to music.”

If you are interested in joining the iPod revival, here are some pointers.

How to get an iPod

You cannot buy a new iPod any more, but it is not too hard to get your hands on a used one. There are still a lot of them around because Apple sold 450 million over two decades.