I was 18 for most of 2005, and I have fond memories not only about that time in my life but also the technology that came to define it. So is this pure nostalgia, or is there something desirable about a simpler time?
I took the opportunity to dig out some of my oldest gadgets for a trip down memory lane.
MP3 and MiniDisc players still hold up
Physical media in a small package
This project gave me an excuse to break out my old MiniDisc, and I’m delighted to report that the technology still holds up today. While CDs dominated when it came to new releases, MiniDisc was a format that found favor among enthusiasts in the late 90s and early 2000s (especially in Japan).
I moved from an old cassette Walkman straight to a MiniDisc player, skipping the portable CD player phase entirely. MiniDiscs are small, tough, easy to work with, and they sound great. You could create a mix tape, sacrifice audio quality in favor of “Long Play” recordings at lower bitrates, or simply make high-quality 1:1 copies of your CD collection for portable use.
As I discovered last year, MiniDisc is still viable with a few caveats. You can write music to Sony’s NetMD players (and Hi-MD models) via the Web MiniDisc Project. Hopefully, you’ve still got some old discs lying around because they’re no longer being made, and the price of blank media has shot up as a result.
After MiniDisc, I moved to MP3 and FLAC, like the rest of the world. My original player, an iRiver H140, is essentially a laptop hard drive surrounded by an LCD display and some controls. Though I’m convinced it still works, I wasn’t able to track down the barrel charger. I have a new appreciation for the era of universal USB charging, even if that means occasionally hunting down a nasty micro USB cable.
Instead, I ended up grabbing my partner’s old 60GB iPod from the same era. Despite a failing display and a questionable selection of music, busting out an old iPod you’ve not touched for 20 years is a great way to brighten up any road trip.
Going back to wired headphones is a chore
The nostalgia isn’t strong enough
I’ve been all-in on AirPods since the first generation, having moved to the AirPods Pro and recently the 2025 third-generation refresh. After a decade of not worrying about headphone cables, going back requires a bit of adjustment.
I only had two options available to me: a pair of white EarPods with a 3.5mm jack from an old iPhone purchase (still in the plastic case, never opened) and a ridiculously large pair of Technics headphones that I found in a box. All my “good” wired earbuds from back in the day have long since expired.
Had I wanted to live like it was 2005 for an extended period of time, I’d have invested in a pair of in-ear monitors or more comfortable wired headphones. Once I remembered the trick of feeding your headphone cable up underneath your shirt, I had far fewer problems, except when I wanted to step away from the iPod or MiniDisc player.
This is particularly bothersome in the gym, where people were already giving me funny looks for using a MiniDisc player in the first place.
My first digital SLR still takes great photos
You’ll never regret buying a good camera, and this is the proof
In 2005, I bought my first “real” camera in the form of a Nikon D50 with an 18-55mm kit lens. At the time, the camera went head-to-head with Canon’s EOS Digital Rebel as one of two serious entry-level SLRs. These models were desirable since they worked with Nikon and Canon’s already impressive array of lenses.
I’m delighted that my D50 still works like a treat. It was still attached to the f/1.4 50mm “nifty fifty” that I used back in the day to shoot live music, a lens that I could probably sell today for as much as I paid for it. The D50 has a cropped APS-C sensor, and it’s much larger than my Sony a6500 mirrorless, but it’s small and light enough that carrying it around doesn’t feel like a chore.
The sensor tops out at 6.1 megapixels, which I’d argue is still big enough even in an era where my iPhone 17 Pro produces 48 megapixel photos. Low light performance suffers terribly above ISO 800, so a fast lens helps to keep the grain in check. The SD card maxes out at 2GB, which seems tiny until you realize that 6.1 megapixel images are only around 5MB even when shooting in RAW format.
Just picking up the camera was enough to make me want to walk around and take pictures. Even after my 2005 roleplay is done, I already have plans to use this camera more.
I dug out a feature phone but hit a snag
You can’t really use one of these today
I audibly gasped when an old Sony Ericsson W580i started charging after 20 years of sitting in a box. In 2005, I was using a Sony Ericsson K700i, but it lasted a year before the “nipple” joystick gave up completely. The W580i is an orange and white (or black) Walkman-branded phone, but it’s a fair representation since at the time all of Sony’s phones basically used the same form factor and software.
The form factor is the nicest thing about phones from the pre-smartphone era. The phone itself is tiny compared to my iPhone 17 Pro, it slips into a pocket effortlessly, and this model happens to be a flip variety, so you can flip it open and closed to take or end calls.
But the software is hideously slow, the display is low resolution, the camera’s quality is marginally better than its abysmal refresh rate, and there’s basically nothing to do beyond making calls and texting people. Of course, that’s what we once used our phones for, and many would argue that the simpler times were better.
Unfortunately, the biggest snag I hit was that the phone requires a full-sized SIM card. I don’t have one of those; my iPhone 17 Pro takes a nano SIM, and no amount of pining for the good old days warranted me spending actual money or effort on procuring one.
If you’re looking for modern feature phone alternatives to Android and iOS, take a look at Light Phone and Minimal Phone instead.
The Nintendo DS is still worth owning today
It’s no surprise that people still buy these handhelds
In 2005, I was playing a lot of Counter-Strike: Source, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and Need for Speed: Most Wanted on the PC. However, one console that I came to late and ended up utterly falling in love with is the Nintendo DS. I bought my partner a Nintendo DSi shortly after its release, and I’ve probably used it as much as they have in the years that followed.
This DSi and a New 3DS XL live in our living room at all times, and the DSi gets picked up way more often. The control scheme is just so unique and revolutionary that it gave birth to so many good ideas that absolutely hold up today. The existence of dedicated retro handhelds like the MagicX Zero 40 that are specifically aimed at DS emulation speaks volumes.
Even though my evenings have recently been consumed with Battlefield 6, picking up the Nintendo DS was enough to remind me why I loved Ghost Trick so much and how easy it is to get hooked on Rhythm Heaven. I also rediscovered my weird creations from back in the day on KORG’s DS-10 music creation suite. If you haven’t got one, I’d strongly recommend picking up a second-hand Nintendo DSi for cheap.
Sure, you can emulate it, but an original console in decent condition with a flashcart? Now we’re talking.
The tech you’re using today will be old before you know it
I’m not sure what’s most surprising, that so much of the tech we loved from back in the day still holds up, or that two decades seems to have passed in the blink of an eye.
