Join us on a nostalgic journey through the 2000s as we explore the tech, gadgets, and digital platforms that have vanished into the annals of history. From BlackBerry phones to dial-up internet, we're counting down the most memorable things that don't exist anymore!
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00:00I want those vampires to come and Dracula and who else?
00:03Who else do you have?
00:04Dracula and demons and ghosts.
00:08Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks
00:11for things that were popular during the 2000s,
00:14but have since become obsolete.
00:16How long was I out?
00:18Is Napster still a thing?
00:22Number 20.
00:23BlackBerry Phones.
00:24New BlackBerry, huh?
00:26Yeah.
00:26Me too.
00:28During the mid to late 2000s,
00:30BlackBerry was climbing the charts in the mobile phone game,
00:33particularly in North America,
00:35with its iconic keyboards being a major pull.
00:38In 2009, the BlackBerry Curve became the best-selling smartphone in the US.
00:43So what went wrong?
00:45You guessed it, iPhones and Androids.
00:47Although BlackBerry continued to expand its global user base
00:51and seemed to be thriving within the first few years of iPhones and Androids,
00:56its dramatic decline became glaringly apparent by the mid-2010s.
01:00BlackBerry's death rattle came in June 2010 with the release of the iPhone 4.
01:05By the end of that decade,
01:07whoever you knew that had previously owned a BlackBerry most likely no longer did.
01:12It was finally time for the company to bow out of the phone game in 2022.
01:16And despite their downfall,
01:18these iconic phones will always be bricks in the foundation of smartphone history.
01:23Number 19.
01:24Zynga.
01:25Before the social media sites that dominate the digital world today,
01:29there was Zynga.
01:30In the 2000s, it became a popular place,
01:33especially among teens, to blog and connect online.
01:36This web blogging service took off at the start of the decade,
01:39and shortly after, it added features like comments and photo uploads.
01:44In 2006, Zynga let users upload audio blogs and add online friends.
01:49That year, it hit a user base of around 30 million.
01:53But even the launch of video blogs in 2007
01:56wasn't enough to keep this once-significant social media presence around.
02:00Zynga shut its doors in 2013, thanks Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
02:05Number 18.
02:06Google Reader.
02:07There's Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Maps, Google Earth, so on and so forth.
02:12But what about Google Reader?
02:13It tends to get lost in the shuffle,
02:15probably because it hasn't existed since 2013.
02:18Google Reader was launched in 2005,
02:21and became a popular way for people to collect their favorite web content
02:25in one organized place.
02:27Efficiency and organization were its main draws.
02:30However, a decline in use and Google's desire to focus on other products
02:34led them to give Reader the boot.
02:36In March of 2013, a petition to save it reached over 100,000 signatures,
02:41but Google stood its ground.
02:43But Google says usage of the service has declined.
02:47Number 17.
02:48Motorola RAZR V3.
02:50The original Motorola RAZR came out in November 2004,
02:54and from 2005 to 2008,
02:56it was at the top of the mountain in terms of cell phone popularity in the U.S.
03:03Hi.
03:03In retrospect, it might not seem all that special,
03:06but at the time, it was.
03:08The thin design of the V3 set it apart.
03:11When we reminisce about flip phones in general,
03:13the RAZR should be thought of as the epitome of that era,
03:16but perhaps the only time you'll see them nowadays
03:19is if you put on a TV series from the 2000s like Prison Break
03:23or a 2000s movie like The Devil Wears Prada.
03:26Let me see what I can do.
03:27Good.
03:28Number 16.
03:29Personal Digital Assistance.
03:31Yeah, he's got a PDA.
03:32Everybody's got a PDA.
03:33A touchscreen device with data storage, Bluetooth, a calendar,
03:37an address book, and a calculator.
03:39Sounds familiar, right?
03:40These are the functions many personal digital assistants, or PDAs, were built to provide.
03:46PDAs entered a lot of people's lives in the 1990s and 2000s.
03:50One example is Microsoft's Pocket PC, which was introduced in 2000,
03:55but was phased out by the end of the decade.
03:57So let's type in car, and you'll see that it's suggesting words for me as I type.
04:02The concept of a pocket-sized computer has obviously evolved,
04:06becoming more advanced and well-rounded than PDAs ever were.
04:10As a result, PDAs lost their appeal.
04:13Still, they shouldn't be ignored as predecessors to modern smartphones.
04:17But for really smart, check out this palm handheld from CompUSA.
04:21Number 15.
04:22Friendster.
04:23115 million users were registered on Friendster in 2008, five years after its launch.
04:31This is one of the ancestors of social media that people probably forget about
04:35because it's no longer around.
04:37So here's a place that suits your style.
04:40A place where you can express yourself.
04:42The platform was designed to allow users to connect with others online,
04:46share content, comment, message, discover new events, and more.
04:50The problem was that it just couldn't keep up with other major players in the industry,
04:54namely Facebook.
04:55Friendster transitioned into a social gaming platform in 2011.
05:00Just a few years later, it shut down its site before officially ceasing to exist in 2018.
05:06Well, it was called Friendster, and at its peak,
05:08it was a vibrant social network with more than 50 million members.
05:1250 million?
05:12That's right.
05:13But then, out of the blue, the civilization just ended.
05:16Number 14.
05:18Club Penguin.
05:19Rated E for Everyone.
05:21As far as online games and virtual worlds go, Club Penguin was a standout.
05:26Just hearing the name probably brings back some nostalgia for anyone who was a kid
05:30during the late 2000s and early 2010s.
05:33After launching in 2005, Club Penguin reached 30 million users by 2007,
05:39and by 2013, had registered over 200 million accounts.
05:43While users could purchase memberships if they wanted to upgrade their penguin's style,
05:48home, or pet, the basic version of the game was free.
05:51There's something new and exciting every week.
05:54The interactive nature of Club Penguin was also instrumental to its popularity.
05:59That, and of course, the chance to play with virtual penguins.
06:02By the mid-2010s though, Club Penguin's popularity began to decline,
06:06and it was discontinued in 2017.
06:13Number 13.
06:14Blockbuster.
06:15Remember the days when watching a movie at home meant first heading to a rental store,
06:19or waiting for a DVD to arrive in the mail?
06:21For many, Blockbuster was the go-to place for that.
06:24There's one near you.
06:26At its peak, the chain boasted over 9,000 store locations.
06:31However, a combination of factors, including the Great Recession,
06:34rising competition, and a failure to adapt to the changing home video landscape,
06:39led to its demise.
06:40By 2014, all corporate-owned Blockbuster stores had closed,
06:45and the company had shut down its DVD-by-mail program
06:48after filing for bankruptcy a few years earlier.
06:51This really is the end of an era.
06:53Blockbuster will close all of its remaining stores.
06:55Technically, one Blockbuster store still survives in Bend, Oregon,
07:00serving as a nostalgic tourist attraction,
07:02and a reminder of the brand's once-iconic status.
07:08Number 12.
07:09Redbox.
07:10Perhaps you remember that eye-catching red movie machine
07:13inside or outside your local supermarket, convenience store, or pharmacy.
07:18And with over 41,000 kiosks in more locations than Starbucks and McDonald's combined,
07:23that vending kiosk was known as Redbox, easy to remember, and instantly recognizable.
07:29Redbox was founded in 2002 and quickly expanded its kiosk locations across the U.S.
07:35The idea was transformative, and the technology seemed pretty awesome at the time.
07:43You'd use the screen to browse through numerous movie options,
07:46pick what you wanted to rent, pay, and voila!
07:49The DVD would pop right out.
07:50You'd then bring it home, watch it, and return it when you were done.
07:54Simple as that.
07:55However, with the rise of streaming, the company couldn't keep up.
07:58Its run officially came to an end in 2024.
08:01The 24,000 DVD kiosks are closing as streaming continues its dominance.
08:07Number 11.
08:08iPods.
08:09These discontinued portable media players were a key part of Apple's history
08:13and revolutionized the way we listen to music.
08:16iPods were a tier above formats like mini-discs.
08:19The first-ever iPod was released in 2001.
08:22iPod.
08:23A thousand songs in your pocket.
08:25Over the years, Apple produced a variety of models.
08:28The Classic, Mini, Nano, Shuffle, and Touch,
08:31offering plenty of ways to enjoy your favorite tunes.
08:34Some versions even came with games.
08:36Many former iPod users probably remember the iTunes store to buy songs and build playlists.
08:42Apple officially discontinued the iPod product line in 2022,
08:46but its decline started long before, as the iPhone took over in the 2010s,
08:50blending music playback with so much more.
08:53As a business decision, this makes a lot of sense.
08:56People are not buying iPods.
08:59Number 10.
09:00Nintendo PictoChat.
09:02Before the iPhone, there was the Nintendo PictoChat.
09:05This 2004 messaging app was included on various Nintendo DS consoles.
09:11Essentially, one user could type or draw on their console
09:15and share their message to other DS users.
09:17Those who played Super Smash Bros. Brawl may recognize the PictoChat,
09:22as it actually appears as a stage in the game.
09:33The app is technically still alive, but let's be honest,
09:36does anyone actually use it anymore?
09:39I'm still cool.
09:40Nah, you've changed, man.
09:42The DS was discontinued in 2013,
09:45and the 3DS has since replaced PictoChat with another app titled Swapnote.
09:50Number 9.
09:51LiveJournal.
09:53This social networking service technically started back in 1999
09:57when a programmer named Brad Fitzpatrick created it to stay in touch with his friends.
10:01Nothing is more important than having the freedom to express
10:05your thoughts and feelings openly with others.
10:08On today's social networks, however,
10:10you probably feel pressure to censor many of your true feelings
10:13and opinions.
10:14The basics.
10:15People write a personal journal and other users can read it.
10:19It was eventually adopted by various fandoms
10:21and used for things like fan fiction and original stories,
10:25but even this was eventually taken elsewhere.
10:27I was so calm and boring, I didn't even want a LiveJournal.
10:30And then Dawson's Creek got bad
10:32because there was no one to speak truth to power.
10:33Dawson's Creek did not get bad.
10:35Nowadays, the service is mainly used in Russia.
10:38Isn't that good?
10:39Let's go.
10:40Russia!
10:42Russia!
10:42Yep, the product was eventually sold to Russian company SUP Media,
10:46where it became a popular site for political pundits and public figures.
10:50Claimed $30 million was paid for the global brand,
10:53but Soup suggested to Business Today the figure was much higher.
10:57So, like the Twitter of Russia?
10:59Number eight.
11:00Pagers.
11:01Shockingly enough, some people have never seen a pager outside of a movie.
11:05Can I ask you a question?
11:07Do you know if the hotel's pager friendly?
11:09What do you mean?
11:10I'm not getting a cig on my beeper.
11:11Pagers were essentially used to transmit voice and text messages
11:15before the invention of cell phones.
11:17Gosh, I hope you got a picture of that with the camera on your beeper.
11:20Actually, my beeper doesn't have a camera, but it does have a pedometer.
11:23Actually, not this one.
11:25These things have been used since the 50s,
11:27although they lasted well into the 2000s.
11:30First of all, Jake, there's no records that you and I teamed up together
11:33because you insisted that we only communicate through a beeper.
11:35Stupid beepers have a right to be addicted to our phones.
11:38In 2003 alone, the pager industry generated over $6 billion in revenue.
11:44Unfortunately, this all came crashing down upon the widespread adoption of cell phones
11:49and, you know, texting?
11:51Oh, my moolah! It's escaping my clutches!
11:53Nowadays, pagers are mainly used in public health and emergency industries.
11:58What's with the second beeper?
11:59Carla gave it to me.
12:00This is due to their systems being more reliable than cell networks.
12:04Number seven.
12:05Microsoft Zune.
12:07The Zune was essentially Microsoft's answer to the iPod.
12:11It was a line of portable media devices that could play music and videos
12:14through the Zune Music Pass service.
12:16Now just show me how to work this thing.
12:19Well, the turning thing there makes the songs go up and down.
12:22Made by primitive people.
12:23That is primitive.
12:24Show you some of my favorites.
12:25It's got traffic.
12:26That's really good.
12:27The first model, the Zune 30,
12:30came equipped with a whopping 30 gigs of storage and a three-inch screen.
12:34It was introduced in 2006, but sales were immediately stagnant.
12:43It took just 3% of the mp3 market and was considered dead by 2008.
12:49I stood in front of a case of iPods and I bought a Zune.
12:56What's a Zune?
12:57Yep, exactly.
12:58Sales had crashed and even major stores like GameStop
13:02refused to sell them, citing a lack of demand.
13:05I am never going to financially recover from this.
13:07The hardware hung on until 2011, until it was mercifully discontinued.
13:16CD players were introduced in 1982 and quickly eclipsed records
13:20as the primary method of listening to music.
13:22Well, lads, what do you think of the new album cover?
13:25Great, but it won't look good when it's shrunk down for a CD.
13:28CD?
13:29What's a CD?
13:30A digital compact disc?
13:32Their popularity lasted well into the 2000s.
13:35That is, before things like the iPod and smartphones essentially made them obsolete.
13:40I get iPod.
13:42He only get iPod mini.
13:43But before then, we needed something to hold our hundreds of CDs.
13:47The answer?
13:48CD binders.
13:50These were large books filled with plastic pages,
13:53and in these pages were slots in which to slide a CD.
13:56Unfortunately, the fun of flipping through these booklets
13:59went out with CD players themselves.
14:16Now we can scroll through our phones instead.
14:18Admittedly, it does not bring the same joy.
14:21Number 5.
14:23Sony Ericsson
14:24Remember the Sony Ericsson?
14:26Not many do.
14:27Pepperidge Farm remembers.
14:29The mobile market is a fickle thing, and many companies,
14:32including BlackBerry, have come and gone.
14:35Smartphones were actually in play long before the iPhone appeared in 2007.
14:46In fact, five years earlier,
14:48Sony released a touch-based smartphone called the Sony Ericsson P800.
14:53This ran under the Symbian OS, which was developed in the late 90s for PDAs.
14:58The final Ericsson phone was the Vivaz, which was introduced in March 2010.
15:03After that, the Ericsson brand was discontinued.
15:11Sony dropped their previous OS and began running Android,
15:15and they abandoned the Ericsson line to focus exclusively on the Xperia.
15:20Number 4.
15:21Halo 2 servers
15:23Few video games are as historic as Halo 2.
15:33Gentlemen, we're lucky to have you back.
15:35Its multiplayer component helped popularize Xbox Live
15:39and originated many now common aspects of online gaming,
15:43including matchmaking and lobbies.
15:45Multiplayer's a little different because it's more like a sport in that you're,
15:48you know, yes, the game is there,
15:49but it's basically helping you compete against your friends.
15:53Yep, one could certainly make the argument that online multiplayer gaming began with Halo 2,
15:58at least within the mainstream.
16:00Oh, I haven't had a chance to shower for a few days.
16:02I've been gaming like a loon.
16:04Unfortunately, a major part of its history is now dead.
16:07The Xbox Live server was officially discontinued in April of 2010,
16:12and the PC servers were terminated three years later.
16:15I thought we were gonna play Halo tonight.
16:17By the summer of 2013, all the OG Halo 2 servers were offline.
16:22Luckily, the game survives through the Master Chief collection,
16:25and its multiplayer can still be enjoyed to this day.
16:28Don't make a girl a problem if you know you can't keep it.
16:32Number three, MSN.
16:34There was simply nothing like getting home from school,
16:37grabbing a snack, and logging into MSN for the night.
16:40This was a basic service that allowed two or more people
16:43to talk to each other through text-based messaging.
16:45What about your girlfriend?
16:48Well, things are getting pretty serious right now.
16:51I mean, we chat online for like two hours every day,
16:54so I guess you could say things are getting pretty serious.
16:57Voice recordings were introduced in later iterations.
17:00The service really took off in the early 2000s,
17:03with version 7.5 being released in the summer of 2005.
17:13Following that, MSN was rebranded as Windows Live Messenger,
17:16and this was officially released in June of 2006.
17:21Unfortunately, it was also around this time that social media truly blew up,
17:29leaving Messenger in the dust.
17:31I don't want things to change.
17:33But you can't stop the change,
17:36any more than you can stop the suns from setting.
17:38Number two, LimeWire and Napster.
17:42Following the advent of the internet,
17:43it didn't take long for file-sharing clients to pop up.
17:47The most popular by far were LimeWire and Napster.
17:50Well, I founded an internet company that let folks download and share music for free.
17:55Kind of like Napster?
17:56Exactly like Napster.
17:58What do you mean?
17:59I founded Napster.
18:01Sean Parker founded Napster.
18:03Nice to meet you.
18:04These took advantage of something called peer-to-peer file-sharing.
18:07It essentially allowed people to download music
18:09from someone else's files without paying for it.
18:12Isn't that stealing?
18:13You downloaded a lot of songs.
18:16Says here you even downloaded Judas Priest.
18:19That's hard time you boys are looking at.
18:21You got anything to say for yourselves?
18:24We didn't think it was that big a deal.
18:26We'll let you be the judge.
18:28These systems exploded in the early 2000s and were easy enough to use,
18:32so much so that even the most technologically averse individuals could operate them.
18:37Of course, along with their popularity came the copyright lawsuits.
18:41As a result, Napster was forced to shut down in 2001.
18:44I'm starting to like this whole sharing thing.
18:47Hey, boys!
18:48Fuckin' bitch!
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19:091. Dial-Up Internet
19:11Anyone who used the internet in the early 2000s
19:15knows the sound of dial-up.
19:20As a result, the dial-up noise is something 14-year-old Hebe Richardson has come to dread.
19:25Dial-up allowed us to access the early internet,
19:28which was more of a Wild West experience than the corporatized internet of today.
19:33The speeds were cumbersome and the video and audio quality was not for the faint of heart.
19:45Welcome!
19:46But there was an undeniable sense of fun to it all.
19:49Hurry up, I'm a busy man.
19:51We were experiencing something truly groundbreaking.
19:55Historic, even.
19:56Napoleon, don't be jealous that I've been chatting online with babes all day.
20:00Of course, broadband killed dial-up in the mid-2000s,
20:03and a certain part of the internet ended with it.
20:06Broadband is the marriage of those technologies.
20:09The best description I heard came from a pioneer in broadband, Excite at Home.
20:13They call it the internet on steroids.
20:15One thing we don't miss, however, is having to log off so someone could use the phone.
20:20Yeesh.
20:21What do you miss the most from the 2000s?
20:23Let us know in the comments.
20:25You'll get three DVDs.
20:27Keep them as long as you want, without late fees.
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