iPod What do you think will happen to the iPod classic?

I think it'll be there for a while yet, I can't see them killing it off next year, once SSD's catch up to HD's (in terms of price and capacity), but by the time that happens the original iPod design will be seen as old...

The strongest point for the survival of the iPod Classic is, that it is the ONLY iPod that can hold an entire music library and your entire photo library. (At least when considering the average size of a library.) SSD are to expensive to offer this capacity. And the HD makes it hard to build in a device that encourages you to shake your iPod.
So I think the iPod Classic has still some years left in it.

I don't think that Apple put a HDD in the Touch...with the update of only the external volume controls, it seems to me that they want to keep the Touch SDD equipped. That being said, I don't think that SDD will catch up to HDD storage for a couple years, keeping the Classic line running until then. I imagine that Apple didn't release a 240 GB model yet because of 2 reasons.
1) They weren't sure if a 240 GB would have sold that well, and they were testing the waters to see what kind of response there would be.
2) I know that Toshiba had announced a 120 GB single platter not too long ago, and to go from an announcement to a product would take some time.

Granted, a 240 GB would be an excellent addition to my Apple electronics family. It would make sense, my Mini shipped with an 80 GB HDD and I bought an 80 GB Classic. I installed a 250 GB HDD in my Mini, and a 240 GB Classic would accompany it well...ensuring that I have all of my media. Being a musician, it's very handy to be able to pull up a specific recording at a moments notice.

I think the 240GB drives just weren't quite ready yet, but Apple do not want you to wait so they won't tell you that.

Plus they may need to update the OS to make it reliable with that much data.

I think it will be discontinued by this time next year. Apple seems to be focusing on the iPod Touch and Nano.

Speculation about the future has never been a forte of mine, but for the reasons previous posters have mentioned - size of memory of the current classic, the fact that larger (ie 240) technologies don't as yet, seem to have been developed by Apple, the fact that SSD technology is not yet at the required level of capacity, all point to the classic being with us for a while yet. I'd give it another few years when I'd expect to see developments in SSD technology supplanting what has been an excellent design.
Cheers

Capacity bumps for ipod classic to 240gb and ipod touch to 64gb in Feb-March timeframe.

If it ain't broke.....

You do realize that the iPod Classic retains the personification of the iPod, its shape and design alone is recognizable around the world. My point is that they likely still sell more of these than the other iPods and discontinuing it would be a big mistake.

It'll stick around for years and just grow in capacity. Hence the name "Classic".

Maybe Apple with pull a Coke and introduce 'New Coke' by discontinuing the classic in favor of the touch, then re-introducing the classic a year later...

I think they're going to keep the classic in their range, adding more capacity to it as time goes by. The lower capacity models will eventually be fitted with SSD's.

mandoman said:

Maybe Apple with pull a Coke and introduce 'New Coke' by discontinuing the classic in favor of the touch, then re-introducing the classic a year later...

Click to expand...

That whole fiasco was just a bait and switch to distract from the introduction of high fructose corn syrup instead of sugar, in my opinion.

Hopefully Apple isn't pulling anything like that.

GimmeSlack12 said:

If it ain't broke.....

You do realize that the iPod Classic retains the personification of the iPod, its shape and design alone is recognizable around the world. My point is that they likely still sell more of these than the other iPods and discontinuing it would be a big mistake.

It'll stick around for years and just grow in capacity. Hence the name "Classic".

Click to expand...

I disagree. While I think it is a near-perfect machine for what it is, (more so than the touch) I believe they knew they were killing it off the day they named it the 'classic'.

There was another product they called 'Classic'. That was OS 9.

I expect they're in a transitional period, and the nano will eventually be the only click-wheel iPod. They've just got to wait for the capacities to rise.

decksnap said:

There was another product they called 'Classic'. That was OS 9.

Click to expand...

Well stated.

decksnap said:

I expect they're in a transitional period, and the nano will eventually be the only click-wheel iPod. They've just got to wait for the capacities to rise.

Click to expand...

Capacities to rise and more importantly prices to fall. So if that happens, then ok, I could see that happening (Classic discontinued). I did read an editorial maybe on Giz that the scroll wheel has got to go. And I agreed with that viewpoint.

I think that the Classic may disappear when flash drives exceed 128GB.
That will call for a 256GB Touch.
In the mean time there will probably be a 240GB Classic released along with a 64GB Touch.
The Classic is where it all started; that gives me reason to believe it will be here for a while.

the classic will still be around, it seems pretty evident though that apple won't be spending as much time developing it. same design, maybe more colors, capacity bumps, that's it. ipod classic.