Next iPod classic

The guide is based on historical product cycles. With the iPod classic, it's hard to say. On the one hand, it's unlikely Apple would have a large market for an even bigger than 160GB one. On the other hand, they could do all kinds of other things, like replace it with a touchscreen / hard disk iPod. I'd guess at some point they will do this and ditch the famous scrollwheel (maybe not for the nano or shuffle, though). But it's hard to know. They could also do a variety of little things like... release it in colors, make minor changes in battery life, screen brightness, thickness, etc, or reduce the price by streamlining (e.g. removing the 80GB option and selling the 160 at the current 80 price).

If you were buying for yourself, I'd suggest that you get a refurb or even a used one. I'm not sure the extent to which those are options for you for buying a present (depends on the circumstances).

Since you are buying for someone else, are you fairly sure that the Classic style is what they want? The Touch seems to be a hotter commodity / get more attention at this point.

FWIW my disclosure: I have three iPods currently, having purchased a total of four ever (my first broke after about four years). My iPods are a 4th generation iPod Photo 30GB, a 2nd generation iPod Nano 2GB Silver, and an iPhone 8GB.

 

Maybe just get your friend an Apple Store gift card so s/he can buy when ready...

 

That's a pretty good idea.

Though the buyer's guide says the Classic is nearing the end of its cycle, I think it's got a good few months before they update it. Given Apple's recent update trends, they have waited for the fall to release major iPod updates after they sell a fair amount of back stock off through the annual University iPod promotion. I wouldn't call for new Classics until late August or September.

Technology is always being updated and surpassed, but the fact that Apple's last few updates have come around that time frame gives the current Classic a great amount of life still. I say buy and let your friend enjoy, but if you really are that bothered by only having what may be a few months of being the most recent tech, a gift card may be right up your alley.

 

Well for the past three+ years its been in the fall with a particular "Apple Music Event." Its been in September in most cases. So that would be when a major update would probably be but there might be minor updates too (Colors ect+) I would say the classic is a fairly good buy right now if thats what he wants.

 

I don't think there will be a major classic update. Maybe one or two increases in HDD size but eventually the iPod Classic will be dicontinued in favour of the iPod Touch and Nano.

 

I dont know. I have an Ipod Touch 32gb and an old 20gb ipod.

The old fashioned scroll wheel is FAR superior for use in a car, or anywhere else where you want to get your music going with minimal distraction.

I really wish they would impliment a "soft" scroll wheel with center enter buton in the touch.

Don

 

Just to chime in about the people who are saying the classic will be discontinued: I don't think so. Many of us have huge libraries and, as far as I can tell, hard drives will always be way ahead of flash memory in terms of storage capacity. I just ordered a 160 GB classic because my 60 GB wasn't cutting it anymore, and I prefer to be able to sync my entire library over having to pick and choose what I want to transfer. It cost me $299 for a refurb. If Apple decided to discontinue the classic, the best available to me would be a 32 GB touch, at $499. In that case, they would have lost a customer. The touch is certainly nice, but some of us need to be able to store lots of songs and videos, not surf the web!

If they start producing hard drive based touches, or if flash memory makes some fantastic gains in its capabilities, then maybe.

Re: the original question at hand, a gift card might be a nice idea, but I'll echo the others here who said the classic probably won't be seeing any upgrades until at least September, and even those might be minor. Probably something like when they rolled out the 5.5G.

 

I don't think the classic will be killed anytime soon. The fact that Apple stuck a suffix to it shows that they have a plan for the classic in the future. What could happen is that we may see the HDD phased out in favor of SSDs when the cost becomes low enough, since the nano is limited to 1 flash memory chip and the touch is limited to 2 chips. Apple has their iPod line segmented pretty well now, and that can easily continue.

 

I agree. The iPod Classic is a legacy product and most people still recognize it as soon as they see it. I'm sure they still sell TONS of these things. To the OP I'd say you're safe buying the Classic for a friend, cause no significant updates to the Classic will likely be happening anytime soon (other than increased storage).

 

I echo the sentiment. Buying now is just fine. Especially for that type product. iPhone or other products I would say wait. But given that you are bound by a deadline driven purchase and the Classic is just that, I don't think that anything will change in price or features for at least a few months after your purchase. So it is a perfectly acceptable time to buy one.

 

Exactly. Theres always going to be a market for the high capacity iPod.

I have an iPhone. But as cool to use as it and the iPod touch are, they just don't compare to the capacity (and especially sound quality!) of the standard iPod.

I much prefer my 5.5G iPod to my iPhone and 8GB 3G iPod nano.

If I had to choose just 1 iPod to own, it'd certainly be a high capacity HDD based iPod.

If Apple kills them then they lose me as a customer.

 

By the time Apple gets to 256GB touch, most people won't care about the possibility of a 500GB Classic.

 

I dunno.. by that time there may be plenty of people with hefty libraries of HD movies and TV shows who might want to tote those around. Not to mention that there are already people out there with plain old music libraries approaching (or even exceeding) those sizes. And of course there are photos and games and whatever else...

The original iPod was only 5 GB and it was revolutionary! 1,000 songs, gee whiz! Storage demands always increase.

 

I really don't think there is going to be another iteration of the iPod classic.....

If it's not killed off this year, then next year for sure.

 

500GB iPod classic will be along well before a 256GB touch

The "iPod hard drives" are already at 240GB dual-platter and 120GB single platter. Thats probably what the iPod classic will be upgraded to this September.

But I also want to say that there are those of us who value sound quality over anything else. If the iPod touch continues to sound as awful as it does (compared to the 5.5G iPod and classic) then many of us (me in included) will continue to not care about the iPod touch until it does sound good

 

Ugh, how would you manage such a library? my library of 50gigs (99% music) requires enough time as it is. How do you listen to all of that (500gigs)?

 

videos....

 

Many, many videos.

 

HD Music Videos, Photos, HD Movies, HD TV Shows Etc Etc.... The list goes on.

 

I still don't think Apple will have a moving disk 500GB iPod. As of now, most iPod owners don't even have a 500GB HD on their computer, never mind a media collection that big. The demand will be too low when iPod-flash has got to 256GB that they won't bother.

 

I like how you'd need HD on a 320x240 screen.

 

Ok then Downscaled HD Videos still a couple of Gigs and better than normal quality you get right now.

 

If you could send HD Video out to a TV via a component cable, then does it still sound crazy? This is what I want. A portable (and dockable) media player. I would love the ability to share anything I want to anyone with a TV at the highest possible quality.

 

I doubt it. Those HDDs aren't expected to debut until 2009. As said before, Apple could just go to a single iPod classic at a lower price point, while the iPod touch nudges down in price a little further.

We probably won't see a 64 GB touch until 2009 unless Apple want to make a ridiculously expensive iPod touch. In 2009, I think we'll see the end of HDD based iPods, but for now, HDDs are still good enough to beat flash.