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I don't know about the Shuffle, but they should keep the Classic around until they can have a Touch that rivals its capacity. I still love being able to tote around my entire music/photo libraries without spreading it between several devices.
 
Real music fans I see tend to use a classic - the only people who I see use iPod touches are kids, who can't afford/haven't been allowed an iPhone.
 
Screw Apple! They shouldn't have discontinued the ipod. Apple is no longer a company I have any respect for ANYMORE. They have gone too far.. I hope it does crumble under Tim Cooks Totalitarian command.

With Jobs gone(almost), the company might have problems.. as I don't trust Apple anymore. I am about to toss my Apple stuff in the trash.

Man, you are so right! They shouldn't have discontinued the Mac line or the iPad line, either!! All they sell now are iPhones and Airport Express!!! That is so *^%$*& LAME!!!!

Actually, I did throw my 80 GB iPod Video in the trash. It wasn't intentional, though: I kept my iPod on my nightstand, and there was a wastebasket under my nightstand. One day, my iPod disappeared, and I haven't seen it since. The logical conclusion is that it accidentally got knocked into the wastebasket and went out with the trash. I considered replacing it, but I've been managing okay with my iPhone 4. Once the iPhone hits 128 GB (I'm guessing in two years), it will hold all my iTunes music, apps, and photos. I figure I can hold out until then.
 
If they get rid of the classic I'll have to get another brand of mp3 player, I guess. They're not even close to the capacity I need with their other players, and streaming isn't going to work until the coverage is 100% where I live, again, not even close.:(
 
Nooooooooooooooo

I love my shuffle. I can take it anywhere. I can clip it to any shirt. I can store it in my pocket without leaving a big lump. I can clip it to my pants or shorts. It plays my audiobooks, podcasts, and music with ease. VoiceOver makes it easy to scroll through my playlists. Also, since it's only $50, it's not the end of the world if the thing gets wet or damaged. If I get my iPhone wet, it's the equivalent cost of a car accident.

I lost 40lbs last year and I give the iPod shuffle a good share of the credit. It's portability makes taking it to the gym and pool a no-brainer.

I own an iPhone, an iPod classic and an iPod nano, but it's the shuffle that I listen to most.
 
I find this a shame.

I have a classic Video (5G), the first one that played videos in color. I also have a Nano with camera (the long style, not the new touchscreen).

I've upgraded my 5G video with a brighter screen and a battery. It's good as new, and the hard drive has never crashed (now that I say that watch it happen!).

It's a shame to see these go, because there are still places where cameras, microphones, and wireless devices (3G, WiFi, BlueTooth) are not allowed. If they stop producing these iPods, I will be forced to take my business elsewhere for a basic MP3 player if my 5G ever dies...
 
Here's my prediction:

New 4GB Nano introduced at $99 and Apple hope that potential shuffle buyers will choose that instead. Existing Nano may have capacity or price changes, but otherwise unchanged.

iPod touches have storage capacity doubled for the same price - so a 128GB touch for $399. Maybe a visual refresh too (either to match iPhone 5, or move away from iPhone styling).
 
Apple owes the iPod, if it is going to axe it at least the iPod Classic deserves to go out in style with a Farewell Special Edition of a new iPod Classic with 500GB and a cool new design. I bet they would sell lots of them.

Cool idea (obviously, due to response), but Apple is always looking forward and never behind. Still, I would buy a 500GB Classic without a doubt!
 
I have been using my 20 GB 4th Gen for what, 6, 7 years? Still works flawlessly. Same with a first Gen nano. And my sisters' 3rd Gen nanos. All work perfectly. So, what was it about all these drives crapping out?
I got a 20GB iPod as a refurb', some years ago. It died within two months (luckily, under warranty). At the time, an internet search revealed that drive failure (for the models with hard drives, not the flash storage iPods) was quite widespread, the click of death or similar.

My identical replacement unit, however, is still going well.

As others have mentioned, I use the iPod in the car. I can control it without looking at it with its nice wheel, unlike the iPhone, so I find it better than a touch-screen for that purpose.

A.
 
I absolutely love my Shuffle. Use it every day at work. Nine + hours of great music following my playlists in a package smaller than a book of matches.

I think it is a fantastic product for what it is.

Never cared for the latest generation Nano, as it seemed to add nothing useful to the music listening experience--just bigger and more expensive. I don't need a touch interface on a dedicated music-only player or a fancy screen with album art the size of a postage stamp. Bump the Shuffle memory and keep it as is otherwise, at the same price point. If anything, dump that Nano instead.

As far as the Classic is concerned, it seems that the Touch will gradually ramp up the flash tech to get in the ballpark of the HDD storage capacity, and for a portable device flash is much better tech than a fragile spinning drive.
 
Personally, I can't stand the UI of the iOS Music (formerly iPod) app. If I select a Genre, I want to be able to drill down to a particular artist and album within said genre, not be bombarded with an A-Z track listing featuring every artist all intertwined. How am I supposed to cull through 2,500 classical tracks when 500 of them have a track titled "Allegro"? With the iPod video/Classic you can select a genre, then an artist, then an album, like a normal human being.

And don't even get me started on streaming audio rubbish. There's a reason I spend time ripping my CDs to .m4a ALAC and vinyl at 24bit/96khz (downsampled to 48khz for iPod).
 
Screw Apple! They shouldn't have discontinued the ipod. Apple is no longer a company I have any respect for ANYMORE. They have gone too far.. I hope it does crumble under Tim Cooks Totalitarian command.

With Jobs gone(almost), the company might have problems.. as I don't trust Apple anymore. I am about to toss my Apple stuff in the trash.

I would gladly take all your "junk".
 
This bums me out, I love my classic, I have an iPhone and I have not a single song on it. I use my classic for music only. It's good for storage. Worst move apple :mad:
 
The won't can the iPod Classic its the ipod that started this all and its there for people who like having lots of storage.

Unfortunately I can see them canning it for two reasons:

a) a feeble attempt to push classic users to iPod Touch devices (which probably wouldn't happen anyway because the device's audience is way different)
b) To promote their POS iCloud service. The less space they offer the better chance they have at getting people to shell out yearly/monthly fees for capacity.

This is coming from someone who is a big classic fan. It is definitely the best music player on the market as far as capacity is concerned. I own the touch, nano, shuffle and the classic is the one I come back to the most.
 
The Shuffle is the only iPod I have any use for.

I love to listen to podcasts while I exercise. The iPod Shuffle is the perfect gym mp3 player. If Apple axes the Shuffle, I hope they come up with another small light player. The rest of the iPod product line holds no appeal for me. In my opinion, the 2nd gen Shuffle is the best. The 4th gen is nice and small, but it's clip is a little hard to use, but it's still better for my use than anything else Apple makes.
 
Just hearing about the death of the classic line makes me regret selling off my white 5th gen iPod (30GB) for only a measly $20 extra when my first gen iPhone was bought. That was my first Apple product I ever purchased back in 10/20/2005. Bought it for $300 and got so excited. I used it constantly even at work for 1.5 years. I dropped it so many times though and it had a Agent 18 hard case on that would collect lint and scratch the back. It sorta got messed up when it fell hard on a tile floor face-first. It wouldn't connect to iTunes.

I remember being at the Apple Store a few months ago and being the one checking out the classic. It was on the side somewhere and displaying them in two colors. Such a shame. Even though my iPod only could run at 8-12 hours and video at 2 hours compared to my iPhone 4 which is like 4-5x longer, I am going to miss that click wheel.

If you compare the iPod classic vs nano, the former really does offer more value even if it is bigger. While I like certain gens of the nano (2nd, 4th, and 5th gens were the best), I always felt they were the most overpriced ones of the line-up. The shuffle at $49 was just there and not going to break the bank. The iPod classic is the most ideal for parties or for inside your car. The sentimentalist in me will miss them although I can understand Apple wanting to move away from it and follow where the real money is at.

My favorite generation from each iDevice model

Classic - 5th gen had the nicest looks followed by the unique 3rd gen

Mini - Both gens and in different colors. Anodized aluminum casing rocked!

Nano - 2nd had the best backside (anodized aluminum casing) with 4th and 5th having the best overall features. 5th had the camera, but 4th was colorful and not so glossy.

Shuffle - 2nd and 4th gen. I like it at that size.

Touch - Although I owned the 1st gen, I would say the 4th gen because it contains the A4 chip, the front-facing camera, and share similar features to the iPhone 4

iPhone - 4th followed by the more rugged 1st gen

iPad - 2nd gen so far just because it is thinner and has a camera
 
In my opinion, Apple should keep at least ONE iPod model with tactile feedback, instead of only touchscreen interface. Am I alone to think that?

Nope, blind people like music too.

that and people that dont want to mess with their music player to skip a track.
 
Does this mean Steve Jobs is a liar???

This is a quote from a response to an email sent to Jobs:

Q: Hello, I've heard a LOT of speculation that Apple is looking to kill the iPod Classic because it wasn't updated on Sept. 1st, and that a lot of people would rather Touch. The iPod Classic is probably the best iPod in the line. PLEASE DON'T KILL IT!!!

A: We have no plans to.

Source:
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/03/22/steve-jobs-no-plans-to-discontinue-ipod-classic/
Meanwhile, it's not March anymore and Steve Jobs is not CEO. :rolleyes:
 
Now that the price of SSD is dropping you'll probably find we'll see a 128 and 256 gb model of the touch within the next year or two, with a 512 to follow in around 3-4 years.

As much as I don't want Apple to discontinue the Classic, its not really unexpected. If it no longer makes sense to produce them, why sell it. Everyone here has been so negative towards it, but how many of you actually own the Classic - I bet its very few. Personally, I'm happy with the last nano (before it went square touchscreen) - its a great size, looks great and stores a nice amount of songs.

I for one own the classic, and I love it, and still use it quite often even though I have the iPhone as well. The other good thing about the Classic, that's an advantage over the iPhone and iTouch, is that it can be used as an external device. The external device on the Classic is very handy, because if I need to print something off my laptop at school (I normally don't bring my external drive with me), I can save it to my Classic, go to the computer lab, and then print it up from there, especially if the file size is too large for e-mail
 
I still own an ancient iPod Photo, maybe the best electronic device I have ever bought. I have used it soooo much, everyday, for at least a couple of hours. Now the HD starts to malfunction and I was expecting for the iPod update to buy a classic. It's sad it will be dismissed. Maybe I'll buy one while they are still around.
 
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