iPod touch Considering purchasing the classic rather than the touch - is that silly?

[bazza88]

I am debating over which iPod I should purchase and the choice has come down to the iPod classic or iPod touch.

I am leaning towards the classic because of the physical buttons to control music playback, the click wheel which is superb to use, the durability - it has a quality feel to it and obviously because of the huge storage.

Storage is not my priority however and I could get away with a touch and be selective regarding my music if I ever need to.

I have a Nokia 5800 which has GPS, Wi-Fi and 3G etc along with the ovi store - no match for apple's app store mind, however perhaps the iPod touch just performs these features better?

I have never owned an iPod touch or iPhone so I am unsure as to the exact "wow" factor of the device. Some of the main selling features do seem a bit gimmicky and seem to take away from the main point of the iPod - to listen to music.

Therefore I am really looking for people who own the iPod touch to tell me otherwise and that it is indeed much better than the classic iPod and all other iPods before hand.

For portable music playback as a priority is the iPod touch better than an iPod classic and if not is the extra features the iPod touch contains worth it as a trade off?

Discuss please.


Cheers,

 

[bjh1414]

I own the Ipod TOuch 2nd gen, and i have to say AWESOME!!!

I can see the appeal if you have a HUGE music collection, but if yours is under 32gb, i would say there is no contest, Ipod Touch is WAYYYY better then the classic. It's thinner, it has amazing apps (dont get me started...), it plays music quite well, with the bar at the top for skipping its a bit better than the Classic.

The ONLY reason i would get the Classic, is if you have 100gb of music/video.

 

[7even]

You think the clickwheel is a great way to navigate music until you actually try using the Touch... much easier to find songs, imo. Then you get into all the other features the Touch has that the Classic doesn't..

 

[bazza88]

Thanks for your reply and the bar at the top for skipping sounds intriguing.

I'll await more responses before I make my decision though lol.

It's probably not even a decision for the majority.

 

[j26]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the 5800 marketed as a music phone?

Nokia Multimedia Transfer works fine for me with my N95, or if you want more features you could buy Missing Sync

Do you really need another device to bring with you?

 

[bjh1414]

well heres some pics, and explanations:

COVERFLOW!!!! - a feature the ipod touch, that the classic doesnt have, and is pretty cool looking:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/visualsense/1465056046/

That top bar is a music skipper thingy, like i was saying, you just drap it to where you want, and it starts playing:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sigalakos/1495150029/

Touch screen navigation is also EXCELLENT, because you just flick the screen to move the list of songs down, and click on the one you want, when it may take you awhile with a clickwheel.

Check this out for a full feature review, and a little guided tour:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0G3HLGnL2g

 

[eawmp1]

I just got an iPod Touch (2G on steep discount) for the kids. I have held onto my old Classic from the days of ripping 128/256 kbs and being able to carry my ENTIRE music/photo collection with me. However, after re-ripping my CD library into lossless, I would need a 1 TB iPod to carry all of my music.

I jumped into the iPhone this Summer and had to come to grips with SELECTING songs and photos to carry around. That psychological hurdle cleared, I love the iPhone/iPod Touch music handling. Navigation is way easier than with a click wheel. And when on wifi, the Touch can do everything my iPhone can (even VOIP calls/texts).

So I vote iPod Touch.

You can read the manual:
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/iPod_touch_3.1_User_Guide.pdf

 

[instaxgirl]

I have an iPhone and I prefer my iPod video for music.

I find the clickwheel way more intuitive, plus I don't almost have a heart attack every time I drop the thing. And the bar they're talking about is just the ability to move position within a track, which I find much easier to do with the clickwheel

I generally think that the only place the iPod touch interface wins is that it's prettier.

(also as a side note does anyone actually use cover flow? I've just found it an annoying gimmick ever since it was introduced)

 

[broken-chaos]

(also as a side note does anyone actually use cover flow? I've just found it an annoying gimmick ever since it was introduced)

I haven't used it much but I've found that it can be a quick way to shuffle through albums, particularly if you have appropriate album covers for everything.

I can't really weigh in on the original question, however. I have an iPod touch and love it, but if you already have a device doing everything except media that you're happy with, it may just be overkill. If you can, I'd recommend trying out a display model of each (such as in an Apple Store), and then go think on it a bit more before making your decision.

 

[bjh1414]

"I don't almost have a heart attack every time I drop the thing"

ALmost the EXACT opposite, this reminded me, the Ipod Classic uses a Hard drive which is fragile if you drop it, whereas the Ipod Touch uses flash memory, that can be dropped and still remail intact, and it also keeps the Ipod Touch THIN, where the Classic is pretty thick still :/

 

[kwajkat]

My 120GB Classic has cover flow. I don't notice any difference between it and my new 64GB iTouch. So my guess would be that either one would be fine. The iTouch will do more than the Classic will, apps, etc plus the 3rd gen 32 & 64gb are abit faster and they have newer software and hardware. Nothing was changed on the Classic other than to bring back the 160GB model.

 

[chris975d]

I have an iPhone and I prefer my iPod video for music.

I find the clickwheel way more intuitive, plus I don't almost have a heart attack every time I drop the thing. And the bar they're talking about is just the ability to move position within a track, which I find much easier to do with the clickwheel

I generally think that the only place the iPod touch interface wins is that it's prettier.

(also as a side note does anyone actually use cover flow? I've just found it an annoying gimmick ever since it was introduced)

I'm with instaxgirl on this one. I find that for plain out listening to music, especially if you're walking/at work/doing anything other than just sitting looking at the music player, the click wheel is better to navigate music with. You can use it by "feel" (not looking at it) after just a short period of time, whereas with the iPhone/Touch, you HAVE to look at the player to change track, etc. That part annoys the hell out of me about the iPhone. If you're running, biking, etc, you just about have to stop doing that to change anything on the player, whereas the click wheel you can do by feel on the fly. So, I'd ask myself if I'm listening to music primarily with the device, and also HOW/WHERE i'm planning on listening to that music.

 

[bjh1414]

i use a shuffle for active momnts (mowing the grass, running, working out, etc.) And then i use my itouch for entertainment!

 

[dynamo22]

I haven't used it much but I've found that it can be a quick way to shuffle through albums, particularly if you have appropriate album covers for everything.

I can't really weigh in on the original question, however. I have an iPod touch and love it, but if you already have a device doing everything except media that you're happy with, it may just be overkill. If you can, I'd recommend trying out a display model of each (such as in an Apple Store), and then go think on it a bit more before making your decision.

For me I rarely use cover flow on an ipod touch, let alone listen to music in landscape mode. It's like one of those features that you never use, but good to have. I understand why they implemented it due to the accelerometer, but on a practical everyday use, personally I am not a fan.

 

[clevin]

classic should be discontinued, its been on life support purely to get some $$$ from confused users. Its a disgrace.

 

[bjh1414]

very true clevin, but it is CLASSIC lol, they need to totally REVAMP it with all flash, and a ton of it, to equal the 160gb. then they need to add some unique feature to it, like a fingerprint scanner for security

 

[gan6660]

I went through the exact same dilema this summer with the back to school promotion but I ended up with a 2nd gen touch. I just didnt think Id get enough use out of the classic. This is coming from someone who had a 1st gen touch so instead of a touch and a classic I have two touch's thats how fun they are.

 

[samy88]

I'm with instaxgirl on this one. I find that for plain out listening to music, especially if you're walking/at work/doing anything other than just sitting looking at the music player, the click wheel is better to navigate music with. You can use it by "feel" (not looking at it) after just a short period of time, whereas with the iPhone/Touch, you HAVE to look at the player to change track, etc. That part annoys the hell out of me about the iPhone. If you're running, biking, etc, you just about have to stop doing that to change anything on the player, whereas the click wheel you can do by feel on the fly. So, I'd ask myself if I'm listening to music primarily with the device, and also HOW/WHERE i'm planning on listening to that music.

Well that's not exactly correct for the new 32/64 touch models. They come with the new earphones with the mic, which im guessing, would allow you to control skipping, volume changing etc. without looking at the screen.

I don't have one yet but my experience with remote earphones says that navigating on the touch without looking shouldn't be a problem.

 

[bazza88]

Well that's not exactly correct for the new 32/64 touch models. They come with the new earphones with the mic, which im guessing, would allow you to control skipping, volume changing etc. without looking at the screen.

I don't have one yet but my experience with remote earphones says that navigating on the touch without looking shouldn't be a problem.

Yes I was thinking about that also.

I reckon the remote is a good idea however will Apple release a remote adaptor so that you can use other headphones?

 

[ajones46]

I would go iPod Touch all the way:
-Bigger Screen, ooh pretty!
-Flash memory, much more secure if dropped
-Thinner, slides in pocket easier
-Apps, you don't think you need em, but when you do...
-Wifi, who doesn't love the interwebs
-the "Ohh!" factor
-No physical buttons to get jammed/stuck

I have had both, so for me it's no decision. Also, this strikes me as odd, but as of right now, it's 6 votes Classic and 6 votes Touch, but every post here is for the Touch. Where's all the people backing the Classic?

 

[aethelbert]

If you truly are buying the device for the primary purpose of playing music, the classic wins by leaps and bounds. As for being a well-rounded omnibus device, not so much.

 

[bazza88]

Thanks for everyone’s responses.

Still though, the poll appears to be a dead heat at 7-7.

 

[zenoran]

I would say touch... you don't consider all the other apps and things u can do with the touch because you haven't had it but it's nice to have the browser to pop open a page when your watching tv real quick to look something up or other various internet tasks around the house... or streaming internet radio stations? I mean come on.. that's a no brainer there to me... although I listen to streaming radio more than I do to my music library.

on the note of diskspace... I find it rather difficult to select stuff to sync manually, especially having a library over 200gb... However, the smart playlists in iTunes are really really really awesome for managing a portable device... if you rate your music you can setup playlists that automatically update based on songs you've rated 3+ or whatever... so as I'm listening to my massive library I try to always rate the song and next time I sync I'll have it on my device without even doing anything... it's a great way to get all the stuff u actually want to hear on a smaller storage device.

I honestly can't think of any good reason to get the classic unless u absolutely must have the extra space.

 

[bjjp2]

I already have an older Touch, but I just bought a new classic to replace my older one. For me, I prefer the classic to listen to music for two reasons--1. The click wheel. I listen to music 3 hours a day while commuting, usually on shuffle setting. I have the iPod in my shirt pocket, and I adjust volume and skip tracks through the pocket, without taking the iPod out. Can't do that with the Touch. You have to pull it out and look at it. Big pain. 2. I have a lot of music. Need the extra capacity.

 

[creon]

This is like comparing apples and oranges!

The touch and the classic have very different UIs.

It depends on what you will be doing with the iPod (classic or touch). If you are going to be using it with sports (running, lifting..) I would say the classic.

At the end of the day (and thread) it all depends on you.