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iPod Classic's Future in Doubt Due to Shrinking Market for 1.8" Hard Drives?

I miss my old 5.5G. The iPod OS is really simple and easy to navigate, and the Classic has enough storage for all my music and a few movies. (I can put maybe on or two movies on my Touch; not enough.) I really hope the Classic doesn't go out; it may very well be my next purchase from Apple when my Touch runs out of space for my music and pictures.
 
I don't see the touch as a replacement for the Classic. I have one of each, and the music interface on the touch is way clunky compared to the Classic.

I only hope my 80GB Classic keeps working for many years, since I don't think I'll ever fill it up.
 
I hope the Classic remains. I don't know what I'd do without mine. The Touch is certainly no replacement for the simple Classic interface and its capacity.
 
PCMacUser said:
I hope the Classic remains. I don't know what I'd do without mine. The Touch is certainly no replacement for the simple Classic interface and its capacity.
Click to expand...

Right, I have both and love my Touch for the cool apps and interface, but my Classic is what has my whole media collection and what I use when driving or trying to fall asleep to music, or even on my dock when listening to music while cleaning. I dislike trying to fiddle with the Touch's touch screen from the awkward angle inside the dock, or while trying to drive. Much simpler to just hit the touch wheel.
 
For Apple, the iPod touch has the advantage of being compatible with the App Store => more money for Apple.
 
Boo. I have 270GB of lossless music... was looking forward to an iPod where I wouldn't have to bother compressing anything before syncing... would be much easier.

Though admittedly I can fit most of the music I want to listen to when I'm "on the go" on my 16GB Nano. Classical music sounds crappy through earphones, and I'm hardly likely to drag my big Denons with their 3-metre cable round the streets :).

Though I would like a pair of high-end canalphones like the Westone 3 to do justice to my classical collection... them + a 256GB iPod Nano/Touch and I'm in heaven ;)
 
It would be a sad sight to see the ipod line up without the classic. This model started the whole ipod line and with some great designs over the years - my favorite being the 3rd generation, with those gorgeous light up buttons. If the classic goes, it leaves just the nano with the traditional click wheel interface, and one has to wonder how long before the nano adopts a touch interface instead.
 
No App Sales from Classic

I love my 160 Classic - I expect to have it filled within the next year.

Once we get to a 128 GB Touch and 64 GB iPhone, I think we'll (unfortunately) see the end of the Classic. The App Store does not benefit from the Classic - that is reason alone that Apple probably will try to EOL it, and bring Classic users to the more versatile and profitable iTouch and iPhone.

Ray
 
jeffy.dee-lux said:
I use a 30Gig 5G ipod for music only. Since i walk or bike everywhere, I can't see myself watching videos on a portable device any time soon. That's why I think they should continue to offer a flash based classic iPod, without the touch screen and wifi capabilities, to offer something cheaper for those of us who just want to bring our music around.

If they could pull of a 64Gig flash based iPod classic, I'd be all over that. Don't flash drives offer better battery performance anyways?

Anyway, I've only just hit the 30gig limit with my music library. I can deal with picking and choosing and a bit of music culling for the time being. There's some stuff I simply don't need to hear anymore.
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I'd love to see them keep a big capacity iPod at that lower price but I don't think they're going to keep the classic around much longer. The iPhone and the iPod touch are far better at generating ongoing revenue than the standard iPods and it makes more sense to ditch the classic.

However if they eventually did release something like a 128GB iPod touch it would be right at the high end of the price scale, not in the middle like the current one.

I see them putting out a high-capacity nano at 32GB and getting rid of the classic next year.
 
scooterbaga said:
More capacity = More options
Last I heard having more options is better than having less of them. The Classic is a powerhouse in its own right. It should stick around.
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Well put.

I'm so happy I got the 160GB when it was available. And if this rumor is true, then who knows maybe the 160GB will be worth some money. Of course I won't be selling mine since there is nothing else able to hold all my media.

bulk storage, forever
picking and choosing what you can take with you, never!
 
I don't use my 80Gig Classic since I got my 8Gig iPod Touch, but I do have all my music backed up on it, in case my computer gets ****ed.

I don't mind picking and choosing music, but it's nice to have a backup of your music without having to even think about it.
 
Apple is not sentimental in the slightest. Once the component prices start to rise due to their scarcity, the Classic is gone. The writing was on the wall when they changed its name to 'Classic'.
 
I don't think there are any 5mm (which is the height of the drive used on the 120GB classic, regular 1.8" hard-drive have 8mm height) larger than the current 120GB. And we know Apple's obsession with thinness, so I don't think they will bring back a thicker classic just to up the capacity.

Couple things that may happen.
1. Keeping the same 120GB, adding voice over. Really, Apple cannot do much on the classic. I don't see Toshiba releasing higher capacity 5mm height hard-drives than the current 120GB. Plus, Apple's obsession with thinness made them discontinued the thicker Classics last year, so I doubt Apple would bring them back. Price cut might happen too, dropping the price to, let's say, $199 to $229. Really, not many competitors here other than the Zune 120, so Apple might as well keep the same $249 price point.
2. Discontinue it altogether. Apple might just decide it's time to truly focus on the iPod Touch, and the oddball Classic pricing was in the way. This might irk some people desiring high capacity players, but I don't think the majority of the consumers would be bothered. I doubt the sales of the Classic is that great, as the big sellers are the Touch and nano.
3. Make a flash based Classic. Really, this is my wish. As much as I love the 3G nano, its controls are just too small. I love my 5G iPod, but the hard-drive prevented me from using it on the go. Maybe a Touch Classic? It will have a full touch screen like the iPod Touch, but with the stripped down OS, focusing on the iPod capabilities (no safari, no app store, etc). Price and capacity, maybe 16GB at $199, and 32GB at $299. Imo this is highly unlikely though, as it is really overlapping with the iPod Touch, and Apple usually prefer a clean lineup.

Well, it's sad to see high capacity hard-drive based players are going away. It wasn't that long ago we have hard-drive based Creative Jukebox, and the original iPod. Flash memory are just more reliable, and their pricing continues to go down.
 
I have never known ANYONE who could fill up their iPod classic with music... Although in my honest opinion? Discontinue the mini HDD and use a mini SSD. Put those in the iPod Touch too!
 
I love my Classic and to be honest, it is the only iPod that I considered buying. I own an iPhone and really have no interest in ever owning an iPod Touch, even if it has 100+ GB of storage. The beauty of the classic is the original design combined with high storage capacity and lower price. Sure, users without an iPhone would probably love a 100+ GB iPod touch, but it would also likely cost double, if not more than the current Classic. Don't ditch the iPod Classic!!!
 
The classic is huge in terms of volume, you could shove a lot of flash memory in there and the price wouldn't be bad.

For $30 you can get a 16gb memory stick, that's a normal price for retail online, no rebates or anything. With the $249 apple's charging now, cut off a bit of overhead for the electronics and some profit, go down to $180 to spend on storage, and at *RETAIL* that's at least 96GB, chances are you can get quite a bit more with Apple's resources and a layout/chipset specifically sized and fit for an iPod.

Basically for the same price, and maybe a slim profit margin on the low end, Apple could offer a 120gb flash player. It doesn't have to be fast flash for audio/video playback either.

At any rate, my suspicion is that they will discontinue these players entirely because the touch platform is so incredibly successful. The iPhone OS based devices are Apple's new Macintosh and I think you'll see this line expanded upon and grown as their primary market over the next 3 years. I expect even their laptop lines will change to reflect the reduced interest in personal computing and older style devices probably with even more focus on the workstation/enterprise markets with a couple standbys for the home/student user.

Interesting times in the computing world...
 
Moriarty said:
Boo. I have 270GB of lossless music... was looking forward to an iPod where I wouldn't have to bother compressing anything before syncing... would be much easier.

Though admittedly I can fit most of the music I want to listen to when I'm "on the go" on my 16GB Nano. Classical music sounds crappy through earphones, and I'm hardly likely to drag my big Denons with their 3-metre cable round the streets :).

Though I would like a pair of high-end canalphones like the Westone 3 to do justice to my classical collection... them + a 256GB iPod Nano/Touch and I'm in heaven ;)
Click to expand...

All canalphones distort the sound compared to open listening, you'll never be 100% happy. However, they still sound pretty good and are far better than regular earbuds, and definitely better than any of those wretched active noise reduction options....

But that said, as a fellow lossless fan, I'd strongly suggest that, at the same time you adjust to your music in canalphones you give 256kbps AAC a spin. It sounds fantstic, and the rare occasional distortion you might actually be able to notice, you'll probably just chalk it up to your new headphones anyway. If all you have is 270gb of lossless music, it shouldn't be much of a stretch to keep two versions around, at least til storage capacities catch up.
 
Neotyguy40 said:
I have never known ANYONE who could fill up their iPod classic with music
Click to expand...

Well, here i am. A lot of it is actually still in encoded in 160kbps, as the 160GB iPod would not be able to hold all of it in high-bitrate VBR. Being able to simply sync the iPod is just so much more convenient than having to decide what to take on the road.

The iPod ("classic") is far from being perfect in my opinion (no "Album by Year" sort option, compilation-only artists not displayed in artists overview, the infamous random pause bug on the 160GB model...). Yet I would not part with my "classic" if the only alternative is a lower-capacity touchscreen-model that includes such things as an internet browser or even a camera. All I need and want is a compact, portable device that is capable of playing music (formerly known as "MP3 player").
 
Interesting news. The price of those high-capacity drives is high and given their margins, I'm not sure whether Apple can successfully market and sell enough iPods at that capacity at a suitable retail price, especially in this economy

Just the other day, I was thinking about what to do about my next iPod; I'm not entirely enamoured with the current iPod Classics because the size bump wasn't quite worth it from my 80gb 5.5. I've got a lot of music, most of it in 320AAC, and like having most, if not all of it on my iPod, instead of faffing about with playlists too much, which I currently have to do.

Given that my 5.5 is still in very good condition, I was thinking of putting in a new battery next year and possibly buying one of the Toshiba 240GB drives to put in it, but if they're going to be in short supply, then it might be best to do it sooner rather than later.

If anyone fancies doing the same, it's the Toshiba MK2431GAH, which apparently will only work in 2nd generation iPod Videos (5.5G 60GB & 80GB). They're about £UK180 through various resellers, eBay and the like, closer to $US300, I guess.

See, doesn't this look nice?

lcd-mk2431gah-ipod-drive-upgrade.jpg


:)
 
nagromme said:
I've learned how to fit "all" my music on a limited iPhone via smart playlists that keep the stuff I NEED present always, and that also cycle through the rest so every song gets its turn in the shuffle. You can get as sophisticated as you like with that.
Click to expand...

I have taken to keeping between 4-8gb of my most listened to music on my iphone thanks to smart playlists as a backup while mainly listening to my last.fm station or using simplify media to play my 45gb library back home on my mac.

Much better than using my 3rd gen nano as it does a better job at taking up less space than my nano did because of the whole 2 birds with one device functionality.

In the future i wouldn't be surprised if the classic iPod was dropped as they also broke away from the look with the latest nano's after only adopting it for one generation.
 
Killing off the classic now would be just a little premature IMO. Flash is still way too expensive and if Apple were to make a 128 GB touch, it would cost a fortune. I could see Apple killing it off perhaps shortly after the new year, then maybe shuffling the iPod touch prices down afterwards to compensate for this.
 
Am I the only person who thinks the Classic is a convenient way of having another backup of my iTunes library? I also love being able to listen to any tune that takes my fancy from my collection, currently have just under 200GB of music on my Classic.
 
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