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The Future of the iPod?

T

tabasco70

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 10, 2009
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Japan
http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/107415/the-ipod-is-dead-long-live-the-ipod.html

My prediction is that one of the first casualties of Apple's emphasis will be the hard drive-based iPod classic. Flash memory is cheaper, consumes less power, and resists abuse better than hard drives, so future high-capacity iPods will most likely be based on flash.
Click to expand...

This is the only part that interested me. Its logical and makes sense that flash memory is replacing hard drives, but the iPod Classic is my favorite iPod and I really don't want them to discontinue it, in the event that my current Classic breaks.

The rest of the article is the author simply 'wishing' for future features of the iPod touch, most of which have been the predicted already by MacRumors users. (microphone, camera etc)

What to you guys think the future of the iPod holds?
 
Flash memory is still way to expensive to replicate the massive capacity of a Classic. It costs more than the iPod itself for an equivalent SSD right now. In the future, yes, but the margins won't be good enough for a while at least.
 
In time... I don't think that apple will discontinue the classic until they can get at least close to the capacity with flash for the same price.
 
I'd imagine as time goes on the iPod becomes more of a "your stuff, portable" kind of device. It started off with storing all your music, then contacts and calendars, then photos and videos (unless you're a nutter like me and has a library that needs to be stored on an external drive!). Now it has apps and games too.
I'd imagine the iPod will remain as a device that views your created and purchased media. But with devices like the iPhone adding the ability to create on it too (camera).

I hope the iPod remains that simple though. After all its the simplicity and ease of use (with iTunes and its menu etc) that make me get one originally.
 
raggedjimmi said:
I hope the iPod remains that simple though. After all its the simplicity and ease of use (with iTunes and its menu etc) that make me get one originally.
Click to expand...



I completely agree. The simplicity of the iPod interface and the size of the Classic (fits really nicely in the hand/pocket) made me get one too.
 
I hope they don't kill off the Classic. I very much like being able to store an entire library of music on it. My library is getting close to 80GBs now, so flash memory to store that would be very expensive.
 
no.1 Apple Fan said:
A few years into the future, and every iPod will have a touchscreen. I suspect the (touch screen) Nano and iPod Touch will be the only remaining ones.:D
Click to expand...

So there will only be 2 iPod ranges? I doubt that. Each of the current systems has a very clear market and I don't see that changing at all. If anything Apple are looking to broaden the market with this new big iPod/Tablet thing.
 
no.1 Apple Fan said:
A few years into the future, and every iPod will have a touchscreen. I suspect the (touch screen) Nano and iPod Touch will be the only remaining ones.:D
Click to expand...

yeah i highly doubt that. so many people just want a cheap iPod for the car, or for working out. touchscreens aren't going to work
 
Heilage said:
I hope they don't kill off the Classic. I very much like being able to store an entire library of music on it. My library is getting close to 80GBs now, so flash memory to store that would be very expensive.
Click to expand...

I agree completely, and I like being able to take my entire music library with me; in common with the OP, I like the simplicity of the classic, its excellent battery life and its storage capacity. Personally, I'd be very sorry if they discontinued it, but to address the original question posed by the OP, I suspect that as SSD capacity increases and prices for this technology continue to fall, we will see attention focussing exclusively on the SSD and the old hard drive based iPods discontinued.

Cheers
 
My gut tells me that Apple may change from a HD to Flash memory in the Classic.

So instead of going from HD to SSD, Apple will instead use Flash memory like in the Shuffle, Nano, touch and iPhone.

The iPhone 3Gs has 1x32GB of Flash memory. The new iPod touch is expected to have 2 x 32GB or 64GB when it's released this fall.

I don't see the Classic using these new chips due to cost. Rather, due to the larger size of the Classic, I see Apple using 8 x 16GB or many even 16 x 8GB because using 8GB or 16GB Flash memory chips would be cheaper than using 32GB chips to attain 128GB storage capacity. I believe that there is plenty of room in the Classic to do this.

Of course the easier way is to use a SSD device. But I don't see the price dropping as fast as Flash memory to get the capacities needed for the Classic.
 
^^^Agreed.

The single most common point of failure is the HD. I've had several HD based iPods over the years and every one of them's failed. The last one, I just gave away after Apple replaced it b/c I knew it was going to fail eventually, too.

I'd like to travel with all of my music but HDs should become a thing of the past for PMPs.
 
Hopefully they have rewritten the iPod Classic OS to handle large amounts of files smoothly, and will update to a 320GB this fall.
 
If Apple were decently smart, they should do this to the iPod classic:

1) Keep the same case size as the current model.

2) Increase the screen size so when you turn it on its side has a true 16:9 or 16:10 aspect ratio. This means they will somewhat reduce the size of the click wheel and move it to the bottom of the case (when you stand up the player in portrait mode).

3) Replace the 120 GB hard drive with 128 GB of lower-cost flash memory such as eight 16 GB flash memory modules.

4) Use an improved battery design to ensure long battery life.

5) Use the same menu interface as the 4G iPod nano.
 
SactoGuy18 said:
If Apple were decently smart, they should do this to the iPod classic:

1) Keep the same case size as the current model.

2) Increase the screen size so when you turn it on its side has a true 16:9 or 16:10 aspect ratio. This means they will somewhat reduce the size of the click wheel and move it to the bottom of the case (when you stand up the player in portrait mode).

3) Replace the 120 GB hard drive with 128 GB of lower-cost flash memory such as eight 16 GB flash memory modules.

4) Use an improved battery design to ensure long battery life.

5) Use the same menu interface as the 4G iPod nano.
Click to expand...

That would definitely increase the sales on the ipod classic...I would have to agree that would be the one of the best possible future outlooks for the ipod classic. Although, I would like to see them make it a little thinner, but then it would be really similar to the ipod touch. They may just forget about it when flash memory becomes cheep enough to have 120GB in the ipod touch.
 
SactoGuy18 said:
If Apple were decently smart, they should do this to the iPod classic:

1) Keep the same case size as the current model.

2) Increase the screen size so when you turn it on its side has a true 16:9 or 16:10 aspect ratio. This means they will somewhat reduce the size of the click wheel and move it to the bottom of the case (when you stand up the player in portrait mode).

3) Replace the 120 GB hard drive with 128 GB of lower-cost flash memory such as eight 16 GB flash memory modules.

4) Use an improved battery design to ensure long battery life.

5) Use the same menu interface as the 4G iPod nano.
Click to expand...

I think you nailed the best case scenario for the Classic
 
I was seriously considering the Back to School/Free iPod offer for a while. However I don't really like that mail in rebate thing. Maybe it works for some people, I think this is a rip off plain and simple. That's why I won't get that offer when I'll get my uMBP in about a week from now.

Besides, I already have my 5G iPod that serves me well, and don't need an iFart app to make my life better :)...
 
I've been saying for a while now they will kill off the classic. You just see so few of them compared to the other ipods. Plus, Apple clearly sees touchscreens as the future.
 
It is a hard spot for apple because they don't want to loose or at least anger their customers that still buy the classic, but on the other hand it is probably not going to be very cost effective for them to cater to the minority like that. The only other bad thing is that you loose the original ipod type.
 
upinflames900 said:
It is a hard spot for apple because they don't want to loose or at least anger their customers that still buy the classic, but on the other hand it is probably not going to be very cost effective for them to cater to the minority like that. The only other bad thing is that you loose the original ipod type.
Click to expand...

When has Apple every worried about losing or angering a small minority of their customers?

Matte vs Glossy, Expresscard, FW400, removable battery, and that's just in the past year. Writing's on the wall. Classic's on its way out.
 
SactoGuy18 said:
If Apple were decently smart, they should do this to the iPod classic:

1) Keep the same case size as the current model.

2) Increase the screen size so when you turn it on its side has a true 16:9 or 16:10 aspect ratio. This means they will somewhat reduce the size of the click wheel and move it to the bottom of the case (when you stand up the player in portrait mode).

3) Replace the 120 GB hard drive with 128 GB of lower-cost flash memory such as eight 16 GB flash memory modules.

4) Use an improved battery design to ensure long battery life.

5) Use the same menu interface as the 4G iPod nano.
Click to expand...

128GB is not even close to enough space though. For a company that wants you to purchase as much (space consuming) media as possible from their store, Apple needs to step up with some serious disk space.
 
Thanks for all the positive comments about my suggested "large screen" 128 GB flash memory iPod classic! :D

The reason why I suggested such a device is because frankly, how many less-experienced users out there want the full functionality of the iPod touch? Besides, with a all-flash memory 128 GB iPod classic, you don't have to worry about hard disk durability issues--especially if you accidently drop the player on a hard floor.
 
Immediate Future The Classic isn't going anywhere for the time being - it fills too large a place in the iPod lineup (laaaaaaaarrrge capacity). And it's unlikely that the harddrive models will feature touch-screen anytime soon, due primarily to the space constraints.

Long Term Future As flash memory increases and cheapens, then the storage methods may change, but until they beef up the Touch to match the Classic it can rest easy.

There's also a lot to be said for the fact you navigate sight unseen on the click wheel - nigh impossible to accomplish via the touch screen. I know people who have had top-of-the-line Touches and traded them in for the Classic just so they can nav w/o looking.

The Classic was the first, it defined a generation of portable music, became a pop culture icon. It ain't goin' nowhere.

If I had to choose just one without the option of having two iPods, I'd choose the Classic. It does everything very, very smoothly and stays just one step this side of being a handheld computer.
 
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