Discussion about
Next gen ipod classic and the future of device?
what features do you want for the next gen ipod classic. built in speakers, camera? what else. also when the touch hits the 128gb ( or 120gb?) do you think this device will disappear or would the price would have to $250 or lower. do think this device will live on.
I think Apple will pretty soon start to phase this line out within the next year or two. The future of the iPod lies with the Touch.
For what they are, the Nano and the Shuffle will survive longer than the standard iPod Classic, if only for the niches that they fill. Someone posted a topic about how the clickwheel has become 'stale and boring', and I while I don't totally agree, I can't honestly say that it isn't in danger of becoming those things. Hence, why Apple needs and WILL start moving its consumer standard iPod focus to something more like the Touch.
The iPod is a staple in our culture musically, and because of this, it runs the risk of becoming bland or too commonplace. Apple hasn't really made any huge jumps in the iPod design, at least not until they came out with the Touch, and even then it's just a copy of the iPhone. A good start though. But it needs to really build from the ground up and release a totally revolutionary new iPod. Way easier said than done of course. But you get the idea.
The iPod is a staple in our culture musically, and because of this, it runs the risk of becoming bland or too commonplace. Apple hasn't really made any huge jumps in the iPod design, at least not until they came out with the Touch, and even then it's just a copy of the iPhone. A good start though. But it needs to really build from the ground up and release a totally revolutionary new iPod. Way easier said than done of course. But you get the idea.
i really think the touch is the future. although the capacity is really lacking. i would buy a touch with a harddrive, not flash memory, if it had the old classics 160gig or more.
We'll probably see iPod Touches upped in capacity to 64 GB this fall, so the usefulness of the iPod Classic will quickly become minimized. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Classic get killed. They could keep a 160 or 250 GB model I guess, but very very few people have that much mobile music capacity need.
i think its fine that it is an audio only device. it can cater to audiophiles. these days everybody is copying each other creating devices that has more features such as touch screen, etc but its still useful to have a audio device which has large capacity with good audio quality.
I agree with Tony. I like having a device that size that will fit all of my music on it. I don't even think I'd mind if it lacked video support, but it's a nice thing to have.
Honestly, if I get reliable information that apple is going to kill off the classic I will buy one of the newest ones immediately (mine's an 80GB) and I'll get it refurbished as many times as possible until flash memory catches up to the size of my music collection.
Honestly, if I get reliable information that apple is going to kill off the classic I will buy one of the newest ones immediately (mine's an 80GB) and I'll get it refurbished as many times as possible until flash memory catches up to the size of my music collection.
Totally with others who like the larger capacity. I use my 60GB iPod alot for music when in the operating room or driving in the car and always need to figure out what to remove in order to add more songs. I would also rush out to get the iPod classic in order to have the 120GB capacity if it looks like Apple will kill the classic format. I already have an iPhone so don't really need an iPod Touch even if they bump that up to 128GB with next release. Sometimes simple is better.
I'm with those who think this is on the way out.
It might get one more size refresh this fall to go with the touch's bump to 64gb, but this design has not been modified for anything but storage size in a long time, it's clearly going away before long.
The beefy part of the user bell curve really only needs between 32-64gb of mobile music storage, and the touch line will have that covered soon.
At the moment I've got a 16gb iPhone 3g for files/video/games/phone and an 80gb ipod classic that lives in the car for music. Sure, I could fill more than that, but I don't really need to, the 80 feels like a good compromise, and that's plenty of music.
Still, I'll be thinking long and hard when there's a 64/96/128gb iphone out, do I really need two different devices? Probably not if the iPhone has enough storage to cover both my music and video needs.
It might get one more size refresh this fall to go with the touch's bump to 64gb, but this design has not been modified for anything but storage size in a long time, it's clearly going away before long.
The beefy part of the user bell curve really only needs between 32-64gb of mobile music storage, and the touch line will have that covered soon.
At the moment I've got a 16gb iPhone 3g for files/video/games/phone and an 80gb ipod classic that lives in the car for music. Sure, I could fill more than that, but I don't really need to, the 80 feels like a good compromise, and that's plenty of music.
Still, I'll be thinking long and hard when there's a 64/96/128gb iphone out, do I really need two different devices? Probably not if the iPhone has enough storage to cover both my music and video needs.
My setup exactly. Still, I like the idea of being able to carry my entire music collection with me, so I don't even have to think about what to bring. Right now the 80 gig isn't cutting it and I have to make some compromises. I hope Apple does release a 160-250 gig classic.
Apple released a 160GB classic in Sep 2007. I bought one at that time. Sometime in 2008 they discontinued it and left the 120GB as the largest. They recently started selling a 160GB classic once more. Very strange.
Anyhow, I agree about not needing 160GB+ for music for day-to-day use. But I like having a big storage player for travelling/holidays and those times when you just want to bring all of your music. The 160 gig classic does the trick, big storage, decent battery life :)
Anyhow, I agree about not needing 160GB+ for music for day-to-day use. But I like having a big storage player for travelling/holidays and those times when you just want to bring all of your music. The 160 gig classic does the trick, big storage, decent battery life :)
I agree with everyone else. This thing will stick around for one more (possibly two) cycles and then will be discontinued.
My problem with a 64gb touch, is that it would be sufficient for my music needs, but I'm looking to get an iPhone at christmas time, so having 2 near enough identical touch screen devices seems entirely ridiculous to me!
And as it's going to be a while before the iPhone is at the sort of memory i'd like, I'm hoping for some sort of miracle iPod classic changes in September :D
And as it's going to be a while before the iPhone is at the sort of memory i'd like, I'm hoping for some sort of miracle iPod classic changes in September :D
Remember iPod went from being a single device to a category of devices. iPod Nano, Touch, Shuffle, and Classic. The Classic is called classic for a reason. I don't see Apple dropping the Classic for awhile. At $249 the Classic has high profit margins. They still need a "simple" iPod. If the Nano get a camera then it steps further away from simple. Many people still want a simple music player.
Now I could see Apple come out with a flash version of the Classic. Something with 128GB or more. Make it thinner, but keep it simple. This will help keep Apple selling the iPod at high selling price of $249 or more. Apple has set certain price points and makes devices that will fit into those price points with a certain margin of profit.
Now I could see Apple come out with a flash version of the Classic. Something with 128GB or more. Make it thinner, but keep it simple. This will help keep Apple selling the iPod at high selling price of $249 or more. Apple has set certain price points and makes devices that will fit into those price points with a certain margin of profit.
I don't think they could ever kill off the classic style. I mean it's what has made the iPod so popular, and in my opinion the click wheel works better for a device that is just doing music and video. For me the touch screen gets in the way and slows me down. Plus as someone in high school with not a lot of time to have built a collection of music, I still have quite a large library. (30gb of music 45gb of dvd rips) I need storage for expansion.
In the company of geeks I feel comfortable giving a wholehearted "meh" to this idea. Yes, the iPod Classic will probably stick around. Yes, they'll probably do some kind of update for it, most likely storage-related. But the big iPod news in September will be the updated Touch and the Nano with a camera (and possible OMT: iTablet!!) The classic is great for lugging around your entire suitcase full of music and ripped videos, but realistically this isn't the future - physical media isn't going anywhere, it's all going to the cloud. Of course you need storage for apps and whatever music/videos you want to take with you, but it's just not the MO of the general populace to carry it all at once. Regular hard drive storage is so cheap that we just don't need huge capacities on an ipod anymore.
I want the classic to stick around until they can have that much flash memory in an iPod. And definitely keep a non-touch iPod as well for a streamlined single purpose music device...
I just read gdgt's live Apple coverage, and I'm over the moon about the news for classic. a) they're bringing 160GB back, and b) they aren't raising the price :D I think what I'll do now is run my 80GB until it's really really dead, and save up for a 160 in the meantime.
I'm slightly bummed that there wasn't a higher capacity. I'm presuming it's because the iPod's interface is IDE, not SATA.
I guess 128Gb Touches will be out next year - and the HDD iPod will be dropped then.
I guess 128Gb Touches will be out next year - and the HDD iPod will be dropped then.
It's not exactly like I'll be missing it with the way they've ruined this machine. The HDD is too slow (or the buffer too cheap-ass'd low, who knows) to catch up with the extraneous metadata they're making this thing crunch through these days, that it 'sticks' and fails to respond to click wheel inputs at almost every point in it's operation. The 5G was the high point of the HDD iPod - it retained the 'iPod smoothness' of navigation and also cured much of the crappy sound issues of the machines prior to it. The Classic is a dead man walking.
I don't think the Classic is anywhere close to being dead. HDD will always be cheaper per GB than flash or SSD (it's the older technology). I see apple dropping the price of the 160 to $199 next year or even $179 and maybe adding a 250 GB for $249 ($1/GB sounds incredible for an iPod). Steve Jobs said himself the magic price point that they've found for iPod is $199. I'm holding out to get a new one till next September.
I'd say dream on. The biggest issue would probably be demand for IDE >160Gb HDD's. That size hasn't moved in a while - as users of the first-gen Classics would be familiar with. Since netbooks and other 1.8"-using machines have all but moved to SATA and sales of HDD-based MP3 players are falling off, I'm not sure IDE capacities will get any bigger.
The second is that I call it a dead man - or should I say iPod - walking because they haven't bothered to do anything for 2 years about the chronically compromised navigation which basically no longer makes it an iPod, but ironically a rather bad knockoff of one. Clearly they're not interested in it any longer beyond shuffling discs around here and there.
I have a 2G Classic as a 'live' backup of my lossy library, but if I was being a bit hyperbolic I'd say it was unusable. Certainly the immediacy of the navigation is not a patch on the 80Gb 5G I had. I would go back to one, if it weren't for the fact that my lossy library is just a tad over 100Gb's.
The second is that I call it a dead man - or should I say iPod - walking because they haven't bothered to do anything for 2 years about the chronically compromised navigation which basically no longer makes it an iPod, but ironically a rather bad knockoff of one. Clearly they're not interested in it any longer beyond shuffling discs around here and there.
I have a 2G Classic as a 'live' backup of my lossy library, but if I was being a bit hyperbolic I'd say it was unusable. Certainly the immediacy of the navigation is not a patch on the 80Gb 5G I had. I would go back to one, if it weren't for the fact that my lossy library is just a tad over 100Gb's.
