News - Apple has 'no plans' to scrap iPod Classic

[HEXUS]

Jobs reassures worried fan.

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[miniyazz]

I thought Apple customer services stuff was meant to be good - waiting 6 months + for 5 words seems to be taking the mick. That's less than one word per month

[Andeh13]

PLEASE DONT KI...oh no. Sorry. I have a life & dont care!

[jim]

Is there any genuine competitor for the Classic?

Out of interest, I had a look earlier - I own a Creative Zen, but sort of lost interest in it because I can no longer fit all my music on. Couldn't see a lot to compete on size.

[TooNice]

At the time of their release, I think only Archos provided larger capacity with their video oriented players. Now, with all the attention toward flash memory player, I still don't see too many HD options, though I note that the Cowon X7 comes in 160GB too. It seems that what's holding progress higher capacity player might be the pace larger 1.8" HD are made (it's well behind 2.5" and 3.5" HD).

[Terbinator]

Is there any genuine competitor for the Classic?

Out of interest, I had a look earlier - I own a Creative Zen, but sort of lost interest in it because I can no longer fit all my music on. Couldn't see a lot to compete on size.

This. My Zune has been playing up pretty bad recently and like 'Jim i can't fit all my stuff on there (Everything has been converted too 128kbps and I'm still chopping and changing songs ).

The classic is the only genuine product for those of us with a large library and a decent phone.

[aidanjt]

Just how much music can you pirate anyway?

[Unique]

At the time of their release, I think only Archos provided larger capacity with their video oriented players. Now, with all the attention toward flash memory player, I still don't see too many HD options, though I note that the Cowon X7 comes in 160GB too. It seems that what's holding progress higher capacity player might be the pace larger 1.8" HD are made (it's well behind 2.5" and 3.5" HD).

the classic has no real competition, which is a shame. all the other players are either smaller capacity flash based players or much larger "media" players with screens. even the cowon looks bigger than the classic as it has the bigger screen, and it's more expensive too. mind it does play flac and presumable ape, but it's a fair bit more than you can get a classic for

i thought 1.8" drives went up to 250gb these days, so i was hoping for a 250gb classic. i also wouldn't mind the extra bulk and price if i could get a 1tb 2.5" music only model, but i wouldn't want to pay extra for a bigger screen for video playback or all the other non music features. i think there are one or two 250gb+ media players but they are pretty expensive and intended for watching videos. i couldn't imagine watching tv shows or movies on a tiny screen

there's plenty people i know who can't even fit their full cd collection on the biggest ipod classic in mp3 format, nevermind lossless, and don't want to spend a few hundred quid more on the media players that are designed more for video than music. on a 160gb drive you can only fit about 300 cds in lossless format

what is good about the classic is the use as a portable HD, so having portable apps for use at work etc, and being able to access your music to play on other computers. fortunately you can also have portable versions of itunes alternatives to move music back and forth, but i wished it played flac without having to convert it. the problem is apple has that market tied up so i doubt they will change it

[TooNice]

So they've not Rockboxed the Classic then? I thought it would've been a matter of time, and it made the 5/5.5GG a very worthy candidate in that generation. I can settle with other lossless format such as ALAC/WMA Lossless, but given that my collection is mostly in FLAC, it's convenient not having to do any transcoding (which I would have to even to MP3).
Apparently, 1.8" drives came in 320GB too, but the ones's released earlier this year have a smaller footprint.

[Unique]

So they've not Rockboxed the Classic then? I thought it would've been a matter of time, and it made the 5/5.5GG a very worthy candidate in that generation. I can settle with other lossless format such as ALAC/WMA Lossless, but given that my collection is mostly in FLAC, it's convenient not having to do any transcoding (which I would have to even to MP3).
Apparently, 1.8" drives came in 320GB too, but the ones's released earlier this year have a smaller footprint.

i hadn't seen the announcement of the 320gb 1.8" drive. now that would be a nice updgrade. i wonder if you could stick one of these in an existing classic, a DIY upgrade

they changed the ipods quite a few years ago so you can't rockbox them anymore. the biggest size you can do that with is something like the 60gb models, so you either lose space to play flac, DIY upgrade if possible, or you are stuck with the non rockboxable bigger capacity models

what you can do is use something like mediamonkey as an itunes replacement that can convert flac to mp3 or other formats on the fly as it transfers the files to your ipod (and it worked on my older iphone too). it would probably longer to transfer unless you have a very fast pc, but it's an atlernative to having to keep your music as mp3 files as well as flac if you want to make them portable. if itunes could do that, it would be great, but there's as much chance of that happening as apple supporting flac/ape in the first place

[crossy]

At the time of their release, I think only Archos provided larger capacity with their video oriented players. Now, with all the attention toward flash memory player, I still don't see too many HD options, though I note that the Cowon X7 comes in 160GB too. It seems that what's holding progress higher capacity player might be the pace larger 1.8" HD are made (it's well behind 2.5" and 3.5" HD).

Me too - only alternative that AdvancedMP3Players were doing were the X7 and an Archos. The latter getting some real poor reviews.

Just how much music can you pirate anyway?

Yes I know you were probably saying this very much tongue-in-cheek, but actually it's so easy/cheap to purchase digital music that it's amazing how fast the space gets used. I just checked and six months purchases from the Ubuntu One Music Store alone are approaching a gig and a half.

I really quite like my old 5G iPod Video - I actually sold the iPod Touch that was supposed to replace it because the Touch music player really started to annoy me, plus the Touch's music reproduction was distinctly "tinny". Having listened to a newish Classic, it still struck me that the sound was kind of "thin" - cheap DACs? In fact, the current generation Touch left me cold for a similar reason - which is why I spent my money on a Sony A-series Walkman - cheaper and much nicer sounding.

Maybe this is a missed opportunity for Apple - they're so focussed on "apps" that they've overlooked that it'd be possible to reposition the Classic as a "premium" player for the more audiophile-oriented. That is the Bach rather than Bieber community. But if they were to do this, then they need to give the Classic a serious makeover - the current one looks pretty crappy/cheap even compared to the older iPod models.

Plus of course, the large capacity could be sold as ideal for use on car journeys - no need to change that CD, and with more and more car manufacturers having 'pod connectivity in the spec sheet

I don't consider myself an audiophile - more someone who knows what he likes - but my old iPod is currently crammed with over 50GB of MP3's (most in 192K VBR, but some 320's as well) - so while a top of the line flash-based player is possible at the moment, there's limited scope for extending my collection.

[miniyazz]

Plus of course, the large capacity could be sold as ideal for use on car journeys - no need to change that CD, and with more and more car manufacturers having 'pod connectivity in the spec sheet

When you consider the amount of music you fit in a GB, you really don't need large capacities to avoid changing CDs on long car journeys. In just under 25GB I have over 17 days of music. Most of it 128kbps MP3s, but you get the point.

[Behemoth]

Getting a classic at the moment is like trying to find Hens teeth though, not many places have them and they are very pricey !

[aidanjt]

When you consider the amount of music you fit in a GB, you really don't need large capacities to avoid changing CDs on long car journeys. In just under 25GB I have over 17 days of music. Most of it 128kbps MP3s, but you get the point.

My thoughts exactly. Even at 320kbps CBR, the average CD should be compressed down to about 120-130MB, so a 32GB PMP should be able to store over 246 CDs, or over 10 days of music.

Which is far more quantity than is needed to store quality music. And I never just dump my whole library onto my PMP because one thing PMPs all share in common, is their absolutely god awful library navigation. I want to listen to beautiful music on the move, not having to scroll through an epic list of crap with rubbish controls. PCs have the interface and screen space to handle long lists of useless junk, not embedded.

[Terbinator]

My thoughts exactly. Even at 320kbps CBR, the average CD should be compressed down to about 120-130MB, so a 32GB PMP should be able to store over 246 CDs, or over 10 days of music.

Which is far more quantity than is needed to store quality music. And I never just dump my whole library onto my PMP because one thing PMPs all share in common, is their absolutely god awful library navigation. I want to listen to beautiful music on the move, not having to scroll through an epic list of crap with rubbish controls. PCs have the interface and screen space to handle long lists of useless junk, not embedded.

Lossless is around 400MB though. Moving on, my Zune interface is superb tbh, don't really know how it could be improved and at the very least i don't think there is anything lacking. For comparisons sake the last non-Zune interface i used was pretty bad and was the iPod Mini's circa 2005 IIRC.

[Unique]

My thoughts exactly. Even at 320kbps CBR, the average CD should be compressed down to about 120-130MB, so a 32GB PMP should be able to store over 246 CDs, or over 10 days of music.

Which is far more quantity than is needed to store quality music. And I never just dump my whole library onto my PMP because one thing PMPs all share in common, is their absolutely god awful library navigation. I want to listen to beautiful music on the move, not having to scroll through an epic list of crap with rubbish controls. PCs have the interface and screen space to handle long lists of useless junk, not embedded.

you would only be scrolling through an epic list of crap if that is your taste of music. i scroll through an epic list of fantastic music with ease, or use the search function

you remind me of the col. frank fitts character in american beauty. he didn't understand that people are different, and wanted to force others to be like him, and he had an outward hatred of something that deep inside he secretly admired. if you don't have, and don't like a product or even have or use the products of the company you hate, why spend so much time banging on about it? no-one is going to change their opinion based on those comments. your negativity is clear, so it's not going to sway anyone

some people only have small to medium size music collections, so they can and want to fit it all onto a portable music device that's convenient to take and listen to anywhere. others have huge collections and diverse music tastes so want to carry around something that represents those tastes, and they maybe don't want to keep having to remove music as they update the player with more or new music. you don't seem to fit into those categories, so you bought an item you appear happy with. your choice isn't the right choice for everyone else. if you are happy with a relatively small choice of music, then great, but other people want far greater choice than you, and that's a fact of life

i have a very varied taste in music, i like to have all the music of my favourite artists on my ipod classic, plus a varied selection of music, so i have mellow stuff to listen to in the mornings, i have chill out stuff to try and send me to sleep if travelling or staying overnight in a hotel, i have dance music for the gym, rock and hip hop to psych me up, pop and funk, and late night jazz and soul. music for almost any environment or time that i would normally come across. i then use my smaller capacity on my iphone to put most of the latest albums on, again a variety of styles, so i have new music to listen to wherever i am, and i have my classic for when i want to get a bit more serious about listening on the move/away from home

256 albums is nothing to me, in my prime i used to buy more than that in a year easily. when fopp have so many great cds at £5 it's too tempting to resist snapping up a dozen or so at a time to give you plenty to listen to through the week, and if you work in an environment where you can listen to music, you can get through a lot of listening, so need more new choices to stop you getting bored. but not everyone is like that. i have more sinatra cds than probably most people have any cds, likewise miles davis or classic albums, and those aren't necesarily my favourites. when you have tens of thousands of albums it's easy to have more albums by one artist than most people would have of any music. i couldn't fit all the music i own from my favourite artist on the biggest ipod in even the lowest rate mp3, but my best mate could easily stick his entire collection on my ipod classic in lossless quality and probably have enough space left to fit every other peice of music he will ever buy in future. that's why different companies have different products to suit different people. if a product doesn't suit you, don't buy it, and don't unleash your own self loathing and hatred towards other people happy with them, as it doesn't do you any favours and no-one is really interested in views like that