Mourning the Passing of iPod Classic

[mars47]

Apple has abandoned those of us with large music libraries. I have two Classics (120 and 160GB) and both are nearly full. When they die, there is no viable alternative. I don't want the extra features of a Touch; I just want a big-capacity music player. Is that too much to ask?

 

[chscag]

Go to www.ifixit.com or do some googling.... you can replace the drives in both your Classics with larger ones and continue to use them. Or you can archive the music that's already on them to make room.

 

[John F]

My 2005 iPod Photo finally became unresponsive a few months ago. I replaced it with an iPod Classic. It is about half full and I use it mostly for podcasts so it should be good for a while but if it had Bluetooth . . . . .

 

[chas_m]

I have never found the music-swapping ritual in iTunes to be at all onerous (I'm barely even aware of it, happens when I'm charging it), so I've ever felt the need to have an iPod that had more capacity than a couple days' worth of music.

 

[RadDave]

Apple has abandoned those of us with large music libraries. I have two Classics (120 and 160GB) and both are nearly full. When they die, there is no viable alternative. I don't want the extra features of a Touch; I just want a big-capacity music player. Is that too much to ask?

Well I'm assuming that you spent a lot of time 'ripping' and/or money 'purchasing' this music - hope that you have all backed up in some fashion in case your 'old' iPods do die? Dave

 

[mars47]

It appears that no one else shares my dismay at Apple's decision to discontinue to iPod Classic. So I guess that means it's a good business decision by Apple. I really like the idea of a digital jukebox containing my entire music collection that I can browse, sample and play any time, anywhere. There has to be a few like-thinkers out there. Obviously not enough to create a viable market for Apple. Eventually, I guess I'll have to content myself with a small-capacity Flash-drive iPod, plan in advance what I want to listen to each day and sync it to just that portion of my music library.

 

[Beatles4Life]

You're not the only one, mars47. I prefer having a click wheel iPod, and despite having a touch screen mobile phone, I have no desire to have an iPod touch. If I do decide to update from my 2008 nano, I would probably get another click wheel iPod, but with a bigger hard drive. 15 gigs is not enough.

 

[John F]

It appears that no one else shares my dismay at Apple's decision to discontinue to iPod Classic. So I guess that means it's a good business decision by Apple. I really like the idea of a digital jukebox containing my entire music collection that I can browse, sample and play any time, anywhere. There has to be a few like-thinkers out there. Obviously not enough to create a viable market for Apple. Eventually, I guess I'll have to content myself with a small-capacity Flash-drive iPod, plan in advance what I want to listen to each day and sync it to just that portion of my music library.

I suspect it won't be long before we have a 1TB iTouch! I still remember the first HD for the Aple II - the size of a shoe box, sounded like a washing machine on spin cycle, it was slow and unreliable and it held 5MB (yes, megabytes).

 

[nickyr]

I love my 160GB iPod classic and it's a shame Apple is discontinuing them.

The idea of having all your music (or as much of it as possible) in a thing the size of your magic mouse is a work of genius to me still!

I have all my music in iTunes match as well, but for walking the dog, pottering in the garden, bus or train journeys or just listening to music in bed of a night I always reach for my iPod

 

[dauber]

Believe me, I'm VERY upset that the iPod Classic is discontinued.

- I love music. LOVE music. I NEED 160gb for my music collection -- especially because there are some things I want lossless, and the MP3s I do have on my Classic are compressed with a very high kbps rate -- over 200kbps. I need my sound. What other player will give me that capacity? (Or at least allow me to stick in whatever size memory card I want? Yeah, there's the 128gb iPod Touch, but how much of that 128 is actually taken up by existing apps, including that stupid stock app that you can't get rid of? (I do keep some MP3s on my iPhone in case of emergency, but I really, REALLY hate the music player interface.) And how much does the 128gb iPod Touch cost versus the list price of the 160gb iPod Classic? Plus, read on...

- The click wheel is important. Let's say I'm in shuffle mode, and I'm walking down the street or driving and want to move to the next song. I can push a button without even looking down and get the next track. Can you do that with any other iPod?

- I need something to listen to during my commutes to and from work via mass transit. I don't want to have to keep swapping out music because a 16GB iPhone isn't enough to hold what I'd want to listen to at any given time. Depending on how my mood changes over the day, I might want to listen to a podcast one minute, but then switch over to, say, Pet Sounds the next minute.

- Sometimes if I discover that I have a file I need to transfer, I can use my iPod Classic in a pinch as if it were a thumb drive.

- My wife's 160gb iPod Classic started going bad recently, but she replaced it with an iPod Nano, because she doesn't need nearly 160gb. Overall, she doesn't really like it, again for the touch screen...and she says "shake to shuffle does NOT cut it!" She was actually thinking of switching back to the Classic. She actually suggested after this announcement that we just go out and buy replacement iPod Classics NOW for when ours eventually do bite the dust...only to find that it's nearly impossible.

 

[chscag]

It depends on what's wrong with the Classic. Generally it's the small hard drive that is used in the Classic that gives out. That can be replaced by following the instructions on the ifixit web site. Not an easy job per se but it can be done.

 

[John F]

My 2005 iPod Photo went weird a few years ago and I thought it was finished. It turned out that all that was needed was to unplug the hard drive and plug it in again. This time that didn't work, but nine years isn't bad. My Walkman didn't last that long!