"iPod Classic is Dead" Rumors: They're Back!
By Jared Newman | Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at 8:08 am
Predictions on the demise of the iPod Classic usually don’t come around until September, when Apple updates its line of media players, but the timing’s off now thanks to suspicious supply issues at major retailers.
The unfortunately-named Apple Bitch reports that Apple’s iPod Classic is out of stock Best Buy and Amazon, and the Apple Store is shipping the media players a bit slower than usual as well. CNet adds that Target and J&R are also out of stock.
It could just be a random supply glitch, but the other two possibilities are more intriguing: Either Apple is about to refresh the iPod Classic with a bigger hard drive, or it’s discontinuing the iPod Classic altogether.
Apple ignored the Classic at the last iPod event in September, and for good reason: Compared to the bite-sized iPod Nano and the high-tech iPod Touch, the Classic is a decidedly unglamorous device. The only way it can improve is with a bigger hard drive, and that’s just not Stevenote material. A quieter product update makes more sense, and with Toshiba recently updating iPod-sized hard drives to 220 GB, a larger iPod Classic certainly seems plausible.
As for whether the iPod Classic’s days are numbered, I don’t see enough of a change in the rest of Apple’s iPod line to justify killing the Classic — yet. A 128 GB iPod Touch didn’t happen last year, and the iPod Nano was downsized to a square-shaped device that only plays music. The iPod Classic now stands alone as Apple’s low-cost multimedia player.
I’ll just throw out one more wacky theory as long as we’re speculating: These supply shortages give Apple a chance to see what happens when the iPod Classic isn’t available. If a significant number of people decide to buy an iPod Touch instead, Apple will know that it can get away with killing the Classic for good.
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February 9th, 2011 at 2:43 pm
It would be a shame. As someone who had the first iPod back when the wheel was a physical one, I feel I know the design so well and it is truly a "classic". Much easier to operate while in the car, or while jogging than a touchscreen device. Also the ability to have all your stuff on you at all times is so cool, when you're stuck in traffic and think of some random song you haven't heard in years you can just put it on.
February 11th, 2011 at 10:13 am
I'm with Marc here. If you're not in the market for a full-blown PDA, the Classic is simply unbeatable in terms of storage and ease of use. I would be sad to see it go.
April 11th, 2011 at 7:02 pm
I concur with Marc and Daniel. I have an iPhone, an iPad, a MacBookPro, a Mac Desktop, but I am using the iPod Classic to listen to music all day long. My 13,000+ songs will not fit on a 128GB iPod touch, and the price of the iPod touch is so substantially higher that there is no alternative to iPod Classic. The touch screen of the Touch is in this case a disadvantage. It is much easier to operate the Classic when all one needs is three simple functions: Play, Pause, Stop. All I need is to listen to music and have my whole music library with me. FOR Apple: KEEP THE CLASSIC.
May 28th, 2011 at 10:13 am
I'm also lamenting the possible discontinuation of the Classic. I need an iPod that is large enough to hold all my music, and I'm not interested in an additional PDA (I already own an iPhone 4). For iPhone owners like myself, the classic meets our needs, while the Touch is simply redundant. I hope they update, rather than discontinue, the Classic.
August 19th, 2011 at 9:48 am
I would love to see the Classic updated as well… just a bit smaller overall size and it would be perfect in my opinion. I've actually been putting off replacing my old Nano (I hate how tiny the new ones are!) to see what happens with the Classic..