“At Apple’s online store, for instance, the silver Classic is now shipping in one to three days, as compared to 24 hours last week,” iPodNN reports. “Best Buy’s website notes that the same color has gone from one-day shipping last week to being backordered by one to to two weeks. At Target, shipping times are now listed as two to four weeks.”
iPodNN reports, “The black-tinted Classic appears to be unaffected by shortages. Apple allowing silver stock to fall low could nevertheless signal plans to kill off one or both models, or else finally release an update.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Some people say that iPod classic is an anachronism and, as a reader once emailed us, “there’s no need to attempt to carry around all of your media unless you don’t understand playlists.” Others swear by the device. Do you use an iPod classic? If so, why do you choose that iPod model?
Save the iPod classic!!
My iPod classic sits in my car, carrying all the music I ever need.
Battery died years ago but it still works off 12V.
I use a classic to store all my music in full, non compressed files (80 gig) to feed to my car deck for the best quality music.
The article states “no need to attempt to carry around all of your media unless you don’t understand playlists.” Count me as one who does not understand then. How would a playlist negate the need for all of my files to reside on my Ipod?
My music is normally in Apple Lossless format. That said, Just to have a small playlist takes up a lot of room. If Apple would allow to Down convert to 256bitrate instead of 128bitrate I think I could do fine with a 32 GB or 64 GB iPod touch / iPad.
Until Apple allows this, I will just have to bite the bullet and use the classic. š
I just replaced my 4th gen iPod (the original box called it the “iPod photo”) when it gave up the ghost with a new silver Classic. here’s why: Since installing aTV Flash on my (silver-sided) Apple TV, and thus increasing my Apple TV’s capacity to 1 GB, I have been re-encoding more and more songs in Apple Lossless format, since the Apple TV is in the living room where the good speakers are. As a result, my music in iTunes now exceeds 70 GB. I have an iPod-dock speaker in nearly every room and prefer to cart the iPod with said music around the house rather than rely on AirPlay most of the time. Only one iPod model will handle 70 GB with an eye to increase that in the future.
I like the ability to leave the iPod in the car all the time. A iPod touch just doesn’t seem like the thing to leave in the car.
And, who wants keep adjusting the playlist loaded onto the device.
Apple is moving away from clickwheel-based UI and platter-based storage. I think the combination of this migration and the availability of streaming options will phase it out officially by the end of the year.
http://themacadvocate.com/2010/09/17/apple-shuffles-the-nano/
Yup, my ipod classic is in the car with all music loaded. I don’t need to do anything to change my mind about what I want to hear. It comes in once a year in the summer (not quite so often in the winter) and gets the new stuff. For the Beatles box set I made an exception and took it in early.
The ability to have all of my music in my car at all times is of great benefit to me (I can’t guess what my car guests (family / friends) are going to request). Playlists are non-issue here.
If anything, I’ve been waiting for the iPod touch to gain a 128 GB drive to properly replace the classic, which has been way too slow to come in my opinion.
In the glovebox, 80 gig of bliss.
Used as a hard Drive
I could see a new classic in a smaller form factor modeled after the Nano, but with even larger capacity.
It sits in the console of the BMW…where I am NOT going to put an iPhone or iPod touch…so SOME form of NON-communication device that serves as portable storage for music or data will survive for some time. the proprietary cable for the ipod in all these cars can of course be changed to work with another device but the software in the cars is also set to work with them. The inertia of the infrastructure Apple has built will keep them around in some form (solid state classic?) for at least the next 3 to 5 years.
I can not begin to say how nice i find it to have all of my music with me. My 32gb iPhone still does not hold my collection and the ability to listen to any of my music anywhere anytime is incredible and a must for me. A discontinuation of the classic will leave me without the best way to experience my music.
It’s pretty obvious whatever reader said that does not know how to drive. Apple should take note of this thread and how many of us need a high capacity iPod in our cars. There currently isn’t one big enough for all my music, but at least the Classic comes close, and a click wheel is easier to use without looking, making it the safer choice as well.
I love my 6th Gen 80GB Classic, it’s mainly used in my car and at the gym (though I should start using my Shuffle there). I can put most all of my music on there so I have anything I want to listen to with me. I can’t do that on my 32GB iPhone, as videos and apps take up space as well. My iPod Classic has been going strong for a while now (3 years I guess), and it shows no signs of stopping. But if Apple announced they were discontinuing the Classic, I’d probably go buy a new one so I know I’d have a working unit long into the future. Touch gestures are nice, but for things like the gym, a physical button and wheel are much better, as you don’t have to be looking at the device, or take your eyes off what you’re doing. Until the storage of the Touch exceeds 64GB, I wouldn’t consider getting one since I already have an iPhone.
I replaced my trusty 80GB 5th Gen iPod with a new 160GB in December as the hard drive was starting to fail and it would not play the Audible Enhanced Format files. I think the Classic will remain as long as the max capacity of the Touch is only 64GB
On another note…
I don’t want a streaming requirement for my music player (leave it as an option, personally… I don’t want to depend on internet / phone services for my multimedia playing.) Like Steve Jobs stated before, people want to own music, not stream it. And if I was Apple, I wouldn’t fix something that isn’t broken no matter what their cloud services bear on us. Since it is possible, I prefer having my multimedia reside on the product I’m using. Anything that derails from that will not be something I’ll purchase.
When it comes to Apple TV, not having your multimedia on it works fine, given it works fine with your computer multimedia and isn’t meant to be portable and travel where you go.
128 GB iPod touch, please!
I use my classic for music as well as moving file to and from work as a hard drive.
I still don’t have a car that I can hook up my v1 U2 iPod to. I may not anytime soon either. So it sits in my bedroom. It was never meant to go workout with as my 1 GB shuffle does that job perfectly rain or shine.
SAVE THE CLASSIC!
I have an iPod Classic (purchased last year) that I use to store my entire music collection. I use a new Nano when I work out, but I appreciate having the ability to carry all of my music with me on the Classic.
@ Wha
Very true. So many of the places I go don’t have any cell reception, streaming music up in the mountains is just not an option. And you know what? I don’t WANT reception up there. I just want to be alone with my music and my bike.
I use an iPod Classic to store all my favorite food commercial jingles over the last century. You better believe it!
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My classic is the only iPod of the 5 that I own which can accommodate my entire 147 GB music library. Until an iPod Touch has a larger memory this will be my go to when I travel or am asked to bring my music to play at a party. I use playlists for sorting all of my library into country, dance, dinner music, oldies and so on. But having it all in one place is convenient.
You all realize leaving a hard drive in the car isn’t the smartest idea right? Atleast if you live somewhere that gets hot and/ or very cold?
I have a classic in each car. Every month or so, I sync and it adds any new CDs. I have several hundred books on tape that I often use on road trips.
I could probably make do with a 130 Gb touch, if they will ever make them.
The problem of all touch iPods.
Gloves… I am outside working, or inside, with gloves on.
A full touch only device does not work for me, I have an iPod nano 5th gen with a cheap $5 remote I found on amazon. Only way I can use it at work. I may go buy a classic just in case the nano dies.
The remote works with my iPhone with the error I have to dismiss…
I don’t like the earbuds with the in line remote, and apples version is the worst.. Sorry, it’s the one thing apple really fails at. I can only have it in one ear anyway, so cheap earbuds and the cheap remote.
I can imagine the iPod classic model being discontinued, but only due to the advances in Flash storage. I think there will always be a demand for a device that can hold a large quantity of music. I also don’t understand the logic behind playlists negating the need to bring all of your music with you? I understand that you can pick and choose the most listened to songs to load onto your device, but isn’t the preferable solution that you just have all of your media?
Anyway, I see the classic dying off…but not necessarily the storage capacity. I would expect to see upcoming iPod touch updates with Flash storage meeting or exceeding the classic’s current capacity.
Wow. My 12 GB of music seems so pathetic compared to you guys with 60, 80, 100+ GB of media. And here I thought myself quite the music lover…
——RM
You have 12gb?
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Got you beat… 4.56 gb
Been the same for years.
And c1 had a point, mountains… I also ride. Gloves there as well.
Hell, off to bestbuy tonight to grab a spare classic I guess.
The iPod Classic is currently listed at #9 (black) and #15 (silver) for all MP3 players on Amazon (not just Apple).
People are buying them. Apple is making a profit on them.
I’m sure Apple would rather make the same profit on a iOS device, but clearly, they’re willing to make devices that people want which don’t participate in the App section of the ecosystem.
It wouldn’t surprise me at all to see that people with iPod Classics, like myself, also have iPhones, iPads, and other iPods.
It seems odd that Apple would End Of Life the iPod Classic, by first listing shipping delays. That seems more like that they’re planning a new version of the iPod Classic.
Whoever said, “there’s no need to attempt to carry around all of your media unless you don’t understand playlists.” doesn’t understand the need.
Sure, there is the concept that if you go out jogging, or during your daily commute, that you only need X minutes of music that can easily be sync’d via playlists, instead of your whole library.
However, try a road trip across the country with someone where you don’t know what you’ll want to be listening to. Or any extended vacation… Or if you’re a DJ… Or if you want to semi-permanently dock the device in your car…This last one is a biggie for me. The newer Mercedes have a display that replicates the playlists and other interface options of the iPod. It has a jog/shuttle wheel and is very nice to use. As a result, it’s very convenient to just leave a large capacity iPod in the glove compartment an only take it out to sync maybe one a month or so.
Whatever the situation, people are buying the iPod Classic, more so than are buying any other nonPod. Discontinuing them wouldn’t be the same as discontinuing a less popular color, rather discontinuing them would mean lost sales.
I love my iPod Classic. I allows me flexibility to choose what I may want to listen to or watch over a weekend or week-long trip. Plus, it acts as a 2nd backup to all of my stuff. If, God forbid, disaster or thieves strike my home I have a copy of everything on my iPod Classic and there are free utilities to access the iPod and transfer everything back over to a computer when I’m setup again. It’s peace of mind to know I have a backup of, easliy, $7,000 worth of music and video that’s is with me and not all in one location in my house. Save the iPod Classic! If anything come out with a new one that has larger storage capacity.
I use my classic everyday. It holds all my music. Something that my iPhone can’t do. I listen to my classic while getting ready in the morning. And while cleaning. If you hooked up your iPhone to a do k and played it that way you would get tons of interference. Sometimes you just need a mp3 player with no other capabiltes. No email no text no incoming phone calls to interfere with the song playing
That may well be the most idiotic MacDailyNews take I’ve ever seen.
It’s definitely a capacity thing for me – my beat-up old white iPod Video (80GB) is the only one that can hold all the music I have. I think it’s safe to say the 80-and-larger sizes are preferred by the avid music collector who wants all of their music with them at all times. (Hey, I never know when I’ll suddenly want to listen to, say, that quirky “Fantastic Cat” song by Takako Minekawa – so I must have it with me at all times, just in case!)
My iPhone is with me wherever I go, and I (feebly) attempt to use playlists on that, to choose the most likely artists I may or may not wish to listen to wherever I am. But taking my iPod is my only guarantee that I’ll always for absolutely sure have whatever I want to listen to at that moment, right there with me.
Yeah, it’s probably silly. But since we have the technology to do it…
I like ALL my music, that’s why I have it.
That way I can put it on RANDOM and hear ANY and ALL of the music I like!
Duh!
i upgraded my iPods about 6 months ago–a shuffle, 32G Touch, and 160G Classic. the Classic was supposed to live in my new Cadillac so i could have most of my music with me @ 256k. however, the “Apple ready” stereo system played every album or playlist alphabetically, not in sequence. after a ton of research, phone calls, and emails i found out that there was no way around that (only works correctly with touchscreen products), and i couldn’t abide. so the Classic went back and the Touch was upgraded to 64G.
it’s not the same at all as having a Classic with all my music living in my car. makes me sad. even if a large capacity Touch came out, i can’t just toss that into the car to live there as i would have with the Classic. the Touch isn’t meant to live in a dark compartment……..
Love my classic! My old 60gb has all my kids movies on it and it can be played for them in the car or house. I have the 120gb for myself. I love having all my music in one place without having to resync everytime I want a different genre. And yes I do understand playlists! They r all available for me all the time on my classic! I hopethey update it making it smaller with a bigger screen. If the touch had a 120gb available I would go for it!
My only hard drive iPod was the very first 5g FireWire iPod. Was never a fan of the hard drive design as it always seem sluggish and slow even with a buffer. Now that the classic iPod is near the end if life cycle and that my original iPod has a damage headphone that no seen to be able to fix because of lack of parts. For the first in ten years I am think of buying a hard drive iPod. It too bad that Apple have not made a flash base drive that is bigger than 64g. Even with playlist there is always something missing in your library just as ou need it so why not carry the whole dam thing.
I have the nano, which feels too small. The shuffle can’t hold even a third of my currently growing music library, and I’ve already got an iPhone. What do I need an iPod touch for?
160 GB Classic: my whole library; zillions of playlists; weeks of continuous variety if played nonstop
what’s not to like?
I’d love it if a solid state mega capacity iPod touch existed, even in the 120 GB range, but it seems unlikely
used to have an 80 GB “Classic” until it was stolen. if i had the money to replace it i would. i miss having ALL my music available to me, and space left over for several movies to play back on a TV.
MDN – Like others have said, not everyone uses 256k compression and as such have large iTunes library. I chose the 160G model for the capacity. It’s nice to have my entire music library to listen to what I want when I want rather than be confined to what I have in a subset of my playlists. I suppose I would be okay if Apple discontinued the classic after they have a 128 G phone / iPod Touch.
I love the ~40 hours of music playback which drowns out my coworkers.
So in summary – capacity and battery life are why I like the iPod Classic. At work I am mainly interested in listening to music. The iPod Classic fits that bill perfectly.
Peace.
I travel a lot and so use a 160gb classic to take about half my music collection with me when I go – I have a huge collection.
Mostly it’s ripped lossless for best iTunes playback at home to hifi.
To the person who mentioned playlists , I do understand them. But I don’t want to fiddle endlessly with iPod contents when I go out . I just change some of the contents once a month or so , in line with seasons, events, mood and new purchased.
It’s my 3rd clickwheel iPod- batteries went on others. This one is doing just great . Long may apple sell them.
Streaming isn’t the answer either – not if you have metered wireless contacts.
I use an iPod in my car, even though my iPhone holds most of my music. The reason is that the car audio system will integrate with and remote control an iPod, but not an iPhone. That’s what you get for having in car audio with an operating system written by Microsoft. It even fails all on it’s own and simply locks up and stops working for no apparent reason. However, if I then use my iPhone in hands-free mode, it will kick the AV system back into life when I hang up.
Next time round I’ll be looking much more carefully at the installed in car audio system.
I think the Classic is a great format for several reasons. I keep a Classic in my car for commuting as well as for traveling on vacation. I can then take it into a hotel or rental and use it while there. I keep a Classic at home as my jukebox, connected to my stereo, for music while at home. Since I have music on constantly, it’s nice to have all my music right at hand, at home or on the road, grouped into playlists to suit my mood. In fact my 60 GB is now full, so I’ll be getting a new 160 before they phase it out!
I don’t need one, but it’s the last iPod with the “click-wheel” interface (and the last iPod with a hard drive), and no other iPod comes close in terms of capacity. It’s the final refinement of the original iPod design that started it all. As long as Apple is selling them in sufficient quantity to make a profit, I think Apple should let it continue; I don’t think it is taking away sales from iPod touch.
Maybe Toshiba has come up with a significantly higher capacity one-platter (thin) version of its 1.8-inch hard drive, let’s say 200GB, that they are willing into supply to Apple for the same component cost…
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I love my 160 gb Classic. I want to have everything with me since I’m away from home a lot. I’m sure they’ll replace it with something sexier, but I’m keeping mine til it croaks!
@ David and to all who say gig and meg, etc.
80 gig? Gigs. Gig is short for gigabytes- a noun that is either singular or plural.
It is not like saying 80 k where k means thousand and thousand precedes the noun like thousand dollarS. DollarS. ByteS. GigabyteS. GigS.
Lol.
The problem with non-click wheel based systems is that it’s difficult to make adjustments without looking at the device. I like having my Classic in my pocket or on a belt clip when I’m on the go, and if I need to adjust volume or want to forward to the next track I can easily do it without even looking.
I like having my entire collection of music, videos, whatnot with me. If I get bored with my Top Favorites playlist, I can switch over to instrumental, or listen to some good choral church music (such as the FaurĆ© Requiem or Bach’s Magnificat), whatever my mood. Then I can take it out of my purse, plug it into my iHome clock radio or my Philips Fidelio speakers, and have some good music to fall asleep by when I’m at home or on the road.
My wife has her current 120 GB classic almost full. I keep moving stuff back and forth with my 32GB touch, but she wants everything right there. Guess I had better get a 169GB classic before they stop making them.
Playlists? I have more than 30 days of music, most of it classical and opera, on my iPod classic. I travel widely and I mostly use my iPod in shuffle mode, or to listen to albums which suit my mood. In truth the iPod is a poor solution for classical music – and that is because iTunes can’t easily manage composers who might be listed in any of several ways. For instance, if I want to listen to mozart piano concertos the composer might be “Mozart” or “W. A. Mozart” or “Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart”. A similar problem exists with artists where Pavarotti” might also be “Luciano Pavarotti”. A piano concerto might be listed as “Concerto for Piano” or “Concerto K123”. Despite the use of playlists it is often difficult to find things on the iPod and, if I am at home, I resort to a search in iTunes on the mac.
One day it would be nice to see a solution which really works for classical music….
@ Byronic
Whenever, I load “classical” music (or any new music) into my iTunes library, and the supporting data is messed up or not consistent, I just use the iTunes “Get Info” window and edit the fields so they make sense (for me). You can select all songs in an album (or larger groupings such as “Composer”) and make wholesale changes at once.
You’re basically saying an iPod is a “poor solution” for something because of the way someone entered data into a database that iTunes uses for song track info. Well, you can do something about that easily…
I hope they don’t kill it. Keep evolve it like they have done. It still sells and many ppl don’t want the iPod. They just want a music device for when they are running and such.
I don’t have a Classic, but I do make use of two older iPods. I have a 2GB Nano that I use when walking the dogs. The other one is a 4GB mini retrofitted witha 16GB CF card. I keep the mini in my car except for the few occasions when I take it in the house to refresh my playlists.
However, I do find using the Click Wheel to be rather laborious after having iPhones for almost 3 years. I couldn’t imagine trying to thumb my way through an iPod Classic LOADED with music!
I have 117GB on my 160GB iPod Classic which is over 80% of my music collection on it (I’m not finished). I’ve had some form of an iPod Classic since 2005 in my car. I use an iPod Touch in my house or any location that uses wi-fi. Yes, the use of playlists are great on iPods that that have lower storage capacity but every once in a while I want to hear a song or artist that is not on a playlist and is stored in the iPod Classic. I like having my whole music collection with me.
The iPod Classic is still a good solution for audiophiles who would rather listen to Apple Lossless or uncompressed libraries. Personally I can make do with my library of lossless files down-converted to 128 kbs files on my iPod Touch but some people would prefer not to compromise the sound quality that way.
@Jezebel,
You’re wrong. It’s perfectly acceptable to say 80 GB. “Gig” is slang to begin with. I wouldn’t use it personally because it’s ambiguous and 3 letters instead of 2, but I’d certainly not add an S to it. Try going to an IT department and ask for a 500 GigS hard drive… They’d laugh at you just like a cashier would laugh if you asked for a 2 literS bottle of Coke, or a Texan if you called it a 10 gallonS hat.
Another isssue with the S is that it’s often used to shorten for data rates… 128kbs. Some would add the P and write 128kbps, but nobody, except you I guess, would write 128kbsps.
I hope Apple just replaces the HD with 128GB flash storage, make it thinner, and leave the click wheel nav. I would be happy with that. Until then, I will continue to use my 80GB classic.
I use the classic due to the interface! I can go from podcast to podcast much faster then with my iPhone. If they discontinue it, I will be buying a new one before they all disappear!
I actually just upgraded to the 160 classic this weekend because, unlike some, I do feel I need almost all of my music in the iPod and I do understand playlists. I am a huge music fan with a giant library and I like not having to choose which songs to have with me in the pod and which to not.
Love the Classic. Don’t kill it, make it with bigger storage. Used every day in my car where I want all my music with me all the time
I’ve heard from friends about the value of the iPod Classic. Many want to give their young kids an iPod, but without the distractions of the Internet and games avail on the iPod Touch. For those who want a simple device that can carry all of their music. There are plenty of such people. I say let’s keep the iPod Classic!
Purely speculating here, i believe the financials should guide the future of the iPod classic. none of us knows the return on investment of another update to the non-touchscreen iPod. It is very likely that Apple simply wants to focus on broadening its touchscreen offerings, however, i suspect that there are enough price-conscious iPod buyers who simply don’t want or need a Touch to justify the expense of another iPod Classic model update.
Here’s an example: in more than one recent corporate office visit i have made, i have seen scores of workers in their cubicles working away frantically while plugged into iPod classics – not using their work-issued computers by choice or by office policy preventing iTunes on their machines. Sure, they could afford iPod touches, but many prefer the disc volume that allows them to load up a week’s worth of tunes and gives them space for external hard drive filespace too.
I expect Apple will want to release a new iPod – slimmer, that offers flash memory and a more crisp display, perhaps sharing some internals with the iPod Touch, but without the expense of the Touch conductive screen. Strategically, this would be an necessary product to keep cheap knock-off media players from attacking the less expensive end of the market.
I use an iPod Classic because I prefer to keep all of my music (over 80GB currently) on one device and to switch between playlists minute by minute and hour by hour, depending on my mood. My playlists are cut by rating and by date added, so I have “1 stars” (music I plan to delete later), “3+ stars”, “4+ stars, “5 stars” as well as playlists like “4+ stars added in last 6 months,” 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, etc. I would go crazy if I were forced to decide what music to listen to in advance each morning. I also use ALAC files or 320kbs MP3 files almost exclusively unless I am forced to use a lower-quality file. (I don’t use WAV files because I can’t embed cover art.) I have a separate iPhone 4 and would be happy to get rid of the classic if Apple would upgrade the iPhone’s capacity to at least 128 GB.