What are those of us who just want a high capacity mp3 players supposed to do now that the iPod Classic is gone? Apple has pretty much alienated those of us who just want a high capacity mp3 player.
iPod classic 160GB (Late 2009)
My ipod classics only last me 3 yrs. I love it because of the high capacity. Today's news made me sad.
😟
It's a real bummer because mine has decided to go on the fritz. Now I don't know what to do except replace it's innards. 😟 A sad day for those of us who need high capacity mp3 players. 😟 RIP iPod Classic
iPod Classic 160GB 6th gen
I think apple will realize may true worth of the ipod classic once it's users stop buying music and audiobooks through itunes. Without a plain old mp3 player, there's no real incentive to stick with apple's higher prices. Especially considering that it's audiobooks are not available on the cloud, like audible's are.
I hope they decide to at least come out with something with the same capacity because I like the classic too and I don't really want to have a touch with apps and other stuff taking up space. I have an Android phone for that, yes I'm saying that on an apple forum. I have the classic because it's high capacity and holds all the podcast and music I want to have with me all the time.
I agree. There are alternatives, though not well known yet:
http://www.amazon.com/digital-Fiio-Portable-Lossless-Balanced/dp/B00JD4YX1G
and those of us who currently spend a lot of money thru the Apple store, for convenience, will begin to look elsewhere for content.
I agree. There are alternatives, though not well known yet:
I don't think it will interact with iTunes.
It's very sad... I am in the same boat as many others here: I have an Android phone for all my app needs, so all I really needed was a high-capacity MP3 player for my extensive music library and digital movies collection. My current iPod Classic is about to go out on me, but none of the current iPods have a large enough capacity for my needs. And, since Apple has discontinued the Classic, all the places that sell them are jacking up the prices because they know they are going to be in short supply and high demand.
I was hoping that Apple would eventually update the classic to a touch screen and a solid state drive, but I guess they don't think it's worth it. Sad... won't be buying any more Apple products... they apparently don't think my needs and those like me would make them enough money.
I find the most galling (and frankly painful) thing about this change is the coldly-calculated manner in which it was apparently executed. No announcement - no time to buy the product (which I can clearly picture now heading toward destruction by the ton load, only, one presumes, to be magically recycled into new $700 iPads). The trend of visiting only the bottom-line as a deciding factor in such a decision (mitigated by the classic's maddening independence from app browsing), given the robust health and almost unfathomable wealth of the parent company perpetrating, is a maddening and disturbing one - one I believe should be protested vigorously. If customers were happily using this device, buying this device (as I was preparing to do), then they should continue to be able obtain it and use it, as the company itself only recently promised. I've been hung up upon, today, by two Radio Shack store managers - obviously wearying of getting inquiring calls, from out of state, from people who just have to have a Classic. The store I visited today thought they had them, then sadly reported to me that the last boxed iPod 160gb Classic had in fact sold on the previous day. All that remains are on-line reconditioned items or the usury prices on new ones. Yes - I'd love to pay $700 for an iPod I could have bought a week ago for $249.
Apple essentially killed the competing market for hard drive players, as of about six years ago. And now, in Wal+Mart fashion, it closes shop on the affordable high-capacity player and leaves nothing behind. Is this the kind of manipulation the company was founded on and brought back from near annihilation with? Perhaps this little retirement brings to light how little individual customers may factor into the schema of Apple LLC - being, really, only tiny streams of revenue. A few unhappy ones (mere thousands?) out of the millions will barely make a sound.
Apple should reconsider rather than only considering the state of its own rather ample bottom line. No thank you, as well, on the iPod Touch - $50 more for a third of the capacity. Genius bar indeed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPod#mediaviewer/File:Ipod_sales_per_quarter.svg
Declining sales year over year. That said, Apple has a vested interest in moving people to the "cloud", and not refreshing the iPod line:
It ensures that they know what you have (iTunes Match) even if you ripped it from a CD you bought elsewhere that happens to be in their store as a download.
This enables to sell that information as marketing material.
Second, it helps their cellular data partners to have people use more data transfer time (and use up their quota), encouraging larger data plans.
Third, it discourages iOS usage (the iPhone Touch has iOS which means people will spend money on Apps).
I believe that 20+ million sold in 2013 is a market big enough for a smaller high end competitor, even 5 million would be a good chunk of change for someone like Fiio etc.
anyone thinking of buying one from an apple store to have incase there current one dies?
Like others with huge music collections, I'm beyond sad about the death of the classic without a viable alternate choice for those of us that need capacity first and foremost. In a total "knee jerk" panic move, I spent a small fortune to buy (10) classics from re-sellers on Amazon. Average price I paid was $370 each when I used to get them for $229 or $249. My own collection outgrew 2 classics recently and I was going to have to keep a 3rd one to have all my music with me at once. So I basically bought backups for myself and a couple for family just in case. I'm the exception to the rule these days, but I like having local music files that I can manipulate and not have to depend on an internet connection to use. Hence me not being fond of the cloud or streaming content in general. Call me Burger King, I want it MY WAY. But I digress. What I'd like to hear people's opinions on is whether I should keep these for the time being in the box with plastic still on them until I'm ready to use them once my current ones die, or will I be better served to take them out of the box now and periodically charge them so the batteries don't become stale if that's even a thing? I actually wrote a letter to Steve Jobs long before he passed asking if he would make a 1TB ipod one day for those of us with ridiculously large music collections. Never got a response. Somehow I feel like the classic would live on were he still with us. Sad, sad, sad. Please Apple, if anybody is listening on these forums, give us something in the future that suitably replaces the high capacity music player so those of us with huge collections don't get left in the wilderness.
Signed,
Formally loyal customer with doubts going forward
Their solution is the new iPhones - they have iPhones with 128GB capacities.
I assume one has to have a "plan" when purchasing a new iPhone or can it be used as a stand alone music player only? Can one use an iPhone without actually using the phone/internet part? I would buy one in a heartbeat if I wasn't forced to pay for the plan also.
I know in Australia (I don't know about the situation in the US) you can buy them outright, and just choose to not put a sim in the phone, so you can just use it as a music player - but I am not paying $1200 for an iPod/camera.
The iPod touch is essentially the iPhone without the phone. It's not really a good replacement or an ipod classic because it still comer with a bunch of apps you can't remove that take up space, plus if you listen to podcast you need a separate app which again takes up space on the player itself.
IPod classic gone now
