RIP: The iPod Classic May be at Death’s Door
11:29 am, July 15th, 2009, Lonnie Lazar
The iPod classic's days may be numbered.
As flash memory and solid state drives steadily become the storage media of choice for portable electronic devices, Apple’s iPod Classic – the device widely credited with kickstarting the company’s rise from the ashes of the John Scully era – may not survive to celebrate its 10th birthday in 2011.
1.8 inch hard disk drives manufactured by Samsung and Toshiba, the last two manufacturers standing in a once-robust market for small, high-capacity spinning disk drives, sit languishing in the supply channel, according to a report at Ars Technica, and industry trends do not bode well for the future of Apple’s signature gadget.
When Apple launched the first iPod in 2001, the hard disk was the only vehicle capable of storing large amounts of data flexibly at reasonable cost. Since then, however, advances in Flash memory and SSD technology have made those two storage options the industry standard for everything from netbooks to iPhones and the entire line of Apple’s portable music players, with only the Classic continuing to rely on the 1.8″ HDD.
The trend toward Flash memory and SSD technology has been building for at least the last couple of years, with Apple having been ahead of the curve when the company introduced its Flash memory-based iPod nano in 2005.
SSDs typically offer higher performance–often much higher performance–than hard-disk drives and are more durable since they have no moving parts. While the larger question of where the technology is headed remains somewhat in debate, in large part over concerns about data’s long-term reliability in SSD storage media and Flash memory’s eventual degradation related to writing, erasing and re-writing its memory blocks, the fate of the 1.8 inch HDD seems dire.
The industry’s current disdain for small-form HDD products, and Apple’s apparent design trajectory for its mobile PMPs and handset devices, suggest the time has come to prepare farewells for the iPod Classic.
Posted by Lonnie Lazar in Apple, Hardware, News, iPod | Comment on this article
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The day Apple will announce this dead will be the day I will buy a new iPod Classic from the last living generation.
emilcar, on July 15th, 2009 at 11:35 am
I’m gonna miss him….
Eric, on July 15th, 2009 at 11:42 am
Hmm, … so far the SSD doesn’t even come close to the 120GB capacity of the classic. Right now with 32GB max. it is a bit over a 1/4 of that. So anyone who wants to get his (or hers) complete library on it has to take the classic.
Lets see if the SSD can speed up the slow rise a bit in the next years, otherwise the classic will still be there.
Tice, on July 15th, 2009 at 11:54 am
As long as I can get a replacement drive for my G5 I will be happy. The ability to use it through cloth and without looking at it along with it’s larger capacity make it the best iPod out there for me. I keep a LOT of old podcast on it and a lot more music that I keep on my iPod Touch I got for free when I bought a MacBook last year. In fact, I have no music on that iPod Touch because I find it largely to be lousy in the “ease of use without looking” functionality. And you have to have it in your hand and touch the screen, which is fine unless you want to just have your iPod play music while in your pocket and then pause without pulling it out of your pocket every time, or forward to to the next track.
It would be sad to see this model go, and I might very well buy a new one before they are EOLed. Plus, the older models didn’t have the stupid hardware restrictions on video out.
csbmonkey, on July 15th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Noooooooo, I love my 160GB iPOd Classic… what happens when it dies? How will I carry my 145GBs of music with me? Ugh, I hope the SSDs go higher than the current highest 120GB HD model…
Hypersky, on July 15th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
G5 = 5G iPod (the 80gb first video rendention)
csbmonkey, on July 15th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
I just bought an black Classic 120GB in the last few weeks because I could see this story coming from five miles away. It’s good looking, tactile and none of the other iPods come close for capacity. A 36 hour battery life isn’t too shabby either. It’s also the same weight and size as my 5G 30GB. All in all a pretty compelling package.
Mark, on July 15th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
You’re way off the mark about who was ahead of what curve and when.
Apple was pretty much last to market with a flash-based player. Creative first sold their MuVo in 2003, a player very similar in size to the Apple’s later Nano (and it’s worth noting that Creative was selling a player with the name Nano at the time Apple released theirs). But even years earlier in the nascent MP3 player market, pretty much every device was based on flash or used MMC/SD/CF for storage.
Apple was actually ahead of the curve when it released the first iPod (which of course used a hard drive). Most players of the time were limited to 1GB or less due to their reliance on solid-state storage. 5GB — “1,000 songs in your pocket” — blew everything else out of the water.
But the meat of your story is that the life of the iPod classic may be nearing its end. I don’t see how you came to this conclusion. Magnetic WMRM media isn’t going anywhere. It’s been with us in one form or another for nearly 100 years now.
And it may surprise you to know that Apple isn’t the only company purchasing 1.8″ hard drive. The netbook market is flush with machines sporting 1.8″ hard drives — even Apple uses one in their entry level MacBook Air.
With Apple’s video push it’s hard to see them killing off the one product actually capable of holding a video collection. Can you say “1,000 movies in your pocket”? No, at least not with a flashed-based player.
nak, on July 15th, 2009 at 11:59 pm
I don’t think that it’d be wise for Apple to discontinue the iPod Classic. For those of us who use our iPods to hold our entire music collections, multiple videos, photos, and as a portable hard drive, the Classic is the iPod of choice. Sure, the iPod Touch may be faster, but it’s lacks the capacity of my 160GB and 120GB iPod Classics. Likewise, the iPod Nano is physically too small for me to comfortably operate because of the size of my hands. The iPod Classic is the iPod that suits me best.
I own multiple iPod/iPod Classics, a 4G 40GB model, a 4G Apple+HP 30GB model, a 160GB classic, and a 120GB classic. I’m really hoping for Apple to bump the size of the iPod Classic again in September to 240GB or 250GB, and will buy it the moment that I see it. To me, capacity is the number one priority, and it’s the primary reason I refuse to purchase an iPod Touch.
Speaking of the iPod Touch, it’s worth noting that I’d rather continue to repair my 4G 40GB iPod than purchase even a 64GB iPod Touch. My reasoning for this is simple: I don’t like touch screens; I want an interface that I can feel, plain and simple. The iPod Classic offers me a Clickwheel interface that I can feel, which is something that the iPod Touch can’t offer.
What I think would be wisest, would be for Apple to bump the iPod touch to 240GB or 250GB this fall for those like me who need a high-capacity iPod. Eventually, it would be wise for Apple to drop the HDD from the Classic and replace it with a High-Capacity SSD. The Classic and the Touch aren’t competing with each other–the Touch is aimed at people who want a touch screen and App Store functionality. For people such as myself, who prefer a haptic interface and large Capacity, the Classic is a better device for our needs.
In sum, I truly believe that Apple should bump the classic to 240GB or 250GB this year. Maybe in 2010 or 2011, Apple could introduce a SSD into the Classic form factor to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the iPod. This would please people who prefer the Classic over the Touch, and Touch users would still be able to take advantage of their touch screens. The problem isn’t the iPod Classic, the problem is that there isn’t currently an SSD with the capacity of a 250GB hard drive. Hopefully Apple will take advantage of said hard drive this fall.
Alex, on July 16th, 2009 at 1:17 am
I imagine there will be a couple of versions of the Classic, a 32gb or 64gb SSD and a 120gb HD version for a while, then the HD will eventually die when the SSD pricing/capacity improves.
Eric, on July 16th, 2009 at 1:27 am
The iPod’s death is many years off. Let us know when you can get a 240GB SSD for under $240.
Lance N., on July 16th, 2009 at 2:05 am
I have a 160GB classic for one reason, and one reason only: capacity! I saw this day coming the second they decreased the size to 120GB.
Daryl, on July 16th, 2009 at 6:05 am
The classic is safe until SSD is cheap enough for 64GB nanos. That may be the tipping point. The biggest problem for Apple is that any improvement in one model cannibalizes their own lineup, not the competition (competition?)
They may be smart enough to recognize the touch is not a “real” iPod; it’s a junior iPhone. It’s a junior netbook. Music iPods have tactile buttons you can use without looking (as said above). Exercising, running, biking, even walking the dogs make the touch impractical.
It may be time to reposition the lineup. A price cut on the classic is long overdue. My 3G ipod was $279 in 2003. Six years later the classic is still $249. (Dr. Moore? Paging Dr. Moore.) You can argue that the 120GB model follows Moore’s law, but the market price for drives already surpasses the prediction. Since there’s very little change in the other components it would appear that Moore applies to Apple’s margin, not the technology.
The price point for a classic should be around $149, the same as an 8GB nano. That may mean downgrading to 80GB, but I don’t think that would direly affect many users. If Apple went to 1.8″ drives in the MacBook line they could probably keep the 120 at that same $148 price. And maybe get a few odd-balls to pay $249 for a 250GB model.
The nano is a fashion statement, the touch is a status symbol, but the classic is the workhorse. You can buy an Ford Explorer for looking good around town. You can buy a Mustang to look cool. But if you need a work pickup, you buy an F-series. The classic is the iPod pickup truck. It carries anything you need, it’s easy to work, and it’s versatile – you can even use it as a bootable, portable system drive!
The other thing Apple should do: give us back our WHITE iPod!! A real iPod is white! It’s not gray. It’s not one of the 9 (beautiful) chromatic nano colors. It’s freakin’ white! That little WHITE box transformed Apple from a notebook seller into the most profitable company in the industry.
Maybe it’s time for a 10th Anniversary Special Edition? Take the iPod back to it’s roots. Give it a real market price. Make it white. Make it cool again. It’ll fly off the shelf.
imajoebob, on July 17th, 2009 at 8:37 am
since the flash based ipods can’t even get close to my 60 gig 5g yet, they are useless to me. even on that i’m getting tight for space. like others, if apple does this i will buy a 120 gig classic before they go away. tell you what though, i’d buy a 120 gig nano if there was such a thing. maybe even an 80 gig.
firesign, on July 17th, 2009 at 9:57 am