DailyTech - Report: Apple May Eliminate Classic, Shuffle from iPod Lineup

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Gadgets Report: Apple May Eliminate Classic, Shuffle from iPod Lineup
Tiffany Kaiser - September 28, 2011 12:11 PM

41 comment(s) - last by kmmatney.. on Oct 4 at 12:54 PM

(Source: skattertech.com)

Classic's platter-based hard drive and Shuffle's lack of a screen are just two possible reasons for discontinuing the products

Apple's iPod has been around just over a decade now, with the current lineup consisting of the iPod Shuffle, iPod nano, iPod Classic and iPod touch. But according to TUAW, two of the aforementioned portable media players are getting the old heave-ho this year.

If you've been thinking about picking up an iPod Nano or iPod Classic anytime soon, the time is now -- both media players are seeing their last days as sale items at Apple.

According to TUAW, there are plenty of reasons for Apple to make this move. For starters, Apple announced earlier this year that iPod sales were falling short of expectations. The iPod Classic hasn't changed much over the years and doesn't offer anything that the iPod touch doesn't offer. Also, it uses a platter-based hard drive, and Apple is mainly switching to flash-based memory.

As for the iPod Shuffle, its lack of a screen has been an issue since day one.

With the Classic and the Shuffle out of the picture, Apple will only have touchscreen iPods available with the iPod nano becoming its new low-end media player.

Apple has not confirmed this discontinuation, but TUAW received the word from an anonymous source.

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RE: Unmentioned benefits of the Classic

By TakinYourPoints on 9/28/2011 5:30:41 PM , Rating: 1

Right, which is why the iPad which starts at $500 is making selling more than the iPod ever did and has every other company trying to carve a piece of this new market, and which is why people do the same thing they did with an iPod (look at all the responses here) but with a more expensive smartphone instead. Dedicated PMPs are dying and are being actually replaced by more expensive but more capable devices.

You should start basing your arguments on reality instead of personal bias and emotion.

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RE: Unmentioned benefits of the Classic

By lightfoot on 9/28/2011 5:52:21 PM , Rating: 2

$500 for a tablet actually sounds reasonable next to a $250 MP3 player.

It doesn't mean that both products aren't severely overpriced.

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RE: Unmentioned benefits of the Classic

By TakinYourPoints on 9/29/2011 7:27:49 AM , Rating: 2

I don't understand how a $500 tablet suddenly became "overpriced". People couldn't believe it when the iPad was announced at $500, everyone was expecting a tablet to be $1000 based on the price of them up until that point. Then there's the fact that other 10" tablets cost roughly the same amount or more, just look at the Xoom which launched at $800 with much lower specs, and they still won't compete on internal specs until the Tegra 3 launches.

I won't argue that a $250 mp3 player with hard drive platters is a concept that is ready to die though. Some people here seem to like all the storage space they offer, but I don't care for the seek times on physical platters compared to what you get with flash memory. Downgrading to a 16GB flash based mp3 player which also costs less makes sense to me given that you're losing moving parts, gaining battery life, and improving seek time performance. How much music does one need to carry?

But again, I think dedicated PMPs are on life support, but that's just me. A couple years and most people won't have dedicated music players, they'll also be phones or things like iPod Touches.

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RE: Unmentioned benefits of the Classic

By Reclaimer77 on 9/28/2011 6:00:48 PM , Rating: 2

Apple is recession proof. People literally have sold their goddamn organs to buy an iPad dude.

quote:
You should start basing your arguments on reality instead of personal bias and emotion.

And you'll start doing that when exactly? You just aren't thinking clearly.

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RE: Unmentioned benefits of the Classic

By TakinYourPoints on 9/28/2011 8:19:59 PM , Rating: 1

I'm thinking very clearly and basing arguments on reality. People want devices that do more than simple media playback even if they have to pay more, it is very simple.

Basing your argument on an extreme outlier case where one Chinese teenager out of tens of millions of customers sold a kidney for an iPad (which is completely insane btw) doesn't make for a rational argument, it just makes you look like you're desperately grasping for straws.

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RE: Unmentioned benefits of the Classic

By Pirks on 9/29/2011 12:22:48 PM , Rating: 2

Don't forget you're talking to the lunatic who just said that MS is bigger than Apple. This guy is too delusional to understand what you're talking about.

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