The Unsung Tech Hero: iPod Classic

Posted on September 11, 2014 by David Hopkins

I’ve had (and still got, somewhere) an iPod Mini, iPod Nano, iPod Touch, and my iPod Classic. Why am I still favouring the unpopular Classic over the other more fashionable or stylish iPods. Easy … storage.

My music iTunes library is over 64gb, and the Classic (I have a capacity of an advertised 120gb – realistically only about 113gb) was the only decently priced option to store it all.

And Apple have killed it off. It’s probably in favour of the touchscreen rather than the out-of-date click-wheel (I still like it though), but there isn’t an alternative with the capacity for my whole library. This means I’m going to be mega annoyed when/if my Classic develops faults and I have to look a the quite frankly inferior options.

I have my Classic in the car during the week so I can listen to something I want (without the inane and annoying radio DJ dribble/banter), and it’s in the kitchen plugged in to the stereo at the weekend providing background music and a lively environment.

I have playlists for different moods, different stages of my musical journey, compilations for different tastes, etc. I still like to listen to an album in the order it was produced, I’m slowly digitising my 400+ vinyl collection so I can listen to it again (in all it’s vinyl LP crackles and scratches) and relive those awful teenage years. And my Classic makes this happen.

My Classic gets used, and get’s used a lot, and has done for over 6 years now. There’s nothing wrong with it. Do I now have to explain to my kids about the demise of vinyl LPs, cassettes, CDs, and now the MP3 player? Has it come to that? Is MP3 dead, long live the App?

A quick search shows the URL www.apple.com/uk/ipodclassic, but you won’t get the Classic, you are shown the Touch. I’ve nothing against the Touch, I still have mine at home, but it cannot hold anywhere near the 64gb of my music at once. I have an iPhone so I don’t need the apps. I know from some people the way to deal with this is to continually change what’s on it, depending on mood, etc. But I can do that quite easily on the Classic just by selecting a different playlist, artist, album, genre, etc. I also don’t want to keep connecting and reconnecting it to my old and creaky laptop.

So, is music & MP3 storage no longer important to Apple? What are you doing to hold your large (?) iTunes collections?

What Apple giveth (and get’s us hooked on), Apple taketh away (and leaves us high and dry).

Oh, one other thing – I stopped buying music from iTunes years ago. I still have a fair bit of music in Apple DRM’d format, but the vast majority of it is from my CDs or bought elsewhere online. Not only are the alternatives DMR-free, it is nearly always cheaper on Amazon or Play.

I see a whole raft of iPod Classics are now on eBay. I can pick up a 6th gen 160gb iPod Classic for £100 … tempting just to do it and have it in reserve for when this trusted piece of tech needs replacing.