This has saddened and annoyed me at the same time. The Classic was the Apple’s first digital music player, and although the original debuted in 2001, there were six generations released up until 2007.

When Apple’s online store came back online yesterday, following its iPhone 6 event, this later model was missing from the iPod lineup.
Apple did not make any formal announcement about ceasing the line.
According to an earnings report earlier this year, Apple's iPod Classic sales in the final quarter of 2013 had dropped 52 per cent year-on-year.

Apple also lost 55 per cent in revenue on all models of the music player, compared to the previous year, and the iPod makes up less than 2 per cent of the company's overall income.
The drop in sales is being attributed to the increase in music apps, cloud storage and streaming services including Spotify.

I have over 100gb of music on my Ipod Classic which I use in the car and connected to a set of speakers in my kitchen so when im cooking. I can choose anything from my vast collection to listen to.

I have no interest in using cloud and spotify as 1 they do not have the music that I listen to on there. 2 I am not using up my bandwith/data allowence just to listen to music, when I have a device that can do the job.

So I will not be updating Itunes at any point now as no doubt the Classic will be unsported at the next update. There is a market for a large capacity music player as people have been snappng up 2nd Classics since the news of it's demise has come out.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolog...usic-fans.html

I timed buying a new one well. My ipod classic from 2007 recently stopped working so I bought a new one only a month ago. It had been rumoured some time ago that the ipod classic was facing the axe and with it's big storage it is useful for listening to in the car.

Whatever you think of Apple, the iPod Classic was revolutionary. It was a real game changer in music distribution. I had two, a 120gb and then 160gb when my music collection exceeded the previous one, and they went everywhere with me. It has also led to the development of devices with sound quality in mind. Without the iPod, Neil Young's Ponos or the Fiio X5 would be no where in sight.

I'm with the OP, I have little interest in streaming services except maybe for music discovery (and the best for that, Last FM, is now all but dead). For me, there will always be a place for dedicated offline music players like the iPod Classic.

A 160 gig to store music is amazing. Seems sad that such a brilliant useful iconic device disappears at the same time they introduce a pretty but ultimately pointless iWatch thing!

Seems a bit silly to get rid of it. You could fit a larger capacity drive in there, for people who need more, and upgrade the hardware for high res playback.

Agreed. Best gadget I've had and great in the car, plugged into a dedicating system. What next when my Classic fails? Why not a simple ITouch..same capacity, just for music?

A lot of people on here saying is's silly of Apple to axe it when there is obviously a need for them...but sales have declined year on year...so obviously not much of a market and not one Apple would want to be in.

If music players are in decline, how long has the iPod Touch got left?

Its a shame for the Classic though, and that name seems more appropriate now.

Not long I expect - every modern phone can play music so less and less reason to have obne

How many phones have 160gig storage?

It's pretty easy to get a 128MB Micro SD card these days and a 32GB phone is common enough now so if you need the storage you can have it.

How many people actually need 160gig mobile storage though?

One is for sure. Apple products are deteriorating faster than expected. Since the demise of Steve Jobs, Apple failed to deliver a single revolutionary product. They are just recycling old technology from "the golden era", hoping that would be enough, but it's not. Iphone's and iPads are now boring and tired and I see no further innovations in them. I remember when iPhone first came out, it was truly amazing piece of hardware that I couldn't wait to buy Now, I didn't even get excited about the new iPhone, and I'm a an Apple fanboy through and through. If I was to buy a mobile phone today, I'd go for Samsung Galaxy rather than iPhone.

I do I like having most of my music collection available

The reason why people buy these music players is because they want a certain level of music playback. They want improved dacs and amps etc etc. Sometimes a phone won't cut it.

It was last updated in 2009. It's declining because it's not keeping up with the times. No high res playback.

Do you think it would sell if it did have hi-res playback?

The Fiio X1 is the way to go. Hi Res play back and instead of having internal storage you use up to 128gb micro sd cards.

I still use my 2007 ipod classic (although I bought a new battery for it a few years ago)

The main reasons are because I personally think the click wheel is superior to the touch screen in terms of navigating, and my iTunes library is at 18GB, so 16GB touch/phone models are not sufficent, and 32gb seems overkill to what I need...I'm kinda stuck inbetween.

If 32GB is overkill then what is 160GB?


The Touch still has life. Good for teens who want to use iOS apps, especially games, without the expense and contract of an iPhone. I suspect it's also a useful gateway to iPhone sales (my first iOS device was a touch, followed by an iPhone the following year).

Haha

No mine isn't that big, my ipod classic is 30GB I think. Yeah this is it

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Apple-iPod-V.../dp/B000HZFC4W

It's actually from 2006!!! Still does the job.

Why don't you read Steve Jobs biography in might give you an insight into Apple that maybe Steve Jobs did not make everything or come up with the idea for everything at Apple intact far from it and all those creative people are still there.

Cheers! I am checking that out. Companies make you pay a premium for their internal storage anyway.

Have they brought out a 128GB iPod Nano then?

I guess many people have gone over to smartphones with big memory or a big SD card.
The humble Clip Zip takes a 128GB card too, though it does seems silly when the memory card costs so much more than the player.

Argos still have a few 160gb classics. Black ones £189.99, silver £10 cheaper. Wonder if they'll go on sale?

If you're really desperate, C.E.X shops and the like usually have dozens of second-hand ones..

If you can find one snap it up as i reakon a boxed unused one will be worth something. If they have the old connectors even better.