Apple finally kills off iPod classic after 13 years of service
Not mentioned during today's announcements, Apple has quietly removed the venerable iPod classic from its mobile music player lineup, paring down the company's offerings to the iPod touch, iPod nano and iPod shuffle.
The iPod classic descended from the original iPod and stayed on as a Click Wheel-toting outlier in Apple's lineup as the company moved to touchscreen interfaces and iOS. With its larger chassis, Apple was able to market the iPod classic as its most capacious player option, reaching 160GB of internal storage on a spinning hard drive.
Before axing the product, Apple carried the iPod classic's design over from the sixth-generation iPod, which was first unveiled in 2007. A few aesthetic tweaks came in 2009, but the overall shape and functional features remained unchanged for over six years.
With the classic no longer showing up on the Online Apple Store or Apple's dedicated iPod webpage, it is clear that an era has come to an end. Apple's portable music and video player offerings are now limited to flash-based 16GB, 32GB and 64GB iPod touch models, the 16GB iPod nano and 2GB iPod shuffle.
The iPod classic descended from the original iPod and stayed on as a Click Wheel-toting outlier in Apple's lineup as the company moved to touchscreen interfaces and iOS. With its larger chassis, Apple was able to market the iPod classic as its most capacious player option, reaching 160GB of internal storage on a spinning hard drive.
Before axing the product, Apple carried the iPod classic's design over from the sixth-generation iPod, which was first unveiled in 2007. A few aesthetic tweaks came in 2009, but the overall shape and functional features remained unchanged for over six years.
With the classic no longer showing up on the Online Apple Store or Apple's dedicated iPod webpage, it is clear that an era has come to an end. Apple's portable music and video player offerings are now limited to flash-based 16GB, 32GB and 64GB iPod touch models, the 16GB iPod nano and 2GB iPod shuffle.
Comments
I wonder what will happen with iPod touch now that there are 2 screen sizes for the phone.
Aww...
RIP iPod Classic.
Clearly this "announcement" is what caused AAPL to drop after the initial iPhone 6 and Apple Watch surge. \s
The new iPod Touch DS: A 5.5” iPod touch on top, welded to a 4.7” iPod touch on the bottom. Perfect for games.
They still sold it?
I wish Apple would refresh the iPod Classic. The other iPod models don't offer enough storage space. Most of my music is uncompressed, so I need as much space as I can get.
iPods are done, there's no point in making any major revisions. The whole lineup will just wind down and categories will be culled as they reach a threshold. I expect the iPod Touch will be the last to go as it's the best selling model. In October, I expect the same Shuffle and Nano and just a spec bump on the Touch.
I’m torn between which one I want to see get canned…
I wonder what will happen with iPod touch now that there are 2 screen sizes for the phone.
I really hope we see an update to the iPod touch. Maybe they will update it when they announce the new iPads next month (Let the iPad rumors begin!)
I loved the physical scroll wheel. Maybe it's legacy is shown in the digital crown of the Apple Watch.
And, yet… NO 128GB Touch option???
*sigh*