Background: I'm looking at the iPod Classic (160 gigs) to load all of my music, podcasts and audio books onto and use it when we travel in the car and on my daily commute. I have an iPad that I use for internet browsing and reading magazines and ebooks. Cell phone is a plain phone, nothing fancy.

The other half keeps pushing the iPod Touch instead which is less memory, more money and more functions than I need plus something about the technology of the hard drive compared to the iPod Classic one. The other half has an iPad plus an iPhone, so when traveling we're covered with the maps and stuff...

What says the combined wisdom of the forum? I would love some solid facts to toss back at him. Is there really a major concern between the two hard drive's technology and will the iPod Classic disappear and not be supported in future iTunes versions?

TIA

The classic holds more, but does have a spinning HD so is more prone to damage or failing than something with no moving parts. They do seem to be reliable. I see way more broken Touch screens than I ever saw bad classic HDs.

That said, I would not get a touch. Stupid choice IMO given your situation. You would be carrying a phone and an iPod. No brained to get the iPhone at that point. So your choice is really iPhone or iPod.

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Option 3: get a refurbished nano for $100

iPod Classic vs iPod Touch
click wheel vs. touch screen
hard drive disc vs. Solid state drive

I'd go with the iPod classic.
Something about that retro click wheel that gives me warm fuzzy feeling inside.

I will never give up my iPod Classic. I like having my entire library in the car with me at all times. I can certainly connect my iPhone via bluetooth and have everythign with iTunes match, but I like the classic as an extension of my car stereo.

I use an iPod classic in the car during the warmer three seasons and reserve the iPhone for non-music tasks. During winter though the iPod classic has to come out of the car or the cold will damage it.

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Not so sure with the newer Touches, but my Classic had much better battery life than older (2nd, 3rd gen) Touches.

The drive only spins up long enough to fill the cache.

Although, a Touch should have a pretty long battery life as long as you are just listening to music and have the screen off most of the time.

So far...the Classic wins. Another question: why do I never see the iPod Classic in the refurbished section?

I wish I knew the answer to that. It's been years since any showed up in refurbs.

I like my Classic enough that I'd get another, although the 160GB doesn't hold everything in my music library, which is all Apple Lossless except for the things acquired from iTunes. But for my purposes, it doesn't have to hold everything.

It's amazing, isn't it?

It's a wonder that 'spinning drives' can even exist or work as long as they do in our portable devices, considering all of the shock and trauma they receive over the years...

Anyhow, I vote for the Classic. Your needs are met by it (#1: Storage capacity), and it is a device that you can just leave in the car, always, until you want to pull it out to update. Plus, you'll never feel guilty about not utilizing the extra functionality it has, and you paid extra for, because of its purpose and you already have that functionality at your fingertips elsewhere.

I still have a couple Classics I have just in vehicles, pseudo-permanently hooked up in there (until I want to update the playlists, etc.).

I have one vehicle though, similar in that I keep the iPod in there 24/7, but it is a 64GB Touch (Gen 4), and with my iPhone/iPad, etc...I never use the thing other than a storage repository for music. Sure, I have some apps (including digital Insurance Cards for the vehicle) loaded on there and do have WiFi available in the vehicle, but I rarely use it for anything other than stored music. It's a nice fallback device to have if I need to grab and go somewhere and utilize a wireless connection, but I never do. So it's a waste, sort of, other than I know the drive will never fail due to mechanics.

I should add that I had this iPod Touch and used it for other purposes, but over time didn't use it as much, so that's why I just migrated it over to the car a couple years ago. So it wasn't a complete waste or loss of anything, but I've had people comment like 'man, if I had that I'd be using it for this and that...', so I feel a little bad that is now serves basically just a single purpose. Oh well.

I vote for the Classic.

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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/26/2014 10:03AM by onthedownlow.

Another vote for the classic. I have an iPod touch, iPhone, iPad mini but the classic is what I use in the car. For me it's a no brainer, I can (almost) keep my entire music library on the iPod Classic (160GB).

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I too vote for the classic. I have a 4th gen 20 GB color click wheel that suffered the death of the drive. It had the spinning platters, and so it isn't surprising that it eventually died. I resurrected it using a CF to IDE converter, and then using a CF to SD converter and eventually to 64 GB SD card (CF in amounts much more than 32 GB is still rather pricy). It only reads 60 GB of the 64 available due to the limitations imposed by the tiny motherboard. Since my iTunes library is rather small, it works perfectly. When I was researching this, I found many more sites where the classic was converted to a solid-state drive system than the color click wheel (thanks again WHiiP!).

The conversion itself was easy. I also replaced the battery while I was in it, so the tools to open the case was provided by our friendly sponsors, whom I bought the battery from. The hardest part was getting the battery disconnected from the board! Just make sure you get the right parts, as there were changes made between the two models of iPods.

previous post

Thanks for the iNod . . .

I'm a classic man myself . . . I do have an iPhone for other silly stuff, but I have my 160GB classic in my car and would not be without it!

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Bill
Flagler Beach, FL 32136

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I think I'll just print this thread out and hand it to the other half... no words are necessary!

It definitely won't get the winter cold issue of leaving it in the car since it will be hiking with me in either my jacket, my backpack or purse.

Rock and roll...thanks everyone!

Now to see if Pad & Quill can make a case for it. Got one for my iPad - love it!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/26/2014 11:51AM by Lizabeth.

Get a used ipod classic or older and upgrade the spinning hdd to an ssd.

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Diana
I too vote for the classic. I have a 4th gen 20 GB color click wheel that suffered the death of the drive. It had the spinning platters, and so it isn't surprising that it eventually died. I resurrected it using a CF to IDE converter, and then using a CF to SD converter and eventually to 64 GB SD card (CF in amounts much more than 32 GB is still rather pricy). It only reads 60 GB of the 64 available due to the limitations imposed by the tiny motherboard. Since my iTunes library is rather small, it works perfectly. When I was researching this, I found many more sites where the classic was converted to a solid-state drive system than the color click wheel (thanks again WHiiP!).

The conversion itself was easy. I also replaced the battery while I was in it, so the tools to open the case was provided by our friendly sponsors, whom I bought the battery from. The hardest part was getting the battery disconnected from the board! Just make sure you get the right parts, as there were changes made between the two models of iPods.

previous post

Diana, how long did you have your Classic before it went belly up?

If you want a unitasker device, I'd get an iPod Classic and upgrade the HD to an SSD.

If you want a mobile computer that can play lots of media, including movies, apps, serve as a nice eReader, games, and other things - get an iPod Touch. The current Touch is an awesome portable device.

I personally have no trouble making a set of playlists that has most of my preferred music, plus a playlist I can swap in and out for new music and/or something I want to try today. I just sync it with my computer when I'm ready.

Lizabeth,

I got it shortly after it came out. If I remember right, late 2005 but it could have been the following year. I haven't used it as much as I thought I would, so it didn't really die because of OVERuse. I was also rather careful of it because it has (had) the platters, and I didn't want to kill it because I was too rough on it.

It died early on a rather long trip, just my luck! This is the color click wheel (released 2005-2006), not the classic which was released in 2007.

Diana

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pinion
Get a used ipod classic or older and upgrade the spinning hdd to an ssd.

This.

I've owned a 60 GB iPod Video (i.e. Classic) for many years. I wanted an iPod Touch for the longest time, but that desire went away the moment I got my first iPhone.

I currently use the iPod in my car, which has a dedicated iPod powered USB port. The moment the original HD fails I will replace it with a much higher capacity SSD, along with a new battery - should last me for years after that.

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3d
I'd go with the iPod classic.
Something about that retro click wheel that gives me warm fuzzy feeling inside.

My car has an integrated iPad control/display system -- the iPod itself never leaves the storage compartment where it is located. Unfortunately, the integrated control system does not include a click wheel.

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It is what it is.

I've got the 120G Classic and it holds most of my music.

The second I hear that Apple has discontinued the 160G, I'll order it. Maybe even sooner.

It's put a lot of miles on the drive and it's still working well. The battery is starting to show lower play time, but I've had this 'Pod since the first month they became 120G.

You can't buy anything via the Classic, and there's no BT unless you get some third party solution. Even so, I see *no* advantage to having an iPhone and a Touch.

If I could convert a 120/160G Classic to a like-sized SSD, I'd probably do so eventually. But that won't stop me from getting a the Big Classic. (Sounds like a Burger King sandwich.)

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