The classic as we know it will go away. They're already hard to find in the Apple stores - they just don't sell like they used to.

My bet is that there will be a version of the Touch with a 160+ GB disk inside.

portrAIt

bump

There's no way they're discontinuing the iPod classic and also no way they're making the screen oblong.

People still want the large space of the ipod classic and putting a 160 GB HD in a touch would just be silly.
As for the screen: The ipod classic doesn't have to be thinner than usual. It would just look stupid on it and the ipod would bee much too long.

Why would putting a 160GB HD in a Touch be silly?
Strikes me that the large screen goes hand-in-hand with large storage for video content.

I've got my fingers crossed for one anyway :-)

I see the Classic being killed off mainly to keep prices up for the touch. Unless they totally revamp the touch by adding a LOT more memory it won't sell with the iphone being as cheap as it is. I see a 64 GB and probably a 120 GB touch coming out to keep the touch prices around the 300-400 range since anything lower than that and they'd be losing money on them with how expensive the touchscreen alone is for an ipod touch. If that does end up being the case, i'll be one of the first in line to buy one, as I love the touch's design, but can't get away with only having 16 GB of music and refuse to pay $500 for a mp3 player.

There is no way the iPod Classic is going away! The reason for it is that its for people who would rather have more space than a smaller nicer looking kind. With todays technology, it would be impossible to add so much memory to the iPod Touch without making it fat and ugly. The Classic and the Touch attract two completely different groups of people, so getting rid of the Classic would in no way help the Touch. They'll simply lower the price (so it can compete with the iPhone), maybe borrow a few design tips from the iPhone, and add a little more storage... (not 160 GB!) As for changing the screen of the Classic, i doubt that will happen only because I think it would look strange.

also there is a physical restriction. A hard drive can't be that close to a wifi antena. It causes data issues on the hard drive. How this is dealt with on laptops is the antena is in the screen. If the music sharing feature in the zune was used more or it used the wifi more than the zune would have data loss problems.

An iPod Classic wouldn't be a Classic with the new screen, would it?

iPod classic isn't really classic anyway. If you want classic, go for the 5GB with the click wheel that actually moves and everything and was "only as big as a pack of cards"!
Anyhow, its obvious that the iPod classic will be killed off. It has sold terribly and everybody prefers the touch interface. I'm surprised they're not introducing a touch screen for the Nano, to be honest, but that would probably come with the inevitable iPhone Nano.

I Agree with the original commenter with one addition:
I'm calling false of the pics on the supposed new nano flating around.

I believe the entire iPod line, excluding the shuffle will be moved over the touch format. Which if you think about it would make sense, it would clean up the product line (and we all know how Job's feels about clean product lines) and the pricing alignment would be aligned correctly.

Furthermore the talk we heard a while ago about an iPhone Touch Nano never say well with me, But an iPod Touch Nano Does. So the product line would be:

iPod Shuffle > iPod Touch Nano > iPod Touch > iPhone.

the classic will be killed - but there will be a touch with a BIG disk.
in addition apple will sell a dock to stream music via wifi to your stereo - like mac and airport express.

The classic won't be killed. Its what MADE Apple. Without the original iPod, Apple wouldn't be 1/8th of what it is today.

I've been wanting to buy an iPod classic but finding one is next to impossible yet Touches have been plentiful. That means there is a big update coming for the classic while the touch will remain the same.

To Zedd: The reason why you can't find an iPod classic is because they're not selling. Retailers don't bother stocking it anymore. It would be insane and terrible business on Apple's part to retain such a marginal part of their business when the resources could be better spend making their touch interface more advanced and shifting the Nano to a touch interface. Rest In Peace, iPod Classic.

I love my 8 GB iPod touch but some customers really like to have ALL their songs with them and even want larger storage capacity. I personally don't get it, but I don't have to.

For me I don't even use my 8 GB up even though my music library is much larger than 8 GB. I just put on what I want at a time and am more interested in my apps, podcasts, videos, calendar and e-mail. The music is there on the side with just the selection I want for that day or week or whatever.

I DO, however, wish there were an option where I could put on the music I want (a single playlist) and then autofill the rest of the space up with music so I could do a little random shuffling playback with some unexpected music.

An Apple Guy told me, that Classic is definitly dead.

i will only upgrade to the iphone or ipod touch after it goes over 60gb or 120gb respectively

great because that flash memory will cost you $500 and $1000 respectively.

Here is my take. Apple still doesn't have a video iPod, that is one optimized for the viewing of movies and HD television. My guess is that the iPod classic gets replaced by a video optimized iPod. This device would at the very least have to support HD aspect ratios. Ideally It would go a bit wider than that to give slightly better coverage to hollywood movies. In any event it has to deliver all the pixels that 720 P provides for. This would be a dense screen but I believe it is doable in a iPod slightly bigger than todays Classic.

Frankly It would be pretty stupid for Apple to move forward with a cell phone optimized screen on a video optimized player. That doesn't mean they won't but any reasonable person knows where content is going these days. Hollywood has been there for decades and Television will be digital only fairly soon. So would it make sense for Apple to deliver a new platform that doesn't at least handle 720P fully?

Why do you think the new nano has the bigger screen? it's the same size as the ipod classic's...with flash memory available in bigger and bigger sizes (currently 32gb in the touch) i could see the nano getting a similar memory upgrade, and the touch possibly reaching 64gb.

That means the nano is your classic style ipod with all the features in a fraction of the space, the shuffle is your really small and simple mp3 player and the touch is your extravagent mp3 player for thse who want a bit more from their ipods.

If they do get rid of the classic, I feel a name change could appear... just having nano and touch is a bit odd. I never liked the ipod touch name anyway. Although dont ask me what the new ones will be!

For the new nano, I'd like to see an interface that looks similar to that of the touch, but not touch screen...i.e. scrolling through albums, songs and artists has the same scrolling interface as the touch, with the same graphics etc...and cover flow in landscape mode with a black background, same as the touch! (accelerometer etc)

If Apple gets rid of support for the 160G iPOD, it'll be the last Apple product I buy!

Apple looks toward the future, and the future is wireless. With all these apps that allows you too access your iTunes library, there is no need for a huge drive. and i am sure that vital info that is sent to info when you synce your product shows actually how many people sync their whole library. I know I don't and I have a whopping 85gigs of music, the problem is choice.

I hope classic stays, after reading about the american who's life was saved after being shot in his iPod over his heart.

I want 10 of them bad boys when i go o afghan within the next two years

then ebay is your friend :)

then ebay is your friend :)

I think that Apple will let the classic die now.

Ipod touch will be available with 64 Gb and that's it. If you want 128 Gb you have to wait another year :(

 Does anyone think the iPod shuffle will be killed off? To accomedate the probable price cuts, that would make the shuffle really cheap. Why not just get rid of it?