Tech Blog

[#1]

The iPod classic is probably a thing of the past as of this year, but it’s also time for Apple to cut the cord on one of the remaining three lines. The touch is too useful and multifaceted to give up on, so that leaves the nano and the shuffle. Why not just merge these two and make it easier on consumers?

Rumours have been ramping up in anticipation of what Apple will announce at its music-focused event on Wednesday, and even our very own Michael Kwan wrote about the potential of a touchscreen nano that could kill the shuffle. Personally, I’m on the fence on whether a new nano should have a touchscreen at all. But I am totally convinced that either the nano or shuffle have to go.

Merging the two makes the most sense, though I’m not sure how that could be done. The shuffle made waves as the smallest digital music player, except it also irked many who would’ve preferred to have playback controls on the actual hardware itself. Whatever Apple decides to do, form factor will be a key to making this merger work. How do you make the nano small, yet large enough to accommodate a screen and playback controls? All signs point to a touchscreen.

But touchscreen devices also tend to come at a premium, so how low can Apple go on price? Is it possible that Apple could stick to the current nano form factor and just make it a touchscreen instead? And will they forego including a camera on it. Steve Jobs made the mistake of comparing last year’s nano to the Flip pocket video cam. Frankly, they weren’t even close in performance.

It will be interesting to see if there is any cannibalization in the iPod line. The classic is likely done for sure. The touch is still the flagship iPod. It’s now down to the nano and shuffle. Hopefully, one of these becomes part of the history books.

[#2]

I will only accept the death of the nano and the Shuffle if they join together to form the Schnuffle.

That, or Voltron.

[#3]

I hope the classic isn't gone! I need an iPod that has at least 320GB of space. I hate the fact that I can't carry my entire library around on my 160 GB classic. That's the point of a classic. Buy a nano or touch if you only have a few tunes in your library. So... I hope the classic has a new 320 GB version.

[#4]

Thanks for the note, Bob. I suspect one reason the classic is done is because it was the only one in the line that didn't use flash memory. I'm purely guessing, but I would think Apple might want to streamline the iPod line so that there are purely flash memory models available. Under the right circumstances and technology, streaming entire collections from a home or web-based server is not that far off.