Death of the iPod (Everyone's buying vinyl)

[Neal Pomea]

I wonder if Apple can make it so that albums or songs you get on iTunes in the future won't be loadable on iPod Classic?

Edited September 11, 2014 by Neal Pomea

[Shawn]

I wonder if Apple can make it so that albums or songs you get on iTunes in the future won't be loadable on iPod Classic?

The only way that would happen is if they completely overhauled the way iTunes syncs to devices...and I don't see that change being needed or happening anytime soon. It's a miracle the iPod classic lasted as long as it did (7 years without an update), I expected it to be gone long ago.

[JSngry]

I wonder if Apple can make it so that albums or songs you get on iTunes in the future won't be loadable on iPod Classic?

The only way that would happen is if they completely overhauled the way iTunes syncs to devices...and I don't see that change being needed or happening anytime soon.

And the way to guard against that is to not update iTunes past a certain point, or to keep an older version handy, correct?

[Shawn]

Basically, yes.

[JSngry]

Glad to know that my dedicated efforts toward establishing a Living Fossildom are not misdirected!

[Scott Dolan]

I'm not a big phone guy. Don't want/need to be. So I liked the iPod classic. A lot.

Now, having said that, I do have Pandora & Live 365 on my phone, and like having them there. But that's all about listening to what somebody else programs, and if you get a phone call or a text or something, there that goes. For sheer lack of interruption, put the iPod in the pocket, leave the phone at home, and take a nice long walk out into another neighborhood and back. That's for me!

The only advantage the phone has for that over the iPod is that you have a "speaker" on the phone, so headphones are optional. Thus the transistor radio warmfuzzyflashback.

Still and all, fuck Apple. I know they do good work, but fuck 'em anyway. My wife just got an iPhone and yeah, it's all sleek and minimalistic and shit, but the whole Apple "intuitive" thing...hell it's nothing but a new set of reflexes to learn, and until you do, you lose time, lots of time. The phone is training the user. OTOH, I've got a older stoner buddy who is getting so jelloheaded that he needs his iPhone to set up a reminder that he needs to be home in ten minutes. That's not convenience, that's just enabling the addle-headed. Take heed, world.

Nevertheless, love my iPod, gonna rock it until it breaks.

Just wanted to correct a couple of points here.

When the iPhone is set to silent it will not interrupt what you are listening to. So there's your same functionality of taking your iPod for a walk and leaving your phone at home.

Also, the iPod Touch also has a speaker on it. I realize you're referring to the Classic, but just wanted to make it clear that one iPod model does indeed have a speaker. After all, the Touch is essentially an iPhone without the ability to take and make calls.

Though, I'd be interested in hearing about the new set of reflexes and the loss of time thing. I never experienced anything like that.

[JSngry]

My phone is an older/near-obsolete-but-fully-meeting-my-current-needs Android. It might have that same silent thing, but I'm like, ok, it's a phone, if I have it on me at all, it's because I don't mind being interrupted by a phone call, or a text. I'm a creature of habit, and my habit is having a phone to make or place phone calls. All this other stuff...when I need to do all that other stuff on the phone, I'll learn. But not before. I don't have a swimming pool, but if I did, I'd not use it as a bathtub or a urinal, although the functionality is certainly there, and lets face it, it's gonna happen occasionally anyway, but why get used to it and start making that the baseline expectation, hello I have a bathroom that has a shower, a tub, and a toilet (although not a bidet, where do you think we are anyway, fuckin' Paris? Or one of those butt-bidets like I've seen advertised coming out of Japan. Nothing wrong with that, but I'll let somebody else pay for that remodeling job, thank you, somebody who really feels that need for cutting-edge home-based cutting elimination paradigms, there's a waterfall I'll not be standing under, no matter how golden the showers.)

My wife thinks it's gross that I'll occasionally piss in the shower, or in the back yard. Me, that's just what guys do, we piss where it works to piss, and pissing outdoors is kind of a hard-wired ritualistic thing,She can't see it like that, being a nest builder/keeper and all that. Fair enough. Me, I think.I think it's gross to have a phone to set to not be a phone. We're all have our quirks. Nature or nurture, don't ask me.

Did not know that the Touch has a speaker. It also doesn't have 160 GB, but still, giant may not be ginormous, but it's still big, so...good to have at least a partial fallback option. Appreciate that pull of the coattails!

The reflexes...we were both like, ok, these emails, where's the delete option...not anyplace I can see, ok call the kids, oh, ok, you SLIDE over to the side to get all that, gee, that's so much more intuitive than just having a delete button onscreen, or a menu icon, or something/anything besides sliding, right? Sure it is. And its been lots of things like that, lots or behavior/reflexes that at-root linear/analog folks like my wife and I don't naturally intuit. It's not any better or worse, really, it's simply learned behavior. I'm just skeptical of the notion that a new way to do something fast is "better" than the old way that I can already do just as fast as the new way. Not better, just different, and although it might raise the ceiling for the future possibilities to do more things, like going to Mars by just looking at a picture of it, this new way might, until then, don't try to bullshit a bullshitter, eh? We're being brain-trained to adapt to the full-frontal digital paradigm and resistance is futile, if still fun for now. Talk to me in my next lifetime and I'll tell you then what I think about it, if I can still remember.

Marshall McLuhan was right about pretty much everything, so my contrariness about all this is strictly for my own ongoing long-as-it-lasts amusement, not for anything as pseudo-noble or "permanent" as a "cause".

[ejp626]

After having it hidden away for years, I found an iPod mini. It is so difficult for me to get it all to work. I don't have the patience to figure out how to add new files to it, but maybe I'll look up something on-line later. I doubt I'll ever use it that much, but it's so retro it will probably be coming back soon.

[John L]

I love the iPod classic. I have eight of them. Since I live most of the time away from my CD collection, that allows me access to everything all the time. If they are retiring the classic, I wish that they would at least create some kind of console that would allow the storage and playback of a large amount of music. I don't want to engage my computer in always doing that. What are the other options? I'll be damned if I am going to try to put 2 tetrobytes of music in some sort of cloud. In any case, I don't have a strong enough internet connection where I am to listen to music off of a cloud.

Edited September 12, 2014 by John L

[Scott Dolan]

It might have that same silent thing, but I'm like, ok, it's a phone, if I have it on me at all, it's because I don't mind being interrupted by a phone call, or a text.

...is somewhat contradictory to:

I'm not a big phone guy. Don't want/need to be. So I liked the iPod classic. A lot.

Now, having said that, I do have Pandora & Live 365 on my phone, and like having them there. But that's all about listening to what somebody else programs, and if you get a phone call or a text or something, there that goes. For sheer lack of interruption, put the iPod in the pocket, leave the phone at home, and take a nice long walk out into another neighborhood and back. That's for me!

You seem to be manufacturing unnecessary angst here. If you don't want to be interrupted on your walk, then switch your phone to silent and enjoy your Pandora or Live 365 programming. If you get a call while you're out, you'll have a message telling you so when you get back home and pull the phone out of your pocket.

I realize you have to make such pronouncements to prove you're not a big phone guy. Hey, I get it. My wife and I were probably the last two people on the planet to get cell phones. And the only reason we did it was because we were moving half way across the country driving our own cars and she has zero sense of direction.

And after stepping up to a smart phone, I realize the extreme versatility that is built into them. Comparing listening to music on one to pissing in your swimming pool is a bit silly. Because, no, a swimming pool most certainly does not have the same functionality as a toilet. Smart phone, OTOH, were indeed designed to also be music players.

[David Ayers]

To love the iPod don't you need to love itunes? And - isn't itunes pretty old and clunky and no longer fit for purpose?

PS probably significant that my iphone spell corrects iPod but not itunes. Though I now notice it doesn't correct iphone either. So....

[JSngry]

Phones have come far enough. Let's work on swimming pools now. I can't afford one, and I don't want one. Like cell phones a few years ago.

C'mon pool technology, let's get crankin'!

[mjzee]

I love the iPod classic. I have eight of them. Since I live most of the time away from my CD collection, that allows me access to everything all the time. If they are retiring the classic, I wish that they would at least create some kind of console that would allow the storage and playback of a large amount of music. I don't want to engage my computer in always doing that. What are the other options? I'll be damned if I am going to try to put 2 tetrobytes of music in some sort of cloud. In any case, I don't have a strong enough internet connection where I am to listen to music off of a cloud.

The iPod classic doesn't have wifi. But if you buy a replacement device that does have wifi, you can get something like this:

This is a Seagate Wireless Plus 2TB Mobile Cloud Storage with Built-in WiFi Streaming (STCV2000100), but lots of manufacturers make similar devices. It basically broadcasts its own wifi signal. So you'd load your music onto it, then connect your device to it via wifi, and listen throughout your house.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

My wife and I were probably the last two people on the planet to get cell phones.

Nope, I've never had a mobile phone, as I said a few posts back.

Don't intend ever to have one, either. Someone wants me, I've a phone at home. If I want someone, I'll wait until I'm home and phone them. All our calls to real people from the house are free 24/7, if we don't take longer than an hour on them. Why should I pay for something I already have free?

MG

[ejp626]

My wife and I were probably the last two people on the planet to get cell phones.

Nope, I've never had a mobile phone, as I said a few posts back.

Don't intend ever to have one, either. Someone wants me, I've a phone at home. If I want someone, I'll wait until I'm home and phone them. All our calls to real people from the house are free 24/7, if we don't take longer than an hour on them. Why should I pay for something I already have free?

MG

Well, that's how I felt until I ended up missing important connections when I was out and about. For instance, waiting for close to an hour for someone who had fallen ill, and of course couldn't call or text me. And so forth.

More recently, after I did have a cell phone, my wife was able to contact me to pick up my son who had been more or less abandoned at school when an after-school program was cancelled and we hadn't been notified. And so on. It isn't for everyone, and I certainly barely use my phone, but connectedness is important in emergencies.

The Millennials for the most part will only have cell phones and won't have land lines at all.

[Shawn]

To love the iPod don't you need to love itunes? And - isn't itunes pretty old and clunky and no longer fit for purpose?

PS probably significant that my iphone spell corrects iPod but not itunes. Though I now notice it doesn't correct iphone either. So....

iTunes has been updated consistently over the years, I still use it and I don't even have an iPod, it serves my purpose just fine. A little catalog where I can browse albums via artwork, create smart playlists based on whatever criteria I choose or just hit shuffle and hear how insane my musical tastes really are.

The Millennials for the most part will only have cell phones and won't have land lines at all.

This Gen-Xer hasn't had a landline phone in over 10 years.

[Scott Dolan]

I'd love to be rid of our land line, but the wife won't here of it. And since our phone and internet come from the same company we wouldn't save any money if we shut the phone off. (they're bundled)

[A Lark Ascending]

I miss semaphore.

[Shawn]

I get my internet from Time Warner but that's all I subscribe to, no cable channels, no phone. My monthly subscriptions to Hulu Plus, Netflix and Amazon Prime still cost less than adding cable channels. So most of my TV watching is done via streaming using either my blu-ray player or my Mac, I've been doing that for almost 5 years now and I really don't miss cable TV.

[etherbored]

I Nevertheless, love my iPod, gonna rock it until it breaks.

then where ya gonna rock.....?

[etherbored]

You seem to be manufacturing unnecessary angst here.

you may have missed this;

...so my contrariness about all this is strictly for my own ongoing long-as-it-lasts amusement...

yielding it far from unncessary. we each have our own self-serving amusements. this is his. that is yours.

and while we're on it...

I'd love to be rid of our land line, but the wife won't here of it.

...but will she hear of it....?

[John L]

I love the iPod classic. I have eight of them. Since I live most of the time away from my CD collection, that allows me access to everything all the time. If they are retiring the classic, I wish that they would at least create some kind of console that would allow the storage and playback of a large amount of music. I don't want to engage my computer in always doing that. What are the other options? I'll be damned if I am going to try to put 2 tetrobytes of music in some sort of cloud. In any case, I don't have a strong enough internet connection where I am to listen to music off of a cloud.

The iPod classic doesn't have wifi. But if you buy a replacement device that does have wifi, you can get something like this:

This is a Seagate Wireless Plus 2TB Mobile Cloud Storage with Built-in WiFi Streaming (STCV2000100), but lots of manufacturers make similar devices. It basically broadcasts its own wifi signal. So you'd load your music onto it, then connect your device to it via wifi, and listen throughout your house.

Thanks for this info.

[Scott Dolan]

...but will she hear of it....?

Yikes!

Yeah, that was pretty grievous on my part...

[mjzee]

It looks like the iPod classic is totally gone. I tried looking for it online: no one had it in stock.

[A Lark Ascending]

There's one in Sainsbury's in Worksop! Saw it today. £180.