Linked from DF, this little
article about the death of the iPod classic.
While a bit overwrought and maudlin in places, it's an interesting read. It's fun to think back to those pre-2004 years, a decade or more ago, and how all this stuff was new and we were all converting our CDs and realizing how nice it was to have everything in a single, easily-accessible location. This was before streaming and all the rest, so it was more of a hands-on, "gotta put a little time and effort in" undertaking. But I loved it. I loved ripping my CDs, filling in the info fields (or correcting some of the auto-filled fields that you knew weren't entirely accurate). There was a period, between 2001-2003, where I was very focused and "into" all that. That attention to detail paid off and is still present in my iTunes library to this day, more than a decade later. Good, solid complete info about artists, genre, album, track number, etc. (I have to have one of the most meticulously organized, info-rich iTunes libraries in existence
). I know for a fact that the presence of iTunes (and iPod) kinda turned my head around a bit, regarding music. I started listening more. And better. I quit ignoring the "non-hit" tracks, and I would give more songs an honest chance than every before. Before all that, I did what everyone else did...brought along a half-dozen or so CDs on a road trip, or would load them into my mini-system at home. And then get up and swap them out when I wanted to hear others. That was all we knew, so it wasn't the "ohmigosh, you had to churn your own butter?!" pain-in-the-butt we'd view it as today.
I really think Apple is missing an opportunity here. Everyone's bummed over a discontinued piece of tech, but the solution just seems so simple. Hopefully everyone who's crying in their beers about the iPod classic on blogs and social media this past week is also doing something useful, and perhaps
writing Apple and making the case for a re-worked, music-centric high-capacity iPod. If all the people who've had their heart broken this past week over the iPod classic being no more were to actually channel that grief and disappointment in a useful direction, and not just writing sappy eulogies and laments, Apple might listen?
Perhaps they'll bump the iPod touch up to 128GB on its next go-around? Not an ideal solution, I realize, for those who don't want or need all the overhead and power/functionality of iOS just to "listen to music" - and just want a simple, non-iOS music player - but I guess it's better than nothing? The fact that the iPads have had 128GB for a year now, and the iPhones just went to it...I think the chances are excellent for a 128GB iPod touch, coming soon. Apple won't have an event or make it a big splashy thing. But it might be the next best thing.
It's just too bad that users would be saddled with all that extra stuff (core apps, etc.) when all they want is a regular ol' iPod. Apple has a real opportunity here, I believe...update the beloved iPod to 2014-friendly hardware, and make a ton of folks happy. For what should be very little effort or expense to them, big picture.