Say Goodbye to the iPod Classic

Yes... I kept wanting to say Shakira - but I knew that wasn't the person.

Kei$ha is tame compared the raunchy singer I'm struggling to remember

 

One thing is certain, you are taking this decision by Apple much harder than the rest of us!!

 

For them okay, for their customers not necessarily so much.

 

- One of the ways Apple's products are superior is BECAUSE they do not have very many models. For example, Mac vs. PC: why are Windoze PCs a pain in the butt? Because there are vastly more combinations of hardware and software, causing more weird interaction bugs, which are much harder to troubleshoot due to low commonality with other users. (NOTE: I am NOT saying Apple's products are superior in every way, so don't even start that train up).

- I worked with Apple quite a bit and you are absolutely correct that they do not give a damn at all about fringe customers. You can get a tucked-away settings menu on an iPod, command line on an iMac, but the whole point is they shoot for something easy to use for the "80%"

- Jobs might have been megalomaniacal and crazy, but after a loooooong time in the consumer electronics industry, he is the ONLY powerful person I can think of whose philosophy was "It must be RIGHT before we sell it." Let me repeat, the ONLY executive I can think of like that. Which is a sad commentary on the electronics industry, rampant as it is with beta tests sold as products to customers, and releases of compromised products just to meet a deadline or because "well, that's the best we can do right now." Therefore, we have an industry which has never been able to come up with, for example, a true universal remote control (which would not require any programming and would always WORK, for instance by sending "hello" down HDMI to see what devices are present, and sort out where to send volume and channel commands). BARF.

 

Yup. He was very product-focused. He emulated Sony in its heyday - you'd think Sony could learn from that lesson, but no. You might or might not agree with what set of features Apple ended up emphasizing and supporting, but clearly a lot of consideration went into it. Jobs was probably the only major computer industry executive to place special emphasis on leaving features out of his company's products. Every other company seems to take an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach, and the resulting products are ugly garbage as a result. Worse, they'll then leave out some killer new feature or technology, the way the PCs were slow to adopt USB, whereas Apple pulled the plug on all of the legacy interfaces and started supporting USB-only.

Don't get me started on industry support for HDMI, a well-defined standard that's been around for a decade now. A couple of months ago I picked up a new nVidia graphics card for my PC with 4 outputs - two HDMI - in part because I wanted it to interface with my h/k receiver (which is fully HDMI compliant - has the certificate). Surprise! The freaking nVidia card can't see 3/4ths of the audio modes the receiver actually supports. So, I'm stuck having to keep the buggy Intel video on the motherboard activated, just so my computer can talk to my receiver. At least Intel can apparently read a standards document.

My next computer will be a Mac. I'm just trying to figure out whether to get an iMac (when the new model comes out) or splurge and get a Mac Pro. I keep hoping Apple will release a 32" iMac, which in my cramped apartment would be big enough to function as a television, given how little TV I watch...

 

I'm a computer programmer and in the late 90s, I was project manager and lead developer on a project that had a pretty good testing team. I remember talking to the lead tester and he was sure that adoption of thorough, strict testing standards was just around the corner and that in the future no crappy software would ever be released again. I couldn't stop myself from laughing.

I don't like the support my Mac Mini has for HDMI. If I use it for video out, audio automatically goes with it and there's nothing you can do about it. Since it's my main source and feeds a 70s receiver, that doesn't work for me. It is a 2011 model so that may have changed.

 

That doesnt seem quite right. For certain, you could use a USB DAC for minimal $$, and get around it that way.

 

Amazing how a thread can get so badly derailed !

 

I think it's well and truly derailed.

I'm on my second iPod Classic (120, then 160), and have been using the headphone-out to aux-in on my Prius. It sounds great (to my ears anyway) but all the chatter here got me to thinking about adding a connector to my my car's audio. I saw the DIY solution and was just.... well, I've taken apart a dashboard before, but I'm not doing that again, especially not to a Prius. Question to all: should a CD playing on my car audio sound better than the equivalent on my iPod? Should I think about making CD-R's from lossless sources for my "mixtape" playlists?

Before I had the iPod I had a Creative Zen (20, then 60) because it was cheaper than iPod. I loved it, and used playlists to limit what I listened to ("All Standard Tracks" and sequentialized 'soundtracks' of my listening life). I still use them, and have about a hundred of them.

 

One thing to keep in mind is that the headphone output of your Classic may be equalized. This can be a good or bad thing depending on whether you have it configured

 

Try adding one of these guys to your iPod:
http://www.amazon.com/FiiO-L11-Conn...=UTF8&qid=1411407739&sr=8-3&keywords=fiio+lod

For $11, it adds a noticeable improvement in quality over using the headphone output.

 

I have no idea whether it "should" or not, but it ought to be easy enough to test which sounds better on your particular car stereo.

And you will probably get better sound out of the line-out from your iPod than the headphone jack. Try a doodad like the one suggested by JasonA above.

 

I think that some sort of portable amp between your player and the Aux input will bring the sound up to CD quality. I use a PA2V2 amp which is available from one of those sellers on Ebay. I have dubbed all my playlists onto CD's though, and as often as not that is what I listen to. Most of my trips in the car are short and I find it less trouble than fumbling around with the player and amp.

 

This, in addition to Bluetooth Audio complete with artwork, is on BMW (the only vehicle I am familiar with, so I don't know about other vehicles). Here is an article on using an iPhone 5 with "BMW apps" from 2 years ago.

I personally use Bluetooth Audio with the iPhone and plug a 160GB classic into the USB. There are some apps that don't work properly over Bluetooth Audio using my iPhone (they play, but the Nav screen doesn't show the correct info), but Apple's apps and Rdio perform perfectly.

You should be able to change the output using "midi" (you can do a spotlight search for the application). I use Soundsource with my 2010 mini and switch back and forth from USB to HDMI all the time because I have the mini feeding two separate rooms.

I used to use this method, complete with Pa2V2 receiving the output from a Kenwood Music Keg. It improved the sound considerably.

 

Did Apple pull the iphone 4S off the shelves when the 6 was announced?

 

Only time I bother to send audio from Iphone is when I use Pandora.

There's not enough storage on a phone for me to think about it as anything but a phone. It's basically in my car mostly to make and take phone calls.

I would use "Google Play" on my Iphone in the car but for some reason the last major IoS upgrade severely crippled it. The app works fine on a wifi enabled LAN, but it has severe problems in the car - not all of them related to slow data arrival.

I don't know why, but the instant my phone is plugged into the Pioneer headunit in my car, the phone immediately starts playing something I previously purchased from the Itunes store (a default I-cloud match that I don't want to hear). The only way to get the phone to stop doing that and play what it WAS playing prior to connecting the wire - is to unplug the phone - and replug back in again - real fast - several times - hoping that somehow it gets confused and then plays what I asked it to play - not what it wants to play. That usually works - but it's fairly random - and not possible to do while driving.

Maybe I'm readig too much into it, but the new IoS behavior seems be some sort of crusade by Apple to cripple what it perceives as an unwanted competitor.

I just view it as futile effort to convince me it knows more about my musical taste than I do.


Hopefully in a few years, after car head-units can no longer talk to 30 pin devices, I'm hoping there will be a selection of products (from several suppliers) with the following properties:

1.) At least 160 gigabit of local storage
2.) Compatible with "smart play-list" rules
2.) Bluetooth enabled and able to send artwork via bluetooth to any headunit on the market

I'm skeptical that all three of these properties will be found in whatever emerges as the dominant portable music player.

There seems to be little or no movement from Apple's competitors to offer "smart" rules - and the general trend where local storage is replaced with cloud storage - tends to make them less valuable. What's the point of managing what's on a device using a set of smart rules, if there is less space on the device to be managed ?

Plus the elusive subscription based services ( spotify/pandora/all-access) are convincing the younger generation that if music isn't free, "all (the music) you can eat" can be digested for a minimal monthly fee that is next to nothing. I fail to see how the music business will continue if the general public sees no need to spend more per month than the cost of 1 unit sold/purchased (back when physical media was king).

 

Good question.

I don't see it mentioned on the Apple store website - but not sure what they've done previously.

Not sure they sold Iphone3s when Iphone5s hit the market.

I suspect that they since the product seems to be customer made for different wireless providers, it would be difficult to continue making older models.

It seems to be difficult to continue making NEW models for a variety of carriers - so it seems even less likely that there is much reason to continue to make the old ones.

I have a feeling that Verizon/Sprint/AT&T/T-Mobile/Carrier_of_your_choice probably has inventory and will for a while.

When my Iphone dies, it will be replaced with a carrier agnostic Android phone. Not all Androids are like that, but some are.

 

http://www.fastcodesign.com/3036035...-death-of-the-ipod-you-cant-get-too-nostalgic

 

Reading that link I seemed to recall that there was a technical limitation that prevented me from being too excited about Apple's Icloud matching service.

Wasn't there a song limitation on that ? I seem to remember reading something that prevented me from even thinking about using it. I have some memory of a cap at a certain number of songs or a certain amount of virtual storage.

A quick google search confirmed my memory... 25,000 songs matched then Apple says "no music for you"

The world is going to be a boring place if everyone on the planet is limited to a specific set of songs they are allowed to love and cherish.

The fact that I'm already over the limit and I've only ripped maybe 15% percent of the music in my home just makes me "wierd" in their eyes...

In the old days, record companies were always willing to sell you more physical media.

Pesky consumers.

 

Amend that...

I can have more than 25,000 songs purchased FROM the Itunes store.

That's silly.

The songs I own were accumulated over a long time interval. Many of them aren't for sale.

The only thing I buy from the Itunes store is stuff that can't be purchased elsewhere.


If it gets to the point that CDs aren't sold (and I realize we are close to that day), I'll just buy from another
download provider. Just last week I bought six albums from Amazon instead of Itunes because Apple's website wanted about 5 bucks more for some of titles...

I will buy from the seller with the best price - not the seller who thinks their virtual product is superior.

 

So long as there are people who want physical media in some reasonable number there will be people selling physical media.

 

The only real reason I brought up television standards is because someone decided fairly early on - in the early 50s - that it was important to have compatibility - and not move forward with incompatible technology.

Then they rode that horse for a LONG LONG time.

And yes, I'm nostalgic for that sort of commitment to a product - even if the quality was less than impressive.

In terms of investment, I believe I have more money and time invested in my music library than the average consumer did for his first television in the early 50s. And I say that knowing full well that the first televisions were much more expensive than it's previous competitor (the radio).

So yeah, I'm not happy when someone decides they don't want me as a customer.

Maybe I'm just wrong to think of myself as a great Apple customer... yeah, I've purchased a lot of Apple devices and Apple computers over the years - but the end game seems to be that what they REALLY want is repeat business at the Itunes retail window.... all the hardware is just an excuse to sell downloads...

And from that perspective.... I am a modest Itunes retail customer... having purchased maybe 800 or so songs...
possibly more... but I'm not in the league with someone like Bruce Willis who was in the news a few years back trying to get a court to agree that he could leave his Itunes downloads to his children in his will...

Of course not David Addison... didn't you read the terms and conditions before you made countless purchases from Itunes on your AMEX black card ??? We do want to resell the same songs to your children after your gone.

 

Just got the FiiO X3 on saturday. So far loving it.

 

I think the whole model of BUYING music goes out the door with physical media. I'd rather pay a fixed fee per month and be able to listen as much as I want to a library of music. The system can track which are listened and pay the artists from that. If I am BUYING the music I want to have it on something I can pass along or sell like an LP, CD, or memory device.

 

On Google Play Music's site, it says you can upload 20,000. Is there a paid version that allows more? Google Play has always loaded too slow for me to use it much on the iPhone. However, once it is opened again, it loads faster. I am thinking that it has to rebuild the library when you re-boot the phone, but I am not sure.

I prefer iTunes Match even with the 25,000 song limit. The main reason is that it works with Siri. Now with the "hey Siri" feature turned on, I can simply say "Hey Siri" when my iPhone is plugged in and tell it the album or artist I want to hear. Hands free. I do have programs that will stream my entire library at home (Audiotap or DS Audio) and I will use them if I really want to hear an album that isn't on iTunes Match or my iPod, but I can usually find something on one of those services or Rdio/Spotify without going that route.

I did check Google Play and it does send Album Art to my car using Bluetooth Audio. I doubt that we will every see any service that will embed Artwork into every head unit. I am sure that the head unit needs specific chips and software to make it work and many won't go that route.

The new iPhones have 128GB of space and steaming from the cloud. I can get an entire universe of music to my iPhone with internet access (which is 99 percent of the time)...not possible with the Classic and the 160GBs I have on it. I prefer having both, but if they stop having backward compatibility (we haven't reached that point yet with 2014 BMWs), there may be larger drives by that time. I am not too worried about it. I stream about 90 percent of the time and with 128GBs, I can have plenty of music available for those times I can't get a signal.