My Thoughts on Technology and Jamaica: Apple iPod Classic is Dead as Apple iPhone 6 Rises - Why a US$250 Apple iPod HD Music Player with Streaming Option is Possible

Monday, September 22, 2014

Apple iPod Classic is Dead as Apple iPhone 6 Rises - Why a US$250 Apple iPod HD Music Player with Streaming Option is Possible

Apple launches the Apple iPhone 6, which became available for pre-order on September 12th 2014 and went on sale on September 19th 2014 as reported in the article “When and where to buy the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus”, published  September 9, 2014 12:22 AM PDT by Dan Graziano, CNET News .

Between that, there’s the upgrade to Apple iOS 8, which arrived on Wednesday September 17th, 2014 as reported in “Apple's iOS 8 is now here”, published September 17, 2014 9:59 AM PDT by Shara Tibken, CNET News.

However, it’s not recommended for the Apple iPhone 4, as it’ll cause some serious problems with you iPhone, possibly bricking it as stated in “How to use iOS 8, the complete guide”, published September 17, 2014 9:59 AM PDT by Jason Cipriani, CNET News and
Ready To Upgrade To iOS 8? Keep An Eye On These Key Features”, published 9/17/2014 @ 10:28AM by Seth Porges, Forbes.

All chronicled in my blog article on the Apple iPhone 6 and apple iPhone 6 Plus, in which I made passing reference to the Apple Watch and Apple Pay as well as noted in my blog article entitled “Apple iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus - No Sapphire Screen but 128GB Storage and NFC-powered Apple Pay in Apple's Biggest iPhone Launch”.

Apple iPod Classic is Dead – Apple Store eviction during Pre-Orders as Streaming is King

So it’s with a heavy heart that I announce the obituary for the Apple iPod Classic, which Apple killed off after it shut down and restarted their Website in anticipation of the Apple Pre-orders as noted in the article “Apple says a silent goodbye to iPod Classic”, published September 9, 2014 1:15 PM PDT, by Nick Statt and Shara Tibken, CNET News.


With Streaming now the trend globally, its death didn’t come as surprise to me.

Even here in Jamaica, the RJR Communications Group is gearing up for in October 2014 with the upcoming launch of TVJ Everywhere as described in my blog article entitledRJR Communications Group Launching TVJ Everywhere - How Streaming TVJ Everywhere will boost Advertising Revenue as Digicel and LIME TV coming”.

Apple themselves had purchase Beats Electronics for some US$3.2 billion to get Beats Audio, their successful Streaming Platform to bolster falling iTunes Music Downloads as noted my blog article entitled Apple officially confirms Beats Audio Purchase - US$3.2 Billion as Apple gears up for Subscription Streaming and improved Headphones”.  Beats Audio now a part of the Apple App Store and comes baked into Apple iOS 8 along with Apple’s own efforts with Apple iTunes Radio.

Apple iCloud, which just saw a price drop on Wednesday September 10th 2014, a day after the Apple iPhone 6 launched on Tuesday September 9th 2014 as stated in “Apple trims prices on iCloud storage plans”, published September 10, 2014 8:58 AM PDT by Lance Whitney, CNET News, makes it easier to Stream as well. So the Apple iPod Classic, with its prestigious Tab removed form the Apple Website, is now officially dead.

Apple iPod Classic Resurrection – Apple iPod HD Music Player with Streaming Option

Is there a possibility that Apple might revive the Apple iPod Classic as a competitor in the now-emergent HD Music space that’s occupied by the likes of the Neil Young’s Kickstarter project for the Pono Music and the more recent US$700 Sony Walkman NWXZ-ZX1, both of who may be coming this Christmas 2014 as speculated in my blog article entitled “US$700 Sony Walkman NWXZ-ZX1 – Trend towards HD Audio in Asia and Japan will make it sell in the US of A”?


After all, they merely removed it from the website, not officially killed it off. At its peak n 2009 it cost about US$249 and stored some 160GB of Music, much more than the current pricier US$700 Sony Walkman NWXZ-ZX1 that's still in East Asia and stores only 128GB. An upgrade to a faster SSD (Solid State Drive) is possible to store those large HD Audio files stored in the 24-bit, 192kHz Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) format which the Apple iPod Classic already supports:

1.      AAC
2.      Apple Lossless audio
3.      ATRAC
4.      FLAC
5.      WAV
6.      MP3
7.      MP4 for videos

Especially as faster 4G LTE and Fiber Optic Networks coming in the US of A thanks to Google Fiber, AT&T U-Verse and Verizon FiOS as explained in my blog article entitled “Gig.U Third Annual Report - Google Fiber's American Gigabit Internet Revolution as Jamaica starts Broadband Internet Revolution”.

I peer into the Tea Leaves and see an US$250 Apple iPod HD Music Player with Streaming Option thanks to Beats Audio or even Apple iRadio over Wi-Fi. Coupled with a complementary pair of Beats, I’m thinking this isn’t a removal of a product. Rather, like the phoenix, this may be setting the stage for Apple to introduce a US$250 Apple iPod HD Music Player sometime in the future.



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