Each September, fans of the original iPod wait with teeth clenched in anticipation of Apple’s annual music-themed media event -- all to find out if the beloved iPod classic will live, die or maybe even get an upgrade once more. According to Steve Jobs, you can breathe a sigh of relief -- for now.
MacRumors is reporting that Apple apparently has no current plans to discontinue or otherwise kill off the aging iPod classic, the lone remaining hard disk-based model which hasn’t seen a refresh since September, 2009. Music lovers with big iTunes libraries still love the iPod classic, which offers 160GB of storage -- more than double that of the largest 64GB iPod touch.
Worried that 2011 may be the year the iPod classic finally gets the axe at long last, a MacRumors reader emailed Apple CEO Steve Jobs back in September, following the last iPod touch media event where the iPod classic was completely missing in action.
“Hello, I've heard a LOT of speculation that Apple is looking to kill the iPod Classic because it wasn't updated on Sept. 1st, and that a lot of people would rather Touch,” the MacRumors reader writes. “The iPod Classic is probably the best iPod in the line. PLEASE DON'T KILL IT!!!”
Thankfully, Jobs fired back with his usually brief style of reply, direct from his iPhone: “We have no plans to.”
iPod classic fans have some potential other reasons to celebrate as well -- hard drive manufacturer Toshiba introduced a new 220GB disk in late January which would be a perfect complement to the original style iPod. If it’s true that Apple has no plans to discontinue the iPod classic, then a nice storage bump at this year’s September media event would certainly warm the hearts of fans everywhere.
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