iPod Classic or iPod Touch? Your opinions and experiences

With a boring plane ride and layovers ahead of me next week, I got out the old iPod and realized that it was a first-generation Nano, which means a whopping 2GBs of memory. That won't even hold the music (4GB) I have currently downloaded and transferred from CDs, not to mention the TV shows that I have downloaded from iTunes and not watched yet.

I've seen in-store demos of both, as well as the demos on the Apple website. I realize that the iPod Touch doesn't hold nearly as much stuff as the Classic, which holds amazing amounts, and is more expensive. However, it has two other advantages: that larger screen with the landscape view, and wireless Internet, which would mean being able to travel without lugging my computer, a huge consideration in these days of security lines and the need to pack light.

On the other hand, once I get my entire music collection (nearly 400 CDs, mostly classical, jazz, and world beat) transferred, the iPod Touch won't come anywhere near being able to hold it all.

What's a puzzled Mac user to do? Any thoughts from actual users of the two?

Thanks!

My brother got the iPod touch, it is a neat gadget but I just needed the space the classic offered

I don't know anyone with a touch though.

I wanted to be able to carry as much as my music collection with me as possible at all times! I have an AUX jack in my dashboard so... no cds! :woohoo:

Getting the big storage iPod wouldn't have allowed me to carry all my music anyway. I just swap out stuff periodically.

If you're traveling a bunch the Touch is the way to go for the wifi alone.

with video. So it serves my needs. Until I can get a backup drive, the iPod serves as my laptop backup too. ;-)

It's not an iPhone, but I figure I don't really need a $300 phone. :P I just don't make that many calls.

You reminded me Lydia, I need to load up all my holiday music soon. :-)

So, to recap, I can

- listen to music
- watch videos ( haven't yet, but I could d/l an entire show if I wanted)
- listen to podcasts
- view my pics.

Oh, and I have about 55 gis left to fill. :silly:

edit: This is Lydia's thread, not Lynne's. Sorry Lydia.

My collection of CDs and Podcasts barely makes it over 20GB. 400 CDs will still go way over the 16GB level. I would lean towards the Classic if you want your entire collection.

Otherwise just take your top CDs and put it on a Nano for the ones you are most likely to listen to.

http://www.apple.com/ipodnano/specs.html

I'm leaning toward the Touch, because of its Wi-Fi capacity. I can always switch music and programs on and off.

But it's expensive. What to do, what to do.

obviously and i still have a ton of room left, i also have the original nano which is the one i use in my car. The classic is good but the screen is smaller.

My unabridged Lord of the Rings (50+ hours) fits into 1.45GB.

When it comes to iPods, I'm strictly into music and TV shows.

I started listening to Harry Potter audiobooks on my long drives, mostly to give the kids something to do, but they are so well read that I've gotten hooked on them. Jim Dale reads the series, and he's far more entertaining than the movies. Afterwards, I started finding other books for the kids, and have since graduated to fiction for me. I'm in the car a lot, and don't have as much time to read as I'd like, so I fill up the wasted drive time with decent fiction. Some of the readers add dimensions to the books you wouldn't catch otherwise, too.

For really well-crafted fiction or for academic works, I prefer to read my own, but for lighter stuff like Stephen King or Noah Charney or Steve Martin or even Charles Dickens, audiobooks are wonderful.

I'm glad that I did. It holds all of my music, as well as my Randi Rhodes and Mike Malloy podcasts (the $10/month is well worth it).

If all you want the device for is playback, the new Classic is the best way to go, unless you really want the bigger screen, but the 32Gb Tutch is pretty darned pricey and still holds only one quarter of what the Classic stores.

That's how I looked at it. Plus I have way more music than can fit on a touch and I don't need all the other stuff it does anyway.

at a convention. He called me into the office, since I'm the closest thing to a techie around here, and showed it to me. My eyes popped out, and I said "that's one of the coolest things ever made!" and I went on to explain about the touch screen, the wifi, the video capability, the music downloads--most of which he had no understanding of. Older guy, smart and a quick learner, but just not into music or gadgets.

Anyway, he says "It was just a door prize. I figured it was worth 20 bucks or so." I quickly explained they were 300 to 400 bucks, and much sought after, way too quick to show off my knowledge and savvy. As I was explaining, it sunk in why he had called me into the office. He didn't want me to tell him about it. He wanted to give it to me, since he had no use for it. By this point, however, I had sold him on it, and it is now still in his possession. :(

Not relevant to your decision. I just like to write stories. :)

The Classic holds a ton of music because it's a full hard drive. You could keep all the music on your computer and just fill the Touch up with whatever songs you wanted to hear on a given outing--you can make playlists, and swap those in and out. But that's a bit of a hassle. Depends on how you use it, and how many of your songs you like to have with you at one time. The Touch does a lot of stuff that the Classic can't do, but it can't hold as many songs, so pick your priority.

I'm a Zune dude, myself. It's like the Classic, with 30G. It's wonderful to hold my music, but it's bulky to jog with or take on trips. So I bought a little Sansa Clip to use on such outings. Then I realized that jogging and hiking and stuff required me to bring my phone and the little clip, so the first chance I got I traded up to a Nokia phone which held 4G of music (or audiobooks). Now I jog (the rare times I do) with just the one item, and my poor old Zune sits in the console of my car, unused and forgotten despite it's large music library.

So, figure out how you use things. Sounds like the Touch does a lot of what you want. 4G is a lot of music. Do you really need your whole library with you all the time? That's your question.

I went for a 16GB touch. The reason was that my immediate need was for something to travel with. I don't like taking my computer around (it contains everything I need for my livelihood, and even if it's backed up...), especially with the hassle of having to take it out and put it back at the security checkpoints. (Besides, that horizontal screen is just irresistibly cool.)

The guy in the store let me play with the e-mail function, and it will do as long as I don't have to write anything very complicated. However, I do need to have e-mail. Even though I notify all my customers before leaving, SOMEONE always forgets and sends an urgent job to be done by the next morning. But it's not worth lugging my computer along just for that.

Anyway, the plan is to put a selection of music and a couple of TV shows on it for the purposes of this trip.

I can always get a Classic later. And I plan to! :-)

Thanks for all your input!

I use it on the road with the band, and the wi-fi alone makes it worth it!

mikey_the_rat

love mine.