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iPod Ipod classic vs. Ipod touch?

C

chocoabuddha

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 1, 2009
1
0
I understand that there are a lot of discussions all over the internet that have debated this topic, but most of the people in question are not in the same situation as I am.

As some of you know, Apple is having their "Buy a MAC for college and get a free Ipod touch" deal. But this deal also includes most other Ipods, including the Ipod classic 120 GB. The rebate is $229, meaning: if I get an Ipod classic, I will have to pay $30, if I get an Ipod touch 8 GB I won't have to pay ANYTHING for it, or I can get a 16 GB for $70.

My music collection is currently a little over 45 GB. And it continues growing pretty regularly.

I know most of you then would clearly say "Get the Ipod Classic", seeing as though the Ipod touch has a lack of memory storage. But I am more likely to get an Ipod of my own, ON MY OWN, one day with my own money. So getting a free Ipod touch, not for the music storage availability of it, but for the practical use of internet surfing, email checking, etc. (you know, all those handy things that come with an Ipod touch)

So my main question here is, music listening aside, is the Ipod Touch worth it? Aren't there also fees to use the internet with it? So I would be spending a lot of money each month just to upkeep the Ipod touch, is that correct?

Because I do value listening to music, the Ipod might be for me, but I'm also very prone to just listening to it directly off my Itunes.

If I get the Ipod classic:
I can listen to music. Maybe a few music videos, but not so much movies (because my eyesight will deteriorate).

If I get the Ipod touch:
I can surf the web. But is it THAT useful, day-to day? Is it more of a distraction than a handy gadget? And what about the extra fees for internet and such? And is it kind of a pain to look at such a tiny screen when doing all the magical things you can do on it? If I do get the Ipod touch, I will eventually get the Ipod classic one way or another, but I don't know if it's worth it to spend all that money.

Just a side note - I am not using Apple's deal this year. They seem to have it every year though, but I will only be getting a Macbook Pro before heading off to college. So keep in mind that I will be making use of this deal NEXT year, and there will obviously be technological advances and (maybe) price drops in either item. But I'd like to make my decision ahead of time.
 
I would probably go for the iPod classic.
Next year you'll have a MacBook Pro, and everywhere you go at college/uni you will most likely have your MacBook & I would much rather use safari on the MacBook Pro than the iPod Touch.
 
It's not really a practical size for web browsing or typing things of significant length. In my opinion, iPods are music players. I would want my music player to hold all or most of what I usually listen to. Plus I find the controls on the touch to be much less intuitive than the classic.
 
miles01110 said:
It's not really a practical size for web browsing or typing things of significant length. In my opinion, iPods are music players. I would want my music player to hold all or most of what I usually listen to. Plus I find the controls on the touch to be much less intuitive than the classic.
Click to expand...

Agree completely. I love the look of the touch, but for serious music lovers,- for those people who seem to view their iPods as musical storage devices - and who use it to listen to music and carry their entire collection with them at any one time - then the classic is the obvious choice. I have the 120 GB and the 80GB, and I use the iPod only for music; the excellent battery of the classic is also a plus.

Cheers and good luck
 
I've had an iPod touch since last summer when I also took advantage of the Buy a Mac get an iPod for free sale. I thought it would be awesome to use the touch for internet and e-mail or whatever, but it really isn't the greatest thing in the world. It can be slow at times and when you're not at home it can be hard to find a network to connect to... and when you are at home, why not just use your own computer? :p

And besides that, every time I want to add new music to my iPod I have to delete other music and I HATE doing that. I'm certain I will be buying a new iPod when Apple releases new ones/updates this fall because 8GB just isn't cutting it anymore.

I haven't downloaded any apps or anything so I'm not sure if you're into that or not, but I wasn't really interested in tossing down $10 just to play a few free games or something, especially since I knew they would just be taking up space on my iPod.
 
Definitely the iPod Touch. No hard drive to break. Bigger screen. Slimmer profile.

As long as you have wireless internet at home, there are no fees to use the iPod touch.

If you decide you can't live with all your songs and need to change back to the iPod classic at a later date you can still use the Touch for web browsing, viewing photos or videos and as an Airtunes remote around home. (I love that feature!)
 
:confused: Ask this question when you're actually going to be buying. It's a waste of everyone's time right now, since by the time you buy anything most of this advice will be useless.
 
You said it yourself, if you know that you will eventually be getting an iPod Classic no matter what, then save yourself some money and get it now.
 
I have an 80GB silver iPod Classic and I love it. It is great to be able to take all of my media with me. I also like the touch, but you can't beat the awesome storage capacity of the Classic.
 
You would never listen to all 45 GB of music on the go. I have gone from 60 GB iPod video (that was almost full with music) to 16 GB touch and I haven't regretted having less space at all.

And touch gives you much more capabilities, like very nice interface, big screen, games (free are awesome, too), etc. Its so much more than just a music player.
 
miles01110 said:
Less intuitive as in you can't manipulate the touch controls as accurately unless it's out of your pocket. With the classic you have physical buttons to press.
Click to expand...

I guess. I never really have a reason to KEEP it in my pocket, but I don't use headphones that much, because I use it mostly in my car through the AUX input. But for someone who uses headphones a lot I guess I can see where it would be annoying.
 
jmann said:
I guess. I never really have a reason to KEEP it in my pocket, but I don't use headphones that much, because I use it mostly in my car through the AUX input. But for someone who uses headphones a lot I guess I can see where it would be annoying.
Click to expand...

Don't get me wrong either- I have an iPod touch and think it's very cool. I like the Classic for its larger capacity because I often use it as a portable hard drive as well as a music player. At least they added external volume controls on the touch this time around...
 
I would get the 16GB iTouch. I have the 8GB, and though my music (well, mine and my wife's) is 25+ GB, I have a smart playlist set up to grab, at random, 10 hours worth of music. I listen to mine at work, and never work more than 10 hours a day. I get a good healthy selection everyday.

At home, I use the internet and video features quite often. The iTouch has changed the way I poop forever. :)
 
hismikeness said:
At home, I use the internet and video features quite often. The iTouch has changed the way I poop forever. :)
Click to expand...

ewwwwwwww. What are you doing? Math in there? You should do it like the constipated mathematician. Work it out with a pencil. :)
 
To be honest the main reason i got a iPod classic year or so back was because wanted that big space as i had many gigs of music.


This is how i would put it.


iPod Touch : Nice, good fun and you can do a lot more things on it similar to the iphone and have access to the app store

iPod classic : The classic as the ipod would look, bigger and better HD space of 120GB



I will get the 16GB ipod touch next time i think. I only tend to listen to certain things now depending on my mood in the morning. I think its wiser to have a playlist and just sync the play list to it and change it depending on what you want to listen too. I normally have my whole library on there
:apple: Mat L
 
eXan said:
You would never listen to all 45 GB of music on the go. I have gone from 60 GB iPod video (that was almost full with music) to 16 GB touch and I haven't regretted having less space at all.

And touch gives you much more capabilities, like very nice interface, big screen, games (free are awesome, too), etc. Its so much more than just a music player.
Click to expand...

+1

I have about 65GB of music and used to want to have all my music with me. I was dreading going to my 16GB iPhone. But I have never really thought much about it since.

I would absolutely recommend the iPod Touch. It does so much more!
 
Really, is it that hard?

App Store
Larger screen for video playback
WiFi capable

If packing an entire collection of tunes is your only priority, then get the Classic, otherwise . . . it's not that hard.
 
To the OP, i'm in a similar boat.

I took advantage of the BTS discount and originally got the 8gb touch.

However a couple of days later, I had serious doubts....because I too have loads of music...I like the idea of having storage for ALL my music so the 8gb would never had been enough.

So in the end I returned the 8gb touch, and contemplated getting the classic...but now i'm seriously considering spending the extra £70 and buying the 16gb touch lol.... as you can tell I'm very indecisive.

Just like hismikeness and a few others have said though, its more than just a music player.... im really after the wifi internet/youtube on the go. For anything else i'll use my blackberry and mbp.


But hey, it could go either way...
 
Sorry to the OP for posting in your thread, but I feel it would be better to post a similar question here instead of making a brand new thread. I am getting a 13" MBP and an iPod with the Back-To-School promo fairly soon. However, I'm not sure if I should get the 8GB Touch or the 120GB Classic. I plan on using the iPod mostly for playing music and currently I only have about 2GB.

I really like the Classic since I will be getting so much space for cheap (120GB for $20!) and the interface is simple and easy to use. I also like the fact some cases can protect the entire iPod, including the screen from scratches. I just don't think I will ever have that much music.

I like the Touch since it has some really nice features like Wi-Fi and the Apps Store, but I don't plan on using them often. My biggest concern is getting fingerprints and scratches on the screen. Would a screen protector prevent this? Also, a few people have said the touch screen is a gimmick. Do you agree with that?

Should I get the iPod Touch or the iPod Classic? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!
 
It's really all about priorities and the features you need to be happy with the device, because each has pros and cons.

I went from a 5G 60GB iPod that was always full because I have a bigger music collection than that, to a 32GB iPod Touch. And I love the iPod Touch. I went back to understanding I couldn't carry my entire collection at once and was ok with that.

Other than that, there is some truth in the idea that the physical buttons/scrollwheel of the Classic is easier (er, possible!) to use without looking at it. That is the one single thing I have found a little annoying, as I listen to podcasts at night in bed a lot, and if I want to fast forward or pause then it's annoying. It is something that is alleviated a bit by getting a remote for the headphones (I bought the Apple ones with the mic/remote, which lets you pause and alter volume and skip tracks forward/backwards on the right side of the headphone cable).

Despite that though, apart from the slightly easier audio controls and greater capacity the iPod Touch is just FAR superior in every way as far as I am concerned. Apps are fantastic. It plays games, and runs all kinds of great stuff. Mobile safari is great, it plays videos really nicely too.

So really it just depends how much you need more music than you could possibly listen to on one charge (!) and how much you'd like the other stuff that the iPod Touch offers over the Classic.

Also, as others have said, the Touch doesn't cost you money, it doesn't connect to the net other than via WiFi, so unless you're paying for that somewhere other than in your home etc it's not costing you anything.
 
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