Apple may be about to bring the biggest changes yet to its iPod line-up, by discontinuing the still-loved iPod Classic and iPod Shuffle ranges.
There have been rumours for years that the Classic range of iPods is to get the chop – ever since the iPod touch was announced. But the latest rumour seems to be a strong one, with TUAW announcing it has an (unfortunately) unnamed source close to the matter, which is sounding the death-knell on all non-touchscreen iPods.
This is despite Steve Jobs announcing back in March that there were 'no plans' to discontinue the line.
Classic cut
The iPod Classic has had tremendous staying power. Its design is still similar to the design of the first range of iPods which is now a decade old.
It is still a popular choice, however, due to its superb disk-space – up to 160GB. It is hard-disk based, though, and this is something that Apple is drifting away from in its mobile phone, laptop and iPod Touch ranges.
As for the iPod Shuffle – this is set to be discontinued, according to TUAW, and not replaced. Instead the iPod nano will be the entry level iPod but one that still has touch capabilities.
Given that Apple has officially announced that a new iPhone is coming 4 October, it will be interesting if it will also announce changes to the iPod line-up.
This time of the year has been traditionally put aside for a new iPod announcement, and it seems we may still have one yet.
It's 10 years since the first iPod and the Classic is looking rather retro, so we are putting this rumour down as quite likely.
