Battle of the iPods: Classic Versus Touch
By James Walker
There’s no doubt about it, iPods have changed our lives. Whether we’re in the gym or walking to lectures (maybe even in a lecture) many of us are plugged into our favourite tunes. But do they represent good value for money?
Before this article goes any further I feel I should clarify what I want to talk about. I love iPods, as a matter of fact I rarely leave the house without mine, but now it seems just being able to listen to music isn’t good enough anymore – we want videos, applications and even the internet!
These can all be found on the iPod touch, whereas the iPod classic is, well pretty much an unchanged design since the 4th generation iPod several years ago. Naturally therefore, you would expect the iPod touch to be more expensive but, is a 32GB iPod touch worth £100 more than a 120GB iPod classic? Long paragraph cut short, iPod touches are overpriced.
The difference in price between an iPod classic and an iPod touch is astronomical. An 8GB iPod touch, which can store about 1,750 songs or 10 hours of video, retails at around £160. For that money you can also buy a 120GB iPod classic which can hold 30, 000 songs or 150 hours of video.
Surely the primary reason we would buy an iPod in the first place is to listen to music, so why can you get about 28, 000 more songs stored on the iPod classic for the same price? Granted, the iPod touch is a brilliant piece of technology with countless features which justify its desirability, but is £160 a fair price considering you can store over ten times more songs on a different iPod at the same price.
The maximum storage capacity available on an iPod touch comes in the 32GB model, almost 100GB less than the iPod classic. This has a retail price of £263 – over £100 more expensive than the iPod classic. What’s more the consumer is paying this price for what is only a 24GB increase on the 8GB iPod touch model.
Let me put it another way, you can buy a 32GB memory stick for under £50, so why do Apple charge over £100 pounds for such an increase in memory? It doesn’t seem right. Especially when you take into account a 120GB iPod classic, albeit without the numerous features which can be found on the iPod touch, is also £100 pounds cheaper.
The answer most likely lies in the fact that the iPod classic stores its files differently to the iPod touch. The iPod classic stores its files on a hard drive whereas data is stored on an iPod touch using flash memory. Without using too much geeky jargon, flash memory is a more efficient way of storing data; it takes up less physical space and makes no noise. Hard drives on the other hand can be loud and are slower to react than flash drives.
It seems reasonable then that Apple charge more for an iPod touch than an iPod classic simply because the technology is considerably better. Is it however £100 better? Remember Apple’s target audience is the general public and not the super rich. Most people would be reluctant to fork out an additional £100, especially when they know they are still getting less than an alternative model on the market, and rightfully so. We have food bills to worry about and water and electricity don’t come free!
All in all then it seems justified to say that the iPod touch is massively overpriced. Yes the technology is better than that of the iPod classic but the reality is simple; we are getting more value for money in the iPod classic. It’s acceptable to charge more for the iPod touch but the difference in technology does not warrant a £100 price difference.
