I don't think you read the entire conversation there, Curt.
You do make some salient points, though.
To reiterate, as the Touch's SSDs grow in capacity, first to 64GB, then to 128 GB, the Classic's 160GB HD is not going to be as compelling in light of the screen size advantage of the touch. Given those parameters, the Classic will have to have a compelling price advantage to hold its own in consumer demand.
However, should the HD capacity of the Classic grow to 1TB, as you suggest (not a given in my limited understanding of the technology), then that advantage will influence demand for the product to some extent.
While many consumers, including myself, will demand large capacity storage in a portable player device for cataloging and storing large quantities of video as well as music for on demand retrieval, the average Joe iPod buyer isn't that sophisticated.
The Classic is doomed to be discontinued, because in the aggregate of consumer demand 64GB capacity is overkill for the vast majority of participants. Screen size then becomes the major sales driver.
Herb
"unless there is a compelling price advantage to the Classic, it's gone."
I humbly suggest you are wrong. The classic, or whatever it becomes, offers more storage - and as video/movies/pictures begin to take up more storage space, you're going to want a 1TB SSD (solid state drive) for the space and power efficiency. Your iPod may become your media (all of it) storage where you can take your movies with you and watch them wherever you go by docking with a friend's entertainment system, or in the future using a pico projector either attached or embedded in the iPod itself.
To suggest the classic's days are numbered is a bit short-sighted IMO.
Curt
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