they endlessly pontificate on stuff they apparently know squit all about by ripping stuff apart and costing (guessing more likely) the value of the components and then stating how x device is "overpriced" or "end of an era" etc.

Personally I avoid any and all "information" that comes from them - they obviously don't "get" half of the tech world.

I don't own an iPod (or any other similar device) because I have no use for one - but even I can see that the Apple range covers a fair few bases. Shuffles for the "I just want some music occasionally" crowd, Nanos for the "I like the idea but don't need to lug half my hard drive" users, iPod Touch and iPhone for the "I like the cool gadgets" brigade and the Classic for the hard core "these other players are great but I can't get my gazillion songs and bazillion vids on there" users.

If I /was/ to consider buying one of these devices I think I would be torn between the largest capacity G2 Nano and the Classic (the new Nano falls "between stools" for me - but each to their own)

So until you can jam maybe 80Gb+ of flash memory into an iPod for near the same price as an HDD I can't see the HDD iPod going away anytime soon.

Who writes these articles?

The iPod Classic is far from a stopgap. If you rip your CDs with Apple Lossless, like I do, then the ONLY iPod that makes sense is the Classic.

I bought an iPod just to clear space on my old PowerBook's hard drive. I never walk around listening to music, it's too distracting.

The iPod touch would have been great, if it had an 80GB drive. So would the iPhone. I'd say that THEY are the real stopgaps, capacity-wise anyway.

The iPod Classic fills its market niche perfectly. It was exactly what I wanted in an AUDIO PLAYER device. Enough capacity to hold my CD collection.

It is an audio player. It is not a PDA, or a web browser, or even a video player (though I admit since it has video capability I have taken advantage of that particular feature, but to me that's just an added perk).

The iPod touch is an audio player. And there's not another device anywhere on the market that does what it does (hold up to 160GB of music).

It should be mentioned, as some people have pointed out in other places, iSuppli did not say that HD players were obsolete, as was implied in this and many other articles. They simply said that the current HD-based iPods don't have the latest technology in other areas, like touchscreen, widescreen, and wireless connectivity. I think iSupply is suggesting that the iPod Classic is "stopgap" in the sense that it could have been a HD-based iTouch.

Of course they don't acknowledge the battery and wireless reception issues that may have been the reason such a device is not ready.

Not stopgap or a backslide at all . . . step back, breathe, and look at what it really is: iPods galore happens to now be just another bunch 'o fun flash devices created around an already rockin' device (the original).