Alternatives to iPod Classic.

Alternatives to iPod Classic. Now that Apple has saw it fit to tether us more to the cloud and arrogantly refuse to offer us the choice to access our music "locally" by discontinuing the 160 GB iPod Classic, what options are out there such that our content can remain "earth-bound"?

I am happy to switch eco-system if Apple persist down this path of cloud based technology.I shall not be held ransom by my Telco to pay to access content that I own. It is hideous and unethical. At best, this is Apple not appreciating the tecno-economic environment of Australia, where, unlike the UK and USA, unlimited data is not a salient feature of most mobile plans. At the very worst, this is a colossal stitch-up between the Telcos and Apple!

Hi TRB!

Couldn't agree more - annoys me to have to pay data charges to access content I legally bought in the first place. 

I do not personally own one, but a friend does and he said that the "Sony Walkman 128GB" is similar to an iPod/iPhone - in that it has a decent sized touch screen (4 inches), premium chassis, decent audio, rechargeable lithium-ion battery, bluetootch etc. 

I just looked it up - the model number is NWZZX1.

Hi Lionel!

My partner thinks I'm an old fart for moaning about the cloud. Thank you for the affirmation! Ah yes the walkman....I use to have those...

I'll check it out. 

The ZX1 is the high-end, beneath it there's also the A-series. (http://www.sony.com.au/product/nwz-a15)

The A15 is smaller, button-based (non-touchscreen, non-android) and features a microSD slot that supports 128GB. The actual storage is about 15GB built-in + 120GB card, you can get fairly close to the ipod classic for a lower price.

I own the A15 and it sounds excellent, even the FM radio is superb, although if you're used to the apple sound, be warned that Sony prefers to set vocals a little far back, so they won't stand out as much.

Using the cloud, or using most smartphones for music, not to mention bluetooth, are all really power-inefficient methods of listening, they use several times the power drawn by a regular MP3 player, nevermind super-efficient devices like the ipod shuffle.

Hey Lionel,

Looked at that model and I have to say, it looks rather sexy!

Thanks for the tip!!!!

Man, that Walkman is nice.

Is there only Apple doing MP3 players here? AFAIK almost any non-Apple phone plays music and accepts mini-SD. No brainier, really. I hate companies like Apple that force me to do something that I do not like to do (like cloud cr@p for example) and simply do not use them. However it seems like majority do not mind and voting with their money “screw me more!!!”.

Re USA vs Australia. There is no hope – we are nothing in global market.

I have to say, I find that using my Nokia Lumia phone as an MP3 player is pretty good.

That said, I do use OneDrive cloud storage extensively.

Thanks watson374.

I have found using my old Samsung Galaxy S4 with a 128GB mini-SD to be great for music etc while travelling. In flight and power saving mode I can get about 2 weeks out of the battery whilst leaving it on all the time

Thanks Hayden.