Gadget Doctor – Help! My iPod Classic is full

MP3 players

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Alex Brady: The impending demise of the iPod Classic and the fact my current 160GB model is about to burst at the seams leaves me with a small storage problem. I have searched the web and the only contender to the Apple device is a Cowon (but that only has the same capacity). Do you guys have any suggestions as to a potential replacement? I use my iPod in the car and whilst travelling abroad, so I like to keep my music collection with me at all times.

Luke Edwards, multimedia journalist: Bradders, I feel your plight as a fellow music hoarder. But there are still a few options left – five to be precise.

Firstly you could buy yourself a new hard drive for your iPod and, using this guide, swap it out yourself. That means you could pop in a whopping 500GB drive to keep you going for a long time after the Classic is removed from the shelves.

The second option is to take the leap into the cloud. Using the likes of Spotify or Amazon Cloud on your mobile – you could access all the music you need by streaming. With Spotify you can even download albums for use abroad and in the car (via AUX or Bluetooth connection).

A third idea would be to use Own Cloud – which lets you access all your files remotely from your mobile. Then, when abroad, get yourself a GlobalGig Mi-Fi which gives you 1GB for £10. Adimittedly if you want to listen to all 160GB this options isn’t cheap.

But if streaming is still a no-no then there’s always the Archos 5 with its 250GB hard drive, 12 hour battery life and nice big 5in screen for video. It’ll even let you browse the web via Wi-Fi or 3G just like a big tablet.

Of course you could just buy another 160GB iPod Classic – they might be worth a few bob once Apple stop making them.