Video performance is unchanged from the classic's predecessor -- high-quality video looks amazing, and with the cable mentioned above, can be pumped straight into a TV. It's worth noting that unlike previous models, video podcasts -- like audio podcasts, in fact -- play in sequence, so you won't need to select episode two to play at the end of watching episode one. The handy resume feature will remember pause positions of your podcasts and audiobooks, if set in iTunes (it's set to do this by default). iTunes will also handle video conversion if your clips aren't compatible with the player.
Apple claims the 160GB iPod classic will keep blasting music for a full 40 hours, and video for seven; the 80GB model keeps going for a more modest 30 hours for music, five for video. Our lab tests will confirm or deny these claims, so check back soon. Charging is pretty swift too, at around four hours for a complete charge. You'll need to use the proprietary iPod USB cable to charge from your PC or go and buy an iPod mains adaptor from Apple.
Conclusion
With its vast and unthinkably capacious
hard disk options, the iPod classic is quite simply going to squeeze
your entire media collection in your pocket. Sound quality is terrific
and even a previous iPod sceptic in our office conceded that the
classic does sound better than he expected. There are a few bugs with
certain aspects of menu navigation, but we trust these will be fixed
with firmware updates, just as bugs with previous models were
rectified.
If you love your lossless music, your video podcasts, complete TV series and countless thousands of photos, you should certainly consider the iPod classic -- for this price, it's a steal. However, if you're just casually interested in the occasional TV clip and the high quality of lossless audio doesn't justify the extra memory, take a peek at the new iPod nano -- for half the price of the classic, you get a great feature set and a much smaller form factor.
Available from AdvancedMP3Players.
Edited by Jason Jenkins
Additional editing by Nick Hide
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User reviews4
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Chris_Ryles 11 September 2011
Good: HUGE storage, Menus
Bad: Nothing
Comment: This is my favourite bit of tech that I own. Over my phone, computer- everything. It take pretty much every song you've ever heard and fit it in your pocket. Sounds great, looks great preforms great. I have 7500 songs and over 24 hours of video on mine and I've just passed 50% capacity. Awesome
rlankine 22 November 2007
Good: Memory size, physical robustness
Bad: Slow and unreliable firmware (v1.0.2)
Comment: I bought my iPod classic in mid-October and started converting my collection of ~40000 MP3's to AAC@128 . While doing it for a couple of weeks the iPod worked just fine - if perhaps a bit slow when load playing lists and other UI features. Alas, when nearly all of my collection was converted, my iPod froze during sync so badly that even Apple service could not revive it and replaced it with a new one. So I synced that one, it froze, too, and was exchanged. And so on... I'm now at my fourth unit, and after reducing the number of my iTunes play lists (from ca. 75 to ca. 60) it sort-of works. It still reboots spontaneously in random places related to playlists, searching, shuffling, and loading lengthy lists of e.g. artists, but it can be used when it works and exchanged when it locks up next time.
Anyway, I'll continue experimenting (and also awaiting a better firmware update) as long as Apple is willing to replace frozen units at no cost to me. I really wish they'de get the FW right, since it is the only player on the market having the size (160B) large enough to contain all of my music collection.
FWIW, I run Windows Vista in a genuine Intel laptop no older than three months.
Greeny 20 October 2007
Good: The menus are great but the Storage is incredible
Bad: Slightly slow loading on the coverflow
Comment: Apple have very nearly perfected the Ipod now. I recently got an 80Gb Classic and have been blown away by new menus and its interface with my computer. It took me about 10 minutes to load 2000 songs onto it and about 5 minutes to load 14 hours of video. The menus have been designed around the old 5th generation Ipods but have been revamped and modernized and have your cover art floating around in the background which is a nice aesthetic touch. The one thing everyone seems to be raving about with this new Ipod is the coverflow feature. This does look good but means you have to go through your whole library getting the correct art. This gets even more complicated if you have lots of compilations or older albums that don't have the cover art necessary. On the Ipod this feature takes a while to load and if you have lots of albums, when you flick through there is a lot of generic grey before it loads. Despite this the Ipod classic is a quality piece of kit and I would recommend it to anyone who has more than 1000 tracks in there library. If you have less than that then I would recommend the new nano or an equivalent as you will never get near filling this beast.
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