Apple hardly need my recommendation to sell more products or increase their popularity with consumers. The company are big enough and sexy enough to outclass any rivals. But when you are about to shell out for a new MP3 player you may find a guiding hand useful.
I first became the owner of an iPod five years ago with the fourth generation of iPods. Despite various comments about the life of iPods (they say they stop working after 12-18 months) my first iPod still works now. My girlfriend uses it daily for lessons. However, with the release of the new range of iPods about 12-14 months ago, I decided I had to upgrade.
Looking at the new range of Apple MP3's it was easy to be seduced by the new technology on display with the iPhone and iPod Touch. Both look fabulous and are very user friendly and sexy. My only issue was that these sexy new pieces of kit seemed to have limited memory. Although there are 16GB versions now available, at the time it was 8GB on both the iPhone and the Touch. My original 20GB iPod had been filled with the first ten months and I was looking for something to store ALL my songs, not just the music I was listening to that month. Speaking to one of the Apple guys over the phone they almost didn't seem to want to discuss the iPod Classic.
The iPod Classic is the best option for anyone who has a love of music which goes beyond the temporary. Personally I like to have all my music in one place and to be able to access it easily whenever I want. I originally bought the 80GB classic but opted for the 120GB after it was stolen. I am still adding music to it now. As Apple continue to up the memory available on the other devices I will, no doubt, upgrade again. However, the iPhone uses a great deal of its memory with its day to day running and all those apps (15,000 available according to the site). The touch is sexy too, but just not enough space.
If you are a grown up, and you have access to a laptop regularly then I would recommend you keep a large storage iPod for your music and save your iPhone for internet, email and (God forbid) phone usage.
So to other business. The sound quality is as good as you have come to expect from Apple. It is as good as your source. If you download from iTunes you should be fine. From CD, even better. I would recommend you look around for other earphones however. Naturally Apple don't include a top of the range set of ear cans. If you want better then I suggest you check out some of the other reviews available on Ciao (Sennheiser perhaps?).
Usability. The classic is very, very simple to use. By now, I imagine you have become familiar with the general iPod interface. If not, don't fear; it is deliberately made as easy as possible. Remember that Apple has designed these devices for everyone to use, including children who own nanos, etc. You'll pick it up quick enough.
Finally, value for money. The chap from Apple, I mentioned earlier, was unable to understand why I kept checking the price on the classic. I couldn't believe it was so reasonable considering the huge memory and it being a better bit of kit than the previous iPods. The reason? It wasn't the iPhone or the Touch. In my opinion this is the best Apple MP3 device available for its price and what it offers.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
This new iPod classic has 120Gb of storage that can hold up to 30,000 songs or 150 hrs of ... more
video with up to 36 hours of music playback. The new Genius feature creates a playlist of tracks in your library that go great together, while the Cover Flow fun...
Postage & Packaging: from £4.85 Availability: refer to website
Apple is the market leader when it comes to making MP3 players and the iPod Classic is a ... more
must have for any music fan. With a huge 120GB of space - enough for up to 30,000 songs (or 25,000 photos or 150 hours of video) - its sleek design makes it a comp...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: Out of stock
This new iPod classic has 120Gb of storage that can hold up to 30,000 songs or 150 hrs of ... more
video with up to 36 hours of music playback. The new Genius feature creates a playlist of tracks in your library that go great together, while the Cover Flow fun...
Postage & Packaging: from £4.85 Availability: refer to website
Apple is the market leader when it comes to making MP3 players and the iPod Classic is a ... more
must have for any music fan. With a huge 120GB of space - enough for up to 30,000 songs (or 25,000 photos or 150 hours of video) - its sleek design makes it a comp...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: In stock. 3 working days
Advantages: Very good design, reasonable price, massive capacity, sleek, not too big Disadvantages: a bit slow sometimes, perhaps too bulky for some people
Advantages: Looks good, more than just music playback Disadvantages: quite large, not exactly 'pocket sized' only compatable with itunes - not drop and drag.
Mar 3rd, 2009
very helpful by (100%):
