Apple iPod classic 5th Generation Black (30 GB)

Firstly, the iPod looks beautiful. It does attract finger marks but we all know that so i expected it. The machine itself works well. I had around 18Gb of songs to put on my player so i left it running over night. One annoyance is that when transfering songs the screen stays lit, although it does remind you not to remove the iPod as this could cause problems so i guess this is a good thing.
I bought the iPod to replace my iRiver H320 which i absolutely loved, but, it has to be said it was a bit of a brick. The iPod is half the thickness and the screen is half an inch bigger but otherwise the dimensions are more or less the same. The big differnce between the two is the sound quality. The iPod is reasonable, but the iRiver was amazing, if you're a total audiophile look elsewhere, i know i'm keeping my iriver for when i want a punchy sound. The iPod just can't manage the same bass range, it lacks a bit of punch. I'm using the same Sony MDR-EX71SLB Fontopia Headphones so it's not due to using a different set. The iPod though does create a reasonable sound. And in terms of battery? Well it's been on today for around 5 hours on medium volume and the meter says i have 3/4 of battery remaining (well on target for the 14 hours quoted for this 30Gb model), which is so far matching my iriver. Another advantage of the iPod is being able to make playlists on the go which i've not been able to do before and as i have so much music i really like to be able to make my own playlists.
The main disadvantage of the iPod over the iriver is the fact you have to use iTunes, don't get me wrong, it's a good programme, but the iriver is so much more flexible as it is treated just like a hard drive so you can just drag and drop music, photos, videos and they will play on the device. With iPod you have to first move stuff to iTunes and then sync. I'm also determined not to buy songs from iTunes, if i decide i want a new mp3 player i don't want to be limited to iPod, so for now i will still be buying and ripping cd's. Hopefully the movie download service will hit the UK soon. These can, with accessories be played through your tv via the iPod. Remember though that downloaded movies have all the digital rights management stuff attached to them, so again, maybe better to buy the dvd, rip it, and then convert it to play on your iPod

iPod is a useful little device. I'm comparing it to my iriver and it has advantages like ease of use (click wheel is so good for scrolling), on the go playlist maker and it's smaller and lighter than the iriver. However, the sound isn't as full and i constantly seem to be changing the EQ settings which is getting annoying, note you can't change each aspect, you have to choose from a preset, although there are enough presets to choose from. Also, my iriver came with lots of accessories, hard case with belt clip, charger, sennheiser headphones, in line remote control, it can play radio and it came with an external clip on battery pack, made it huge but a godsend for the occasional long trip (although accessories came at a price, the H320 was 20Gb and cost £270 although with all the extras the ipod will reach that as well) Also, the drag and drop set up of the iriver is so much more convenient than iTunes.

So, 3 stars, a good device but there are other just as capable machines out there. If you want strong sound go for something else.

The ipod Classic is a great version of the ipod family and I feel has many advantages over the other versions. They have large storage space (30GB, 80GB or 160GB depending on model) ideal for plenty of music, video clips, photo's etc. They are of good size so not to small to loose and just right for putting into your pocket older versions are a little more chunkier but still very portable.

Great for the sporty people out there and useful for long journeys. Has simple to use features easy enough for most people, with a menu button and wheel facility to navigate you will soon be listening to your favourite music.

Syncing with Itunes is straight forward, however my one comment is you cannot simply add more music rather than syncing your whole library. It would be nice to have a feature which only adds recent music to your ipod and not remove what is already on there as storing all your music files on your computer can take up a lot of space. Unless there is a feature I have missed somewhere.

Other advantages, is no need to keep mountains of cd cases everywhere as you can store your music on the ipod, many music centres now having docking stations so you just plug and play. Lots of add ons available to buy such as small portable speakers, great of in the park on picnics!

I have tried other MP3 players before but am now sold on the ipod classic, the large display is an advantage allowing greater ease of use. Everyone in the family have a classic version of the ipod!

The sound quality is excellent, very clear crisp, no crackling.
Easy menu to find music,videos etc. Lots of room for music and videos, although the screen is very clear, I would recommend hooking it up to TV to watch full length downloaded movies.
Great for Audio books,sit back and let the voice create the scene for you.
With the many Ipod Docks available you can create and share your music with your friends or family.
Really versatile digital media player which is widely supported with music downloads from numerous sites not only Itunes. Accessories too numerous to list from cases to in-car transmitters.

It's great if you use your iPod for just music, hours of play time and standard iPod controls. Works with apple's iTunes.

If like myself, you're going from an iPod touch to a classic, it is slightly less entertaining; but the classic is still a great mp3 player; it's pretty chunkie compared to a nano or what ever, but compared to the iPod touch 1st Gen (the one I had) it's a pretty similar size & weight.

The design of this 5th Generation Classic iPod is very well thought out. All the options and settings are accessed via the central panel, and it is intuitively easy to pick up. And with 30gb of space there is plenty of space for most people's CD collection, their photo albums and a few videos.

The battery life is quite good too, and charging times are not excessive. It keeps it's charge for days if you use it minimally, but if you listen to it intensively you would get anything from 12 hours to 20 hours depending on the volume settings.

There are many settings to play your music, via playlists or shuffling, and the EQ settings means that you can alternate the sound quality specifically to the genre of music you are listening to too.

I have never owned other Apple products, so I cannot compare it to them, but if this is like other Apple products, it sure shows its quality. Compared to mp3 players I have used before, the battery life is better, sound quality is better, design is better, and useability is immensely better. And the syncing with iTunes on your PC means that you can easily update your tracklisting...

The only thing that I don't like about the iPod is that it is easy to scratch or scuff, but the aesthetics of the thing is not the truly important thing, and now I have purchased a protective case for it, this issue is resolved.

Highly recommended product!