Apple iPod classic 160 GB Silver (6th Generation)

I recently purchased my 160G IPOD and I'm elated with my purchase. As a traveling musician, it is so convenient to have my music library with me at all times. Waiting in airports and enduring long flights seem less exhausting with my trusty little IPOD. It could be more video friendly, though.

When I was looking for an MP3 player with so many on the market the main ones I was looking for was either an IPOD or Zune. I wanted something that could hold lots of songs as to me the idea of an MP3 player is the ability to take not some of your music but all of your music so I wanted something with a lot of memory space to be able to take all of my music which is quite extensive in my eyes. Looking at the Zune and IPOD for me I noticed that the IPOD operating system was a ton easier to use. My brother has a ZUNE and I have helped him put music onto the device for him and the difference between ITUNES and the ZUNE software is like night and day as for ease of putting the songs on your IPOD. The main differences also I noticed between this and the ZUNE besides the operating system on the players itself was 1. the screen size. The ZUNES screen is noticeably larger than the IPOD 2. Control of the unit. With The IPOD you use the wheel and scroll by rotating the wheel to the desired location where with the ZUne it is more of arrows you push making it a little easier to navigate. For me though the main reason I went with the Ipod over the Zune was 1. The price, 2. Itunes operating system, 3. Face it Apple has more experience in this field than ZUNE

I bought this for my sister for christmas, and she loves it. Works great, easy to play your music the way you want.

well worth all the money spent ,,, take a long time to fill this unit up ..

I had the venerable (and superior) 5.5 "Video". It was the device that introduced me to mobile music, and we shared 2 very meaningful years together. When the time came to upgrade, primarily for storage reasons, I gravitated towards the iPod Classic as a result of my great experience with the Video. But I also looked around at competing players and weighed their merits. What finally cinched it was the vast array of accessories available for the iPod. Like that, I remained in the Apple fold.

This device is at best a mediocre media player. At worst, it is Apple's clear intent to say, "Screw you" to it's customers. Read on for an explanation of the latter.

I have similar complaints as most. Coverflow is a gimmick, useful about as long as it takes for your eyes to widen and your lips to form an "O" shape. Then it is readily apparent that the Classic..a unit ostensibly designed to hold a gazillion albums, is too severely underpowered to keep up with its OWN SELLING POINT. Yes, I did update the firmware. Still, this didn't bother me too terribly much, as I prefer the classic menus - and then I found that they too are hobbled. For instance, when I select on artist in the text-only mode, all four or five albums of said artist will load in the screen far ahead of their accompanying album art...and user input isn't recognized until all of the art loads. This results in a fairly significant lag from when the titles appear on the screen and when I can actually select the album for playback. It's irritating as all hell, particularly if you're trying to hear, say, track 5 but must wait for the Classic to cycle through it's own features before you can so much as select from a list. Disabling ALL album art in iTunes (another piece of crap) solves all of these problems. Yet the question remains - why load your player with features that it will choke on? It was just as dumb when they sold 'Vista-capable' computers with 512MB of RAM. Now, perhaps this isn't an issue when there aren't 1000 albums loaded on the device...but isn't this why Apple markets it as, "Decisions, who needs 'em?" You're SUPPOSED to have that much music on a 80GB player.

Audio quality is fine. Nothing stellar, but not so far removed from it's direct competitors that I'd recommend another player for that reason alone. However, I TOTALLY suggest a new set of 'phones. The bundled ones are, as you may have heard, complete crap. They may sound fair if they are what you're accustomed to, but a '78 Corvette might feel fast until you drive a Ferrari. Just sayin'.

Now for the severe gripes. My drive started audibly clicking while incidentally two weeks out of warranty (am not angry with the warranty period; it's a fact of life). If your drive clicks very, very quietly, like you can only hear it while pressing your ear to the chrome...that's perfectly normal. However, mine was audible from three or four feet from my ears, and I could feel it grinding in my hand. This is a sign of impending drive failure, and my solution was to throw a replacement iPod-compatible drive that I happened to have lying around, because I'm a geek like that. Well, iPods before the Classic are designed to easily be taken apart (they're simply well-adhesed) using controlled force and a tiny screwdriver, guitar pick, etc. What did I find out about the Classic? IT'S BEEN DESIGNED TO BE VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO TAKE APART. The message, from Apple? Dear consumer: We see you tried to fix your iPod yourself, and thus trying to avoid buying a new one! Hahahahaha!!! You lose! Buy new!

Words cannot describe the anger I felt when I discovered this. It is the ULTIMATE slap in the face, and proof of my earlier suspicions that Apple is irritating company that thrives on zombie hipsters lauding their products while droning away in a rigidly controlled ecosystem of hard and software. I now despise this company so much that my anger has effected the quality of this review. But here it is, anyway.

Also, the decision-swaying fact that there are tons of iPod-specific accessories available? That's true. But it's a silly reason to purchase a media player, particularly when the player itself is so woefully underpowered. I for one was very happy after divorcing myself of all things Apple.

The Classic is the worst iPod ever made. And that's too bad, because the Video was one of the great loves of my tech life. I mourned it's loss. The Classic? Ugh.