Customer Reviews:

0 out of 0 people found the following review helpful
Customer Id: A37HPKXUKQDTHK 2008-11-07
 
Review Summary: Looks nice but let down by poor sound and rubbish software
 
Review Content: I owned a Sony A818 walkman for a year and bought the the ipod a few months ago.

First the positives:

* large capacity (beats my previous Sony's 8GB)

* looks nice

Now the negatives:

* sound quality is noticeably worse compared to my old Sony. No really, its that bad I thought there was something wrong with the IPod. As a test I played a 320kbit MP3 on the IPOD and a 192kbit wma on the Sony through an external Denon amp and Mission speakers and the Sony was easily the better sounding player, even with the lower quality audio file. The IPod's EQ functions only made it sound worse with clipping and distortion evident throughtout on the IPod when the EQ function was enabled.

* Battery life is not very good compared to my old Sony - I guess the IPod's hard disk is partly to blame for this.

* ITunes - we simply didn't get on. When I presented it with my existing music collection (< 1000 albums) it just stopped responding. No errors, no messages - nothing. This seems to be a pattern when anything unexpected happens - it just throws a hissy-fit and sulks. I was also shocked that I had to provide a credit card to Apple to get track names and covert art to be downloaded automatically.

* It scrathes very easily (a protector should be considered a necessity - but then the scroll wheel doesn't work so well because of the silicon cover between it and your finger).

* Cover flow looks nice but I found that only being able to see a couple of album covers at a time actually made finding an album more difficult.

* The player locks up now and then. There is no reset switch so the first time this happened I had no idea what to do about it. Fot info: toggle hold switch a couple of times, then hold play and menu together for 10 seconds (repeating this step until the player reboots).

If I could change the IPod?
Make it smaller, lighter and don't force me to use ITunes but most of all improve the sound quality.

I'll chalk my experience with the IPod down to experience and have bought a new 16GB Sony S630 from Amazon.


 
 
 

0 out of 0 people found the following review helpful
Customer Id: AY3Z3HJUTDB1S 2008-09-07
 
Review Summary: Beautiful
 
Review Content: Such a simple player to use - I've got it hooked up to the hi-fi in my car & it took literally moments to get it up & running
 
 
 

1 out of 1 people found the following review helpful
Customer Id: A38ETKBVJXMU70 2008-08-20
 
Review Summary: Better Than A Zen M
 
Review Content: I originally was a Creative Zen Vision M 60gb fan and bought one, but this recently would no longer be recognised by my laptop and it is only around a year old. Due to the lack of technical help from Creative, that actually help to render it dead I decided to change loyalties and opt for the Ipod Classic 80gb in silver. Im not one who's looking for slim design as chucky to me means lastabiility and not snapability, but once received I was well supprised about the build quality and the brushed metal body, yes aluminium, not plastic body, apart from the patented 'click wheel' which is plastic, but solid.

Coverflow is a nice touch, but it does need to paralell with Itunes coverflow so that if you want album order (which you get in itunes) then you get album order and not artist, album and finally compliation order on the ipod. My only gripe! Not enough though to drop a star.

Sound. Well lets talk about the ipod distictive white ear buds that you get with the Classic. Who the heck said they are useless and need to be changed to a Sure or more expensive ear bud...Bullsh*t! Unless I've got a rogue pair that were deemed for an Apple executive my ipod ear buds are better than my Sure ear buds any day and the Sure's cost me £50. I am well impressed with them!

Sound through my Pure Evoke 3 is excellent and I have no volume issues whatsoever as there is a way to enable a maximum volume through Itunes or through the Ipod settings, but rip your music as high quality MP3 (320kps)and you will have no complaints. To aid connection I bought the Apple Idock (around £17 on Amazon). This enables you to stand the ipod up whilst connecting to an output source with a 3.5mm jack cable and use the Ipod with a remote control, although the menu button on the remote does not work the menu interface on the Ipod, which is a bit stupid as you have to navigate the menu with one hand, on the ipod and then can change track or up the volume on the remote..Sort that one out Apple!

Overall, apart from the coverflow and accessories gripe the Classic has to have five stars and that comes from a former Creative Zen Vision M owner who originally thought that Creative cracked it with their Zen Vision M!

 
 
 

1 out of 1 people found the following review helpful
Customer Id: A1PP7NM0TEDY6X 2008-08-06
 
Review Summary: Good pricing point
 
Review Content: I took delivery of my iPod classic just yesterday to upgrade my older 30GB 5G model. So far my reaction is positive, but with some small caveats.

First off, when you open the box, you first notice what's NOT there: no USB mains charger or even install CDs for iTunes. What you do get is a USB connector, the standard headphones and a cradle adapter (otherwise know as a cheap piece of plastic). I can't comment on the headphone quality because I find that particular style of phone doesn't suit the shape of my ear. Instead I use a pair of Sennheiser CX300s, which are just fine.

Next, the interface. One of the things I liked about the 5G was that it was clean, functional and easy to use. The classic, meanwhile, I am finding a little less seamless (though I'm likely to learn it in time). Squashing the menus into the left side of the display is a puzzle to me. Yes, it allows lots of artwork to pan around in the right half, but it doesn't aid usability any more than previously. Cover Flow is something of a mixed bag: I can't see myself using it a great deal, though selecting an item and then seeing the tracklisting inline is quite a nice touch. The Now Playing screen is an improvement. The album artwork is nicely displayed and the display is nice and clear. Text could be a little small for some though (thankfully not me). There is a constant sense of "eye candy"-ness at work and, while it's pretty, I wonder how much of an actual improvement it is over the 5G interface in general. I suspect not that much. The click wheel doesn't seem quite as responsive to me as the old 5g one. I've been finding it a little harder to get used to.

However, this is a media player, so how does it do? Well, getting 80GB for £150 is not to be sniffed at. I've yet to test battery life fully so can't really confirm or deny comments about improvements over earlier models. I have to say I was generally satisfied with my old 5G in that respect, so any improvement is a bonus to me.

The first thing I found with music playback is that things do sound a little warmer, though I did wonder if there was a little loss on the top end. Having said that, this could be due to my custom EQ settings on the 5G (something I haven't worked out how to do on the Classic yet, as I'd like the option to add to what's already there in the EQ settings menu). The stereo separation and definition is, though, much better than previously. A couple of favourite songs sound much better on a classic than the 5G when I was testing it out. You do have to drive the volume a little higher though. I noticed that my phones sounded best at just under half volume on the 5G, with the Classic I have to push them a little higher (just over half), though not into ear-damaging levels by any stretch. Video playback is very nice. The display, though small is not fiddly by any means, managing to remain smooth with bright and vivid colours. Brightness and contrast are very easy on the eye.

As a new purchase, the classic is still the leading media player package out there (though there is some argument as to whether Sony players deliver better sound quality overall-probably a qualified yes). The integration with iTunes Store might annoy some, but provides a much more unified and consumer-friendly experience than its competitors.

For upgraders the picture is less clear. The extra space is the big seller (and the killer for me) if you had a 40GB or smaller model. The interface "improvements" don't add a lot of value and the sound quality is better, but not an enormous leap.

Still, in the final analysis, this is still the market leader and the standard to which its competitors must aspire.
 
 
 

4 out of 4 people found the following review helpful
Customer Id: A1PS28691X2ZLY 2008-08-05
 
Review Summary: Sound quality? What sound quality?
 
Review Content: This is the first iPod I have bought, previously I had been a Creative purchaser, but once my Creative Zen Vision M went bust, I decided to see what else was on the market as their current range of players haven't seemed to have progressed much.


I'll start with the positives on this iPod;

* It looks good. This is one thing you can't fault with Apple, they know how to make things look pretty.

* I've been incredibly impressed with the playlist feature, very functional and incredibly flexible.

* iTunes software, albeit not the best, beats the hell out of previous software I had been using with my Creative.

* Scroll wheel and general navigation is fantastic, especially like how you can determine what is visible in the menus.

* Once I purchased the iPod, I had started reading reviews on this so called EU Volume Limit regulation. Must say don't pay any attention to it, just buy yourself a half decent set of "in-ear" headphones and you won't have any problems, the volume is perfectly loud!...which leads me to....


Some negatives;

* Sounds quality is god awful. If you're listening to this with a half decent set of earphones (not the supplied ones) you'll notice that with music where big beats are present (e.g. Hip Hop, Drum and Bass, Heavy Metal, or any occasion where a bass drum is getting the bejesus kicked out of it) distortion is aplenty. It gives the impression that the MP3 is sampled at a much lower rate. I must say I was incredibly shocked at this, as I can't see how any company could get away with such poor quality sound, audiophiles steer clear.

* Battery life is pretty poor, nowhere near the quoted 30 hours. Perhaps if you turn the backlight to 1%, don't skip tracks, and have the volume down low, but I can't see myself getting that much. My Creative could possibly have reached that, but no way this can. Every time I look at it the battery level seems to have gone down.

* Looks too good. Back scratches too easily. I'm afraid to take the bloody thing out! Just invested in a iClear case from Griffin so hoping that arrives soon.

* Coverflow is overrated. I mean seriously, how many people decide what they want to listen to via album cover? Sure it's nice to have to look at the pictures, but it's totally non-functional...for me anyway.


In hindsight I probably regret purchasing the iPod, but I just can't help loving some of the positives and features, it really is a tough one, but the sound quality really is unforgivable. I'm still torn.