TUNE DIGITALLY

Review by Stephen Hall:

The updated iPod Classic was probably the least exciting of the new iPods announced in the September 2008 update, but that does not mean it should be dismissed.

I own the 160 GB iPod Classic that has now been discontinued, but there are few differences (perhaps the biggest being the much slimmer shape of this 120 model), and I did get to check this updated 120 GB version out at the store, when picking up the new nano and touch.

Firstly, the 120 GB version is again smaller than the largest capacity available last year, but it is a single platter hard drive, which allows it to maintain the slim shape of the 80 GB version from last year. More storage, a hundred dollars less, and just as small. That is progress despite calls from others that the classic isn't exciting. It still serves its purpose as the original iPod idea. Big capacity in a simple to use device.

Next, the software has been slightly updated on the iPod Classic. It now includes Genius, like iTunes and the other new iPods. This allows you, when on a song you enjoy, to select the genius feature. The iPod will then compile a list of songs (playlist), which goes together with the original song you were listening to. This helps you rediscover music in your library, with a playlist to fit your mood at the time. I have been using the genius feature for a few days now, and it is impressive the way it compiles these playlists. I was skeptical, but overall, it does a good job. Furthermore, as another review mentioned, the iPod does seem more responsive with this update from what I saw at the store compared to my original 160 GB iPod Classic. Some speculation has been that the older iPod Classics will receive the software update of this new one, but I'm not holding my breath on that.

Overall, the original iPod concept was so good, and that is why the iPod Classic is still a solid choice for a music and media player. It will hold thousands and thousands of songs (up to 30,000 according to Apple at 128 bitrate). I also backup some important files to my iPod Classic, in disk mode, so that I have that additional extra copy of my most vital files. When you have such a large iPod, you can do that. It shouldn't be forgotten either that while the display of the iPod Classic isn't as good as the iPod Touch or iPhone, it is still quite good and you can play music videos, TV shows, and movies purchased on the iTunes Store.

Battery life for this new 120 GB model improved over the 80GB model from last year. Apple now estimates it at 36 hours audio and 6 hours video.

I'd recommend the iPod Classic without hesitation, to those who have more than 8 or 16 GBs of music in their iTunes library and want to carry their entire collection. Furthermore, if you have videos and video podcasts you want to always carry with you, again, you can't beat the storage. I have the lower capacity flash devices as well, but the big hard drive based iPod Classic continues to play an important role in my iPod Collection.

Review by Andrew A. Burnett:

I am a big tech nerd, and although I am a little disappointed that apple will be paying less attention to the classic ipod I bought one, and I really enjoy It!

I previously had a 30GB Video Ipod and It lasted me about 3 years. Its being repaired for a new battery now, but I figured I would upgrade since my library had grown.

Not much has changed to these new ones, except the interface a little. I love genius and I am stoked that it was worked into the functionality. It remains about the same size as my 5th generation? video and so still fits my old rubber case (which is nice).

Probably the best thing about it is, doing a comparison between my roommates 30GB ipod video and this one, I find that the audio quality on this one has improved quite a bit. I don't know if its the connectors or maybe a d-a converter, but it definitely sounds better. I am a recording engineer so I might be a little more apt to hear it, but its cool.

Overall I am stoked about my new ipod. Its a great device! I will be sad to see apple move on to more of a multi-tool type device, but that doesn't sway my review on this one. Enjoy!

Review by Jersey Girl:

**Before you read some of the negative reviews, please consider this was BEFORE the new firmware update 1.0.3 came out so unfortunately they had unresponsive clickwheels, itunes messing up etc. Also some people simply did NOT upgrade their firmware for whatever reason but A LOT of those problems have been fixed with the new firmware so UPGRADE YOUR FIRMWARE AS SOON AS YOU GET YOUR IPOD! It will make a BIG difference!**

Ok, on to the review..I just got my 80 gb ipod classic recently with a 3 year extended service plan, immediately got itunes version 7.5 and upgraded the firmware immediately to 1.0.3 which seems to have taken care of A LOT of bugs people have been reporting. It must have because I am not getting ANY of the problems other have reported such as laggy clickwheel, itunes freezing etc. The clickwheel is VERY responsive, only a light touch is needed and scrolling through cover art was very quick! No problems whatsoever with the clickwheel. I also have had no problems copying files to itunes and transferring them to my ipod. The ipod itself is a thing of beauty, love the non scratchable surface but the back of the ipod is where you can see all the fingerprints etc so get a good cover for it. The slimness of it is very sleek and heck this ipod just looks cool. I got the ipod up and running in no time after I transferred my music over. Love the search feature as well. There is a lot of features, settings and extra's. Heck I even like the clock.

PLEASE NOTE:TURN OFF & DON'T use the EQ (equalizer setting)if you want normal distortion free sound. I was using the EQ and wondered why a lot of my songs had distortion. I thought it was due to the bad sound everyone was talking about until I turned OFF the EQ. Upon turning the EQ off, the distortion vanished completely, the sound was just fine, pretty good in fact. It's a shame that you have to turn off the EQ settings to get good sound. Hopefully Apple will fix this with a firmware update.

I almost got one of the itouch ipods but the very limited space is what kept me from doing so. 80 gb is plenty of space for my music, a bit of videos etc. It might not have wifi or a touch screen but it's got tons of space for my music and that's what counts! I love my ipod classic, can't find much to be picky about except for the sound when EQ is enabled. It does exactly what it's supposed to, is easy to navigate, videos look crisp/great on it and most of all it holds a crapload of music. Just remember to upgrade your firmware to the newest version, disable EQ and invest in a good pair of headphones. One of the best things about the ipod classic is that because it has so much space, I don't have to worry about how many mp3's I put on it. I've never downloaded so many mp3's in my life! I literally put my entire collection of mp3's on it and still have tons of space left. Overall, I rate the ipod classic 80 gb (black)...absolutely superb.

Review by Nse Ette:

Ok guys, I just picked up my silver iPod classic 160gb from the Apple store on Regent Street in London so I can give an actual review on it.

I've had an 80GB video iPod for a year and it's already full, so I was really hoping Apple would make an iPod big enough for me. Presently I've got 110GB (and counting) of music, so this iPod is for people like me who have a large music collection, and who like to be able to take it anyplace.

The 160GB iPod is the same size as the 80gb, but costs less than the 80GB did when it first came out.

With a brushed aluminium front finish (similar to the 2 and 3G Nanos), it should be less prone to scratching, though the back is the same smudge magnet, and I don't know how resilient the screen is. The front is curvier than that of the last 2 video iPods, with the screen slightly depressed from the rest of the casing.

Additional features are extra long battery life (40 hours for music, 7 hours for video; I've tested this and playing music non stop without much fast forwarding, etc, it's about right), and cover flow (a fun way of scrolling through for music using album cover art, though it is a bit sluggish).

The new split-screen interface lists functions to the left half of the screen, and symbols (or previews of content such as cover art, videos or photos shown as a slide show) to the right as you scroll through the functions. Neat!!

During music playback, after being idle for about 80 seconds, the screen goes gray and displays a clock, and battery power. Viewing tracks in an album also gives you, at a glance, the track times. Same for video. A nice touch. To my hearing, the sound quality (without equalizers, mind you) is improved; more bass and a bit more treble. The iPod turns off in about 2 seconds, much faster than previous models.

It's still got the other regular features; album track lyrics (new, nicer text font, and it also shows the album art), can play video and games, store photos, contacts, calendar, notes, stopwatch, and screen lock (which allows you to lock the screen with a password), and it can be used as an external hard drive. It shows up in windows explorer as an external drive. The search feature allowing one to type in album/song/artist titles (introduced in the last video iPod) is still there, but relocated to the "music" menu. I didn't spot it at first. In fact, the menu has been reshuffled to make it better, and (under settings) one can now view number of songs, videos, photos, etc graphically just like in iTunes.

If you need loads of space for your music collection, you can't go wrong getting this. Judging from the crowds in the store, Apple's got another hit here. Now if only the iPod touch had this much memory...

Review by S. bowins:

This is cool. It fits the ipod Classic perfectly. I have a 120gb ipod classic. Once you get

it in it fits like a glove and the outer case looks like the ipod. It even covers the buttons

and its thin enough for you to rub your finger along the case and still navigate. I enjoy it and

its a cheap buy. I ordered this because I orginally ordered the armband case which does work

but is not a good idea if you lift weights. This case is good though. Off to the gym.

Review by Alex:

NOTICE: This review is for the NEW 2009 160GB iPod Classic, NOT the 2007 160GB iPod Classic!

The new 160GB iPod Classic is easily Apple Inc.'s best iPod to date, and out of all of the iPods that I own, this is my favorite.

First, the capacity of this iPod is simply unbeatable. I've yet to see another portable media player that can match the iPod Classic in capacity. I have a huge music library, and it's nice to be able to carry every song that I own on my person at all times. What's more, thanks to the iPod Classic's capacity, I also have room to carry a few videos with me, and some of my photos. If you don't like having to pick which songs to load onto your portable media player, the iPod Classic is the way to go.

The second thing that I love about this iPod can be summed up in two words: it works. The 160GB iPod Classic that was introduced in 2007 was extremely buggy, had a non-responsive Clickwheel on many units, crashed frequently, and required a hit-and-miss firmware update to stop the hard drive from spinning even when the device was "off," which often lead to dead batteries. All of these problems left the 2007 160GB iPod Classic warming shelves and earning it the infamous "honor" of being the "worst selling iPod ever," according to Apple. I'm pleased to say that the new 160GB iPod Classic released earlier this month has virtually none of these problems. There's no "spinning hard drive bug," the Clickwheel is incredibly responsive, and the device isn't crash-prone. While it's true that many of these issues were fixed with last year's iPod Classic, there hasn't been a truly functional 160GB model until now. To put it bluntly, this is the iPod that Apple should've released in 2007.

Another thing that I really like about this iPod, and the iPod Classic in general, is it's ability to double as an external hard drive. While I believe that the iPod Nano is also capable of this, the only iPod that really has enough space to function as an external hard drive is the iPod Classic. The hard drive functionality admittedly reduces the number of devices I have to carry on me at any given time. If you regularly work with large files and are considering a new iPod, the iPod Classic is the way to go, plain and simple.

So what are the caveats? Well for starters, as with every other iPod Classic, this is a hard-drive (rather than flash-memory) based device. As a result, it has moving parts which make it unsuitable for running or any physical activity that exerts mechanical shock onto the iPod. Unless you exercise constantly with your iPod though, this really shouldn't be an issue. The only other caveat, which is more of personal taste than an actual flaw, that I can find, is that Apple has not made any cosmetic changes to this device since they introduced it in 2007. Now don't get me wrong, the point of an iPod "Classic," is to retain the "Classic" design, but after seeing how much better a black Clickwheel looks on the silver iPod Nano, I'd have thought that Apple would have given the silver iPod Classic a black Clickwheel as well. However, I admit that this is entirely my personal preference and not a "flaw" per se. I've put a quick list of pros and cons together, which can be seen below:

Pros: Largest iPod Capacity-wise, long battery life, "Genius" feature, excellent value for your money, well-built, doubles as an external hard drive, and improvements to Cover Flow.

Cons: Hard Drive (rather than Flash memory) based storage medium; device is cosmetically identical to the 2007 80GB model. (I still don't understand why Apple hasn't colored the Clickwheel black on the silver model to match the iPod Nano.)

Finally, I would highly recommend this product, which is why it gets five stars from me. I don't like the iPod Nano; it's too small for my hands, and the screen is too small for my eyes. While the iPod Touch may have app store access and Wi-Fi, I find it to be a really gimmicky device, that makes for a poor portable media player, (Apple was wise to position it as a handheld game system,) and is really an "iPhone without a phone." In contrast, the iPod Classic is an excellent portable media player, it has an excellent interface, and it only costs 9 dollars. To put things in perspective, the 2009 160GB iPod Classic costs dollars more than a 16GB iPod Nano, and 0 dollars less than a 64GB iPod Touch. All in all, I highly recommend this product.

Review by Matthew Mitchell:

I am quite new to the portable mp3 world, although I have about 250 gb of music on my computer. The only mp3 player I own is a 1 gb Samsung Pebble, which I use at the gym. This was the only mp3 player I thought I needed since both of the stereos in my vehicles have mp3 disc players. But then I started thinking...since my new Camry has an auxilary jack to hook up an mp3 device, wouldn't it be great to have one and get rid of those giant cd wallets?! The first task was to get permission from my wife to spend 250 bucks. After a little hesitation, she agreed. And then it was on to the research. Since I have such a large collection of music, the capacity of the device was number one on my list (as well as positive reviews & quality). I was pleasantly surprised to see that Apple had reissued the Classic in 160 gb form instead of the 120 gb. So after much personal debate between the Zune and the new 160 gb iPod Classic, the iPod won out.

Although the iPod is a fantastic little device with a large capacity, the software is not without its troubles. I downloaded the most current version of iTunes (verison 9) and immediately began importing my mp3 files from my hard drive. This process can take some time, but not much longer than any other media player. I was so excited to finally have the majority of my music all on one device; and have the cover art as well (I just think that is awesome)! After loading a large chunk of my files into iTunes, I noticed that only a handful of the albums had the cover art. I attempted using the "get cover art" function, but it didn't work. My only option was to track down the cover art online, right click, save, and then add the picture to the album file in iTunes. I know that it's not such a huge deal, but when you're dealing with A LOT of music, it can become quite a pain & time consuming. I later learned that the files have to be spelled exactly like they are in iTunes. And if they didn't come from iTunes in the first place, 9 times out of 10, the album art won't come up anyway. I would like to see a function that gets the cover art from other online sources, not just iTunes; and without a strict spelling criteria. There's no reason that the way I name my "The" bands should restrict the retrieval of cover art. An example being "Animals, The" instead of "The Animals."

So other than the minor annoyance with the cover art, the player itself is fantastic. I found the interface very user-friendly and intuitive, without much of a learning curve. Again, I am new to the world of iPod, but I can honestly say that I am very pleased. I wanted to write a review for people that have a large digital music collection that came mostly from ripping cd's to their computers. I am one of the people who still enjoy listening to an entire album, and is not satisfied by just downloading the single, so I still buy physical cd's & collect vinyl. I would definitely recommend the 160 gb iPod to any music fan with a large collection. Just remember to be patient when getting the artwork for all of those older albums. If you don't have a collection full of Taylor Swift, the Jonas Brothers, or Beyonce, iTunes just may not recognize your music!

Review by Alex:

NOTICE: This review is for the NEW 2009 160GB iPod Classic, NOT the 2007 160GB iPod Classic!

The new 160GB iPod Classic is easily Apple Inc.'s best iPod to date, and out of all of the iPods that I own, this is my favorite.

First, the capacity of this iPod is simply unbeatable. I've yet to see another portable media player that can match the iPod Classic in capacity. I have a huge music library, and it's nice to be able to carry every song that I own on my person at all times. What's more, thanks to the iPod Classic's capacity, I also have room to carry a few videos with me, and some of my photos. If you don't like having to pick which songs to load onto your portable media player, the iPod Classic is the way to go.

The second thing that I love about this iPod can be summed up in two words: it works. The 160GB iPod Classic that was introduced in 2007 was extremely buggy, had a non-responsive Clickwheel on many units, crashed frequently, and required a hit-and-miss firmware update to stop the hard drive from spinning even when the device was "off," which often lead to dead batteries. All of these problems left the 2007 160GB iPod Classic warming shelves and earning it the infamous "honor" of being the "worst selling iPod ever," according to Apple. I'm pleased to say that the new 160GB iPod Classic released earlier this month has virtually none of these problems. There's no "spinning hard drive bug," the Clickwheel is incredibly responsive, and the device isn't crash-prone. While it's true that many of these issues were fixed with last year's iPod Classic, there hasn't been a truly functional 160GB model until now. To put it bluntly, this is the iPod that Apple should've released in 2007.

Another thing that I really like about this iPod, and the iPod Classic in general, is it's ability to double as an external hard drive. While I believe that the iPod Nano is also capable of this, the only iPod that really has enough space to function as an external hard drive is the iPod Classic. The hard drive functionality admittedly reduces the number of devices I have to carry on me at any given time. If you regularly work with large files and are considering a new iPod, the iPod Classic is the way to go, plain and simple.

So what are the caveats? Well for starters, as with every other iPod Classic, this is a hard-drive (rather than flash-memory) based device. As a result, it has moving parts which make it unsuitable for running or any physical activity that exerts mechanical shock onto the iPod. Unless you exercise constantly with your iPod though, this really shouldn't be an issue. The only other caveat, which is more of personal taste than an actual flaw, that I can find, is that Apple has not made any cosmetic changes to this device since they introduced it in 2007. Now don't get me wrong, the point of an iPod "Classic," is to retain the "Classic" design, but after seeing how much better a black Clickwheel looks on the silver iPod Nano, I'd have thought that Apple would have given the silver iPod Classic a black Clickwheel as well. However, I admit that this is entirely my personal preference and not a "flaw" per se. I've put a quick list of pros and cons together, which can be seen below:

Pros: Largest iPod Capacity-wise, long battery life, "Genius" feature, excellent value for your money, well-built, doubles as an external hard drive, and improvements to Cover Flow.

Cons: Hard Drive (rather than Flash memory) based storage medium; device is cosmetically identical to the 2007 80GB model. (I still don't understand why Apple hasn't colored the Clickwheel black on the silver model to match the iPod Nano.)

Finally, I would highly recommend this product, which is why it gets five stars from me. I don't like the iPod Nano; it's too small for my hands, and the screen is too small for my eyes. While the iPod Touch may have app store access and Wi-Fi, I find it to be a really gimmicky device, that makes for a poor portable media player, (Apple was wise to position it as a handheld game system,) and is really an "iPhone without a phone." In contrast, the iPod Classic is an excellent portable media player, it has an excellent interface, and it only costs 9 dollars. To put things in perspective, the 2009 160GB iPod Classic costs dollars more than a 16GB iPod Nano, and 0 dollars less than a 64GB iPod Touch. All in all, I highly recommend this product.

Review by Matthew Mitchell:

I am quite new to the portable mp3 world, although I have about 250 gb of music on my computer. The only mp3 player I own is a 1 gb Samsung Pebble, which I use at the gym. This was the only mp3 player I thought I needed since both of the stereos in my vehicles have mp3 disc players. But then I started thinking...since my new Camry has an auxilary jack to hook up an mp3 device, wouldn't it be great to have one and get rid of those giant cd wallets?! The first task was to get permission from my wife to spend 250 bucks. After a little hesitation, she agreed. And then it was on to the research. Since I have such a large collection of music, the capacity of the device was number one on my list (as well as positive reviews & quality). I was pleasantly surprised to see that Apple had reissued the Classic in 160 gb form instead of the 120 gb. So after much personal debate between the Zune and the new 160 gb iPod Classic, the iPod won out.

Although the iPod is a fantastic little device with a large capacity, the software is not without its troubles. I downloaded the most current version of iTunes (verison 9) and immediately began importing my mp3 files from my hard drive. This process can take some time, but not much longer than any other media player. I was so excited to finally have the majority of my music all on one device; and have the cover art as well (I just think that is awesome)! After loading a large chunk of my files into iTunes, I noticed that only a handful of the albums had the cover art. I attempted using the "get cover art" function, but it didn't work. My only option was to track down the cover art online, right click, save, and then add the picture to the album file in iTunes. I know that it's not such a huge deal, but when you're dealing with A LOT of music, it can become quite a pain & time consuming. I later learned that the files have to be spelled exactly like they are in iTunes. And if they didn't come from iTunes in the first place, 9 times out of 10, the album art won't come up anyway. I would like to see a function that gets the cover art from other online sources, not just iTunes; and without a strict spelling criteria. There's no reason that the way I name my "The" bands should restrict the retrieval of cover art. An example being "Animals, The" instead of "The Animals."

So other than the minor annoyance with the cover art, the player itself is fantastic. I found the interface very user-friendly and intuitive, without much of a learning curve. Again, I am new to the world of iPod, but I can honestly say that I am very pleased. I wanted to write a review for people that have a large digital music collection that came mostly from ripping cd's to their computers. I am one of the people who still enjoy listening to an entire album, and is not satisfied by just downloading the single, so I still buy physical cd's & collect vinyl. I would definitely recommend the 160 gb iPod to any music fan with a large collection. Just remember to be patient when getting the artwork for all of those older albums. If you don't have a collection full of Taylor Swift, the Jonas Brothers, or Beyonce, iTunes just may not recognize your music!

Review by Stephen Hall:

The updated iPod Classic was probably the least exciting of the new iPods announced in the September 2008 update, but that does not mean it should be dismissed.

I own the 160 GB iPod Classic that has now been discontinued, but there are few differences (perhaps the biggest being the much slimmer shape of this 120 model), and I did get to check this updated 120 GB version out at the store, when picking up the new nano and touch.

Firstly, the 120 GB version is again smaller than the largest capacity available last year, but it is a single platter hard drive, which allows it to maintain the slim shape of the 80 GB version from last year. More storage, a hundred dollars less, and just as small. That is progress despite calls from others that the classic isn't exciting. It still serves its purpose as the original iPod idea. Big capacity in a simple to use device.

Next, the software has been slightly updated on the iPod Classic. It now includes Genius, like iTunes and the other new iPods. This allows you, when on a song you enjoy, to select the genius feature. The iPod will then compile a list of songs (playlist), which goes together with the original song you were listening to. This helps you rediscover music in your library, with a playlist to fit your mood at the time. I have been using the genius feature for a few days now, and it is impressive the way it compiles these playlists. I was skeptical, but overall, it does a good job. Furthermore, as another review mentioned, the iPod does seem more responsive with this update from what I saw at the store compared to my original 160 GB iPod Classic. Some speculation has been that the older iPod Classics will receive the software update of this new one, but I'm not holding my breath on that.

Overall, the original iPod concept was so good, and that is why the iPod Classic is still a solid choice for a music and media player. It will hold thousands and thousands of songs (up to 30,000 according to Apple at 128 bitrate). I also backup some important files to my iPod Classic, in disk mode, so that I have that additional extra copy of my most vital files. When you have such a large iPod, you can do that. It shouldn't be forgotten either that while the display of the iPod Classic isn't as good as the iPod Touch or iPhone, it is still quite good and you can play music videos, TV shows, and movies purchased on the iTunes Store.

Battery life for this new 120 GB model improved over the 80GB model from last year. Apple now estimates it at 36 hours audio and 6 hours video.

I'd recommend the iPod Classic without hesitation, to those who have more than 8 or 16 GBs of music in their iTunes library and want to carry their entire collection. Furthermore, if you have videos and video podcasts you want to always carry with you, again, you can't beat the storage. I have the lower capacity flash devices as well, but the big hard drive based iPod Classic continues to play an important role in my iPod Collection.

Review by Andrew A. Burnett:

I am a big tech nerd, and although I am a little disappointed that apple will be paying less attention to the classic ipod I bought one, and I really enjoy It!

I previously had a 30GB Video Ipod and It lasted me about 3 years. Its being repaired for a new battery now, but I figured I would upgrade since my library had grown.

Not much has changed to these new ones, except the interface a little. I love genius and I am stoked that it was worked into the functionality. It remains about the same size as my 5th generation? video and so still fits my old rubber case (which is nice).

Probably the best thing about it is, doing a comparison between my roommates 30GB ipod video and this one, I find that the audio quality on this one has improved quite a bit. I don't know if its the connectors or maybe a d-a converter, but it definitely sounds better. I am a recording engineer so I might be a little more apt to hear it, but its cool.

Overall I am stoked about my new ipod. Its a great device! I will be sad to see apple move on to more of a multi-tool type device, but that doesn't sway my review on this one. Enjoy!

Review by Nancy J. Melito:

My suspicion on reading the description was that product quality must be low to provide that many items for the price. I went ahead and took the gamble anyway, and I'm happy to report my instinct was wrong. The items are as described and I'm very pleased. I needed a case and a portable charging option. I now have much more.

Review by Remigio Moncayo:

All the items arrived in great condition and the quality is very good, also, their customer service rocks!, I totally recommend this product.

Review by Jersey Girl:

**Before you read some of the negative reviews, please consider this was BEFORE the new firmware update 1.0.3 came out so unfortunately they had unresponsive clickwheels, itunes messing up etc. Also some people simply did NOT upgrade their firmware for whatever reason but A LOT of those problems have been fixed with the new firmware so UPGRADE YOUR FIRMWARE AS SOON AS YOU GET YOUR IPOD! It will make a BIG difference!**

Ok, on to the review..I just got my 80 gb ipod classic recently with a 3 year extended service plan, immediately got itunes version 7.5 and upgraded the firmware immediately to 1.0.3 which seems to have taken care of A LOT of bugs people have been reporting. It must have because I am not getting ANY of the problems other have reported such as laggy clickwheel, itunes freezing etc. The clickwheel is VERY responsive, only a light touch is needed and scrolling through cover art was very quick! No problems whatsoever with the clickwheel. I also have had no problems copying files to itunes and transferring them to my ipod. The ipod itself is a thing of beauty, love the non scratchable surface but the back of the ipod is where you can see all the fingerprints etc so get a good cover for it. The slimness of it is very sleek and heck this ipod just looks cool. I got the ipod up and running in no time after I transferred my music over. Love the search feature as well. There is a lot of features, settings and extra's. Heck I even like the clock.

PLEASE NOTE:TURN OFF & DON'T use the EQ (equalizer setting)if you want normal distortion free sound. I was using the EQ and wondered why a lot of my songs had distortion. I thought it was due to the bad sound everyone was talking about until I turned OFF the EQ. Upon turning the EQ off, the distortion vanished completely, the sound was just fine, pretty good in fact. It's a shame that you have to turn off the EQ settings to get good sound. Hopefully Apple will fix this with a firmware update.

I almost got one of the itouch ipods but the very limited space is what kept me from doing so. 80 gb is plenty of space for my music, a bit of videos etc. It might not have wifi or a touch screen but it's got tons of space for my music and that's what counts! I love my ipod classic, can't find much to be picky about except for the sound when EQ is enabled. It does exactly what it's supposed to, is easy to navigate, videos look crisp/great on it and most of all it holds a crapload of music. Just remember to upgrade your firmware to the newest version, disable EQ and invest in a good pair of headphones. One of the best things about the ipod classic is that because it has so much space, I don't have to worry about how many mp3's I put on it. I've never downloaded so many mp3's in my life! I literally put my entire collection of mp3's on it and still have tons of space left. Overall, I rate the ipod classic 80 gb (black)...absolutely superb.

Review by Nse Ette:

Ok guys, I just picked up my silver iPod classic 160gb from the Apple store on Regent Street in London so I can give an actual review on it.

I've had an 80GB video iPod for a year and it's already full, so I was really hoping Apple would make an iPod big enough for me. Presently I've got 110GB (and counting) of music, so this iPod is for people like me who have a large music collection, and who like to be able to take it anyplace.

The 160GB iPod is the same size as the 80gb, but costs less than the 80GB did when it first came out.

With a brushed aluminium front finish (similar to the 2 and 3G Nanos), it should be less prone to scratching, though the back is the same smudge magnet, and I don't know how resilient the screen is. The front is curvier than that of the last 2 video iPods, with the screen slightly depressed from the rest of the casing.

Additional features are extra long battery life (40 hours for music, 7 hours for video; I've tested this and playing music non stop without much fast forwarding, etc, it's about right), and cover flow (a fun way of scrolling through for music using album cover art, though it is a bit sluggish).

The new split-screen interface lists functions to the left half of the screen, and symbols (or previews of content such as cover art, videos or photos shown as a slide show) to the right as you scroll through the functions. Neat!!

During music playback, after being idle for about 80 seconds, the screen goes gray and displays a clock, and battery power. Viewing tracks in an album also gives you, at a glance, the track times. Same for video. A nice touch. To my hearing, the sound quality (without equalizers, mind you) is improved; more bass and a bit more treble. The iPod turns off in about 2 seconds, much faster than previous models.

It's still got the other regular features; album track lyrics (new, nicer text font, and it also shows the album art), can play video and games, store photos, contacts, calendar, notes, stopwatch, and screen lock (which allows you to lock the screen with a password), and it can be used as an external hard drive. It shows up in windows explorer as an external drive. The search feature allowing one to type in album/song/artist titles (introduced in the last video iPod) is still there, but relocated to the "music" menu. I didn't spot it at first. In fact, the menu has been reshuffled to make it better, and (under settings) one can now view number of songs, videos, photos, etc graphically just like in iTunes.

If you need loads of space for your music collection, you can't go wrong getting this. Judging from the crowds in the store, Apple's got another hit here. Now if only the iPod touch had this much memory...

Review by Deanokat:

My son just turned 18 and we got him an 80GB iPod for his birthday. We gave him an eVo4 iSkin case with it, but that thing was a piece of junk. It took forever to get it on. And after it was on, the iPod looked like an alien being from another planet. And my son couldn't dock the iPod in his Luna clock radio while it was in the iSkin case. So we searched around for another case. We wanted something that would protect the iPod from every day wear and tear without going overboard. The DLO HipCase is the perfect solution (at about 1/2 the price!). The iPod fits snugly within this nice leather case. Nice and soft inside. The fold open/fold down flap has a magnetic closure to keep it secure. Easy access to the click wheel, charging port, hold button, and headphone jack. And at night when my son wants to dock the iPod in his clock radio, he can just slip it out of its case. I think the iSkin case would've required a jackhammer to get it out every night. Aside from being very functional, this case also hits a home run in two other areas: 1.) It's very stylish. Very simple design, nice leather, nice belt clip. And 2.) It's very reasonably priced. If I didn't know how much I paid for it, after having seen the case in person and held it, I would've guessed it cost two or even three times more than it did. The DLO HipCase Leather Folio is the perfect companion to the iPod Classic. A classic looking case for a Classic iPod.

Review by J. Marren:

This is the best case I've ever had for an IPod. The fit for the classic is perfect. The quality is far better than the price would suggest. I hate having plastic over the screen--here the flip protects the screen. It would be nice if the belt clip were removable but I don't care all that much. For an adult, this is a sleek stylish case at a great price. Highly recommended.

Review by Stephen Hall:

The updated iPod Classic was probably the least exciting of the new iPods announced in the September 2008 update, but that does not mean it should be dismissed.

I own the 160 GB iPod Classic that has now been discontinued, but there are few differences (perhaps the biggest being the much slimmer shape of this 120 model), and I did get to check this updated 120 GB version out at the store, when picking up the new nano and touch.

Firstly, the 120 GB version is again smaller than the largest capacity available last year, but it is a single platter hard drive, which allows it to maintain the slim shape of the 80 GB version from last year. More storage, a hundred dollars less, and just as small. That is progress despite calls from others that the classic isn't exciting. It still serves its purpose as the original iPod idea. Big capacity in a simple to use device.

Next, the software has been slightly updated on the iPod Classic. It now includes Genius, like iTunes and the other new iPods. This allows you, when on a song you enjoy, to select the genius feature. The iPod will then compile a list of songs (playlist), which goes together with the original song you were listening to. This helps you rediscover music in your library, with a playlist to fit your mood at the time. I have been using the genius feature for a few days now, and it is impressive the way it compiles these playlists. I was skeptical, but overall, it does a good job. Furthermore, as another review mentioned, the iPod does seem more responsive with this update from what I saw at the store compared to my original 160 GB iPod Classic. Some speculation has been that the older iPod Classics will receive the software update of this new one, but I'm not holding my breath on that.

Overall, the original iPod concept was so good, and that is why the iPod Classic is still a solid choice for a music and media player. It will hold thousands and thousands of songs (up to 30,000 according to Apple at 128 bitrate). I also backup some important files to my iPod Classic, in disk mode, so that I have that additional extra copy of my most vital files. When you have such a large iPod, you can do that. It shouldn't be forgotten either that while the display of the iPod Classic isn't as good as the iPod Touch or iPhone, it is still quite good and you can play music videos, TV shows, and movies purchased on the iTunes Store.

Battery life for this new 120 GB model improved over the 80GB model from last year. Apple now estimates it at 36 hours audio and 6 hours video.

I'd recommend the iPod Classic without hesitation, to those who have more than 8 or 16 GBs of music in their iTunes library and want to carry their entire collection. Furthermore, if you have videos and video podcasts you want to always carry with you, again, you can't beat the storage. I have the lower capacity flash devices as well, but the big hard drive based iPod Classic continues to play an important role in my iPod Collection.

Review by Andrew A. Burnett:

I am a big tech nerd, and although I am a little disappointed that apple will be paying less attention to the classic ipod I bought one, and I really enjoy It!

I previously had a 30GB Video Ipod and It lasted me about 3 years. Its being repaired for a new battery now, but I figured I would upgrade since my library had grown.

Not much has changed to these new ones, except the interface a little. I love genius and I am stoked that it was worked into the functionality. It remains about the same size as my 5th generation? video and so still fits my old rubber case (which is nice).

Probably the best thing about it is, doing a comparison between my roommates 30GB ipod video and this one, I find that the audio quality on this one has improved quite a bit. I don't know if its the connectors or maybe a d-a converter, but it definitely sounds better. I am a recording engineer so I might be a little more apt to hear it, but its cool.

Overall I am stoked about my new ipod. Its a great device! I will be sad to see apple move on to more of a multi-tool type device, but that doesn't sway my review on this one. Enjoy!

Review by Jersey Girl:

**Before you read some of the negative reviews, please consider this was BEFORE the new firmware update 1.0.3 came out so unfortunately they had unresponsive clickwheels, itunes messing up etc. Also some people simply did NOT upgrade their firmware for whatever reason but A LOT of those problems have been fixed with the new firmware so UPGRADE YOUR FIRMWARE AS SOON AS YOU GET YOUR IPOD! It will make a BIG difference!**

Ok, on to the review..I just got my 80 gb ipod classic recently with a 3 year extended service plan, immediately got itunes version 7.5 and upgraded the firmware immediately to 1.0.3 which seems to have taken care of A LOT of bugs people have been reporting. It must have because I am not getting ANY of the problems other have reported such as laggy clickwheel, itunes freezing etc. The clickwheel is VERY responsive, only a light touch is needed and scrolling through cover art was very quick! No problems whatsoever with the clickwheel. I also have had no problems copying files to itunes and transferring them to my ipod. The ipod itself is a thing of beauty, love the non scratchable surface but the back of the ipod is where you can see all the fingerprints etc so get a good cover for it. The slimness of it is very sleek and heck this ipod just looks cool. I got the ipod up and running in no time after I transferred my music over. Love the search feature as well. There is a lot of features, settings and extra's. Heck I even like the clock.

PLEASE NOTE:TURN OFF & DON'T use the EQ (equalizer setting)if you want normal distortion free sound. I was using the EQ and wondered why a lot of my songs had distortion. I thought it was due to the bad sound everyone was talking about until I turned OFF the EQ. Upon turning the EQ off, the distortion vanished completely, the sound was just fine, pretty good in fact. It's a shame that you have to turn off the EQ settings to get good sound. Hopefully Apple will fix this with a firmware update.

I almost got one of the itouch ipods but the very limited space is what kept me from doing so. 80 gb is plenty of space for my music, a bit of videos etc. It might not have wifi or a touch screen but it's got tons of space for my music and that's what counts! I love my ipod classic, can't find much to be picky about except for the sound when EQ is enabled. It does exactly what it's supposed to, is easy to navigate, videos look crisp/great on it and most of all it holds a crapload of music. Just remember to upgrade your firmware to the newest version, disable EQ and invest in a good pair of headphones. One of the best things about the ipod classic is that because it has so much space, I don't have to worry about how many mp3's I put on it. I've never downloaded so many mp3's in my life! I literally put my entire collection of mp3's on it and still have tons of space left. Overall, I rate the ipod classic 80 gb (black)...absolutely superb.

Review by Nse Ette:

Ok guys, I just picked up my silver iPod classic 160gb from the Apple store on Regent Street in London so I can give an actual review on it.

I've had an 80GB video iPod for a year and it's already full, so I was really hoping Apple would make an iPod big enough for me. Presently I've got 110GB (and counting) of music, so this iPod is for people like me who have a large music collection, and who like to be able to take it anyplace.

The 160GB iPod is the same size as the 80gb, but costs less than the 80GB did when it first came out.

With a brushed aluminium front finish (similar to the 2 and 3G Nanos), it should be less prone to scratching, though the back is the same smudge magnet, and I don't know how resilient the screen is. The front is curvier than that of the last 2 video iPods, with the screen slightly depressed from the rest of the casing.

Additional features are extra long battery life (40 hours for music, 7 hours for video; I've tested this and playing music non stop without much fast forwarding, etc, it's about right), and cover flow (a fun way of scrolling through for music using album cover art, though it is a bit sluggish).

The new split-screen interface lists functions to the left half of the screen, and symbols (or previews of content such as cover art, videos or photos shown as a slide show) to the right as you scroll through the functions. Neat!!

During music playback, after being idle for about 80 seconds, the screen goes gray and displays a clock, and battery power. Viewing tracks in an album also gives you, at a glance, the track times. Same for video. A nice touch. To my hearing, the sound quality (without equalizers, mind you) is improved; more bass and a bit more treble. The iPod turns off in about 2 seconds, much faster than previous models.

It's still got the other regular features; album track lyrics (new, nicer text font, and it also shows the album art), can play video and games, store photos, contacts, calendar, notes, stopwatch, and screen lock (which allows you to lock the screen with a password), and it can be used as an external hard drive. It shows up in windows explorer as an external drive. The search feature allowing one to type in album/song/artist titles (introduced in the last video iPod) is still there, but relocated to the "music" menu. I didn't spot it at first. In fact, the menu has been reshuffled to make it better, and (under settings) one can now view number of songs, videos, photos, etc graphically just like in iTunes.

If you need loads of space for your music collection, you can't go wrong getting this. Judging from the crowds in the store, Apple's got another hit here. Now if only the iPod touch had this much memory...

Review by Alex:

NOTICE: This review is for the NEW 2009 160GB iPod Classic, NOT the 2007 160GB iPod Classic!

The new 160GB iPod Classic is easily Apple Inc.'s best iPod to date, and out of all of the iPods that I own, this is my favorite.

First, the capacity of this iPod is simply unbeatable. I've yet to see another portable media player that can match the iPod Classic in capacity. I have a huge music library, and it's nice to be able to carry every song that I own on my person at all times. What's more, thanks to the iPod Classic's capacity, I also have room to carry a few videos with me, and some of my photos. If you don't like having to pick which songs to load onto your portable media player, the iPod Classic is the way to go.

The second thing that I love about this iPod can be summed up in two words: it works. The 160GB iPod Classic that was introduced in 2007 was extremely buggy, had a non-responsive Clickwheel on many units, crashed frequently, and required a hit-and-miss firmware update to stop the hard drive from spinning even when the device was "off," which often lead to dead batteries. All of these problems left the 2007 160GB iPod Classic warming shelves and earning it the infamous "honor" of being the "worst selling iPod ever," according to Apple. I'm pleased to say that the new 160GB iPod Classic released earlier this month has virtually none of these problems. There's no "spinning hard drive bug," the Clickwheel is incredibly responsive, and the device isn't crash-prone. While it's true that many of these issues were fixed with last year's iPod Classic, there hasn't been a truly functional 160GB model until now. To put it bluntly, this is the iPod that Apple should've released in 2007.

Another thing that I really like about this iPod, and the iPod Classic in general, is it's ability to double as an external hard drive. While I believe that the iPod Nano is also capable of this, the only iPod that really has enough space to function as an external hard drive is the iPod Classic. The hard drive functionality admittedly reduces the number of devices I have to carry on me at any given time. If you regularly work with large files and are considering a new iPod, the iPod Classic is the way to go, plain and simple.

So what are the caveats? Well for starters, as with every other iPod Classic, this is a hard-drive (rather than flash-memory) based device. As a result, it has moving parts which make it unsuitable for running or any physical activity that exerts mechanical shock onto the iPod. Unless you exercise constantly with your iPod though, this really shouldn't be an issue. The only other caveat, which is more of personal taste than an actual flaw, that I can find, is that Apple has not made any cosmetic changes to this device since they introduced it in 2007. Now don't get me wrong, the point of an iPod "Classic," is to retain the "Classic" design, but after seeing how much better a black Clickwheel looks on the silver iPod Nano, I'd have thought that Apple would have given the silver iPod Classic a black Clickwheel as well. However, I admit that this is entirely my personal preference and not a "flaw" per se. I've put a quick list of pros and cons together, which can be seen below:

Pros: Largest iPod Capacity-wise, long battery life, "Genius" feature, excellent value for your money, well-built, doubles as an external hard drive, and improvements to Cover Flow.

Cons: Hard Drive (rather than Flash memory) based storage medium; device is cosmetically identical to the 2007 80GB model. (I still don't understand why Apple hasn't colored the Clickwheel black on the silver model to match the iPod Nano.)

Finally, I would highly recommend this product, which is why it gets five stars from me. I don't like the iPod Nano; it's too small for my hands, and the screen is too small for my eyes. While the iPod Touch may have app store access and Wi-Fi, I find it to be a really gimmicky device, that makes for a poor portable media player, (Apple was wise to position it as a handheld game system,) and is really an "iPhone without a phone." In contrast, the iPod Classic is an excellent portable media player, it has an excellent interface, and it only costs 9 dollars. To put things in perspective, the 2009 160GB iPod Classic costs dollars more than a 16GB iPod Nano, and 0 dollars less than a 64GB iPod Touch. All in all, I highly recommend this product.

Review by Matthew Mitchell:

I am quite new to the portable mp3 world, although I have about 250 gb of music on my computer. The only mp3 player I own is a 1 gb Samsung Pebble, which I use at the gym. This was the only mp3 player I thought I needed since both of the stereos in my vehicles have mp3 disc players. But then I started thinking...since my new Camry has an auxilary jack to hook up an mp3 device, wouldn't it be great to have one and get rid of those giant cd wallets?! The first task was to get permission from my wife to spend 250 bucks. After a little hesitation, she agreed. And then it was on to the research. Since I have such a large collection of music, the capacity of the device was number one on my list (as well as positive reviews & quality). I was pleasantly surprised to see that Apple had reissued the Classic in 160 gb form instead of the 120 gb. So after much personal debate between the Zune and the new 160 gb iPod Classic, the iPod won out.

Although the iPod is a fantastic little device with a large capacity, the software is not without its troubles. I downloaded the most current version of iTunes (verison 9) and immediately began importing my mp3 files from my hard drive. This process can take some time, but not much longer than any other media player. I was so excited to finally have the majority of my music all on one device; and have the cover art as well (I just think that is awesome)! After loading a large chunk of my files into iTunes, I noticed that only a handful of the albums had the cover art. I attempted using the "get cover art" function, but it didn't work. My only option was to track down the cover art online, right click, save, and then add the picture to the album file in iTunes. I know that it's not such a huge deal, but when you're dealing with A LOT of music, it can become quite a pain & time consuming. I later learned that the files have to be spelled exactly like they are in iTunes. And if they didn't come from iTunes in the first place, 9 times out of 10, the album art won't come up anyway. I would like to see a function that gets the cover art from other online sources, not just iTunes; and without a strict spelling criteria. There's no reason that the way I name my "The" bands should restrict the retrieval of cover art. An example being "Animals, The" instead of "The Animals."

So other than the minor annoyance with the cover art, the player itself is fantastic. I found the interface very user-friendly and intuitive, without much of a learning curve. Again, I am new to the world of iPod, but I can honestly say that I am very pleased. I wanted to write a review for people that have a large digital music collection that came mostly from ripping cd's to their computers. I am one of the people who still enjoy listening to an entire album, and is not satisfied by just downloading the single, so I still buy physical cd's & collect vinyl. I would definitely recommend the 160 gb iPod to any music fan with a large collection. Just remember to be patient when getting the artwork for all of those older albums. If you don't have a collection full of Taylor Swift, the Jonas Brothers, or Beyonce, iTunes just may not recognize your music!

Review by Jersey Girl:

**Before you read some of the negative reviews, please consider this was BEFORE the new firmware update 1.0.3 came out so unfortunately they had unresponsive clickwheels, itunes messing up etc. Also some people simply did NOT upgrade their firmware for whatever reason but A LOT of those problems have been fixed with the new firmware so UPGRADE YOUR FIRMWARE AS SOON AS YOU GET YOUR IPOD! It will make a BIG difference!**

Ok, on to the review..I just got my 80 gb ipod classic recently with a 3 year extended service plan, immediately got itunes version 7.5 and upgraded the firmware immediately to 1.0.3 which seems to have taken care of A LOT of bugs people have been reporting. It must have because I am not getting ANY of the problems other have reported such as laggy clickwheel, itunes freezing etc. The clickwheel is VERY responsive, only a light touch is needed and scrolling through cover art was very quick! No problems whatsoever with the clickwheel. I also have had no problems copying files to itunes and transferring them to my ipod. The ipod itself is a thing of beauty, love the non scratchable surface but the back of the ipod is where you can see all the fingerprints etc so get a good cover for it. The slimness of it is very sleek and heck this ipod just looks cool. I got the ipod up and running in no time after I transferred my music over. Love the search feature as well. There is a lot of features, settings and extra's. Heck I even like the clock.

PLEASE NOTE:TURN OFF & DON'T use the EQ (equalizer setting)if you want normal distortion free sound. I was using the EQ and wondered why a lot of my songs had distortion. I thought it was due to the bad sound everyone was talking about until I turned OFF the EQ. Upon turning the EQ off, the distortion vanished completely, the sound was just fine, pretty good in fact. It's a shame that you have to turn off the EQ settings to get good sound. Hopefully Apple will fix this with a firmware update.

I almost got one of the itouch ipods but the very limited space is what kept me from doing so. 80 gb is plenty of space for my music, a bit of videos etc. It might not have wifi or a touch screen but it's got tons of space for my music and that's what counts! I love my ipod classic, can't find much to be picky about except for the sound when EQ is enabled. It does exactly what it's supposed to, is easy to navigate, videos look crisp/great on it and most of all it holds a crapload of music. Just remember to upgrade your firmware to the newest version, disable EQ and invest in a good pair of headphones. One of the best things about the ipod classic is that because it has so much space, I don't have to worry about how many mp3's I put on it. I've never downloaded so many mp3's in my life! I literally put my entire collection of mp3's on it and still have tons of space left. Overall, I rate the ipod classic 80 gb (black)...absolutely superb.

Review by Nse Ette:

Ok guys, I just picked up my silver iPod classic 160gb from the Apple store on Regent Street in London so I can give an actual review on it.

I've had an 80GB video iPod for a year and it's already full, so I was really hoping Apple would make an iPod big enough for me. Presently I've got 110GB (and counting) of music, so this iPod is for people like me who have a large music collection, and who like to be able to take it anyplace.

The 160GB iPod is the same size as the 80gb, but costs less than the 80GB did when it first came out.

With a brushed aluminium front finish (similar to the 2 and 3G Nanos), it should be less prone to scratching, though the back is the same smudge magnet, and I don't know how resilient the screen is. The front is curvier than that of the last 2 video iPods, with the screen slightly depressed from the rest of the casing.

Additional features are extra long battery life (40 hours for music, 7 hours for video; I've tested this and playing music non stop without much fast forwarding, etc, it's about right), and cover flow (a fun way of scrolling through for music using album cover art, though it is a bit sluggish).

The new split-screen interface lists functions to the left half of the screen, and symbols (or previews of content such as cover art, videos or photos shown as a slide show) to the right as you scroll through the functions. Neat!!

During music playback, after being idle for about 80 seconds, the screen goes gray and displays a clock, and battery power. Viewing tracks in an album also gives you, at a glance, the track times. Same for video. A nice touch. To my hearing, the sound quality (without equalizers, mind you) is improved; more bass and a bit more treble. The iPod turns off in about 2 seconds, much faster than previous models.

It's still got the other regular features; album track lyrics (new, nicer text font, and it also shows the album art), can play video and games, store photos, contacts, calendar, notes, stopwatch, and screen lock (which allows you to lock the screen with a password), and it can be used as an external hard drive. It shows up in windows explorer as an external drive. The search feature allowing one to type in album/song/artist titles (introduced in the last video iPod) is still there, but relocated to the "music" menu. I didn't spot it at first. In fact, the menu has been reshuffled to make it better, and (under settings) one can now view number of songs, videos, photos, etc graphically just like in iTunes.

If you need loads of space for your music collection, you can't go wrong getting this. Judging from the crowds in the store, Apple's got another hit here. Now if only the iPod touch had this much memory...

Review by Deanokat:

My son just turned 18 and we got him an 80GB iPod for his birthday. We gave him an eVo4 iSkin case with it, but that thing was a piece of junk. It took forever to get it on. And after it was on, the iPod looked like an alien being from another planet. And my son couldn't dock the iPod in his Luna clock radio while it was in the iSkin case. So we searched around for another case. We wanted something that would protect the iPod from every day wear and tear without going overboard. The DLO HipCase is the perfect solution (at about 1/2 the price!). The iPod fits snugly within this nice leather case. Nice and soft inside. The fold open/fold down flap has a magnetic closure to keep it secure. Easy access to the click wheel, charging port, hold button, and headphone jack. And at night when my son wants to dock the iPod in his clock radio, he can just slip it out of its case. I think the iSkin case would've required a jackhammer to get it out every night. Aside from being very functional, this case also hits a home run in two other areas: 1.) It's very stylish. Very simple design, nice leather, nice belt clip. And 2.) It's very reasonably priced. If I didn't know how much I paid for it, after having seen the case in person and held it, I would've guessed it cost two or even three times more than it did. The DLO HipCase Leather Folio is the perfect companion to the iPod Classic. A classic looking case for a Classic iPod.

Review by J. Marren:

This is the best case I've ever had for an IPod. The fit for the classic is perfect. The quality is far better than the price would suggest. I hate having plastic over the screen--here the flip protects the screen. It would be nice if the belt clip were removable but I don't care all that much. For an adult, this is a sleek stylish case at a great price. Highly recommended.

Review by Mark Dawson:

My first disappointment: it is designed for both the 80GB and 160GB iPod Classic. This means if you have an 80GB like me, you have to use a thick rubber spacer behind it (included with the product), and therefore the case takes up just as much space as if you had the larger iPod.

Also, the rubber at the top of the screen is very thin and flexible, and it very easily pulls away from the screen protector. I would think there should be a larger lip on screen protector to keep the rubber in place. I expect over time that the rubber will stretch and cause a problem, but maybe not.

Aside from those points, it's a great thing. Rugged, nice to hold, feels like it will protect the iPod from a lot of shocks and bumps. It won't slide off your lap easily (although it won't slide into pockets easily either).

Review by Philip M. Koch:

The best case I've seen so far, great impact resistance and the texture makes it far easier to grip without the stickiness of some other soft cases. The belt clip rotates freely, unlike most cellphone clips it has no ratcheting mechanism.

Review by Joel L. Benavides:

I don't know what other people were looking for in an Ipod case, but I am of the opinion that simpler is better.

This little case was just what I was looking for in a lightweight and durable armband Ipod holder. I am a big jogger and hiker and I was looking for something that I could strap on and forget about. This little case gets the job done.

It is extremely lightweight, and the adjustable arm strap can fit huge arms as well as smaller arms. When comparing it to the more "bulky" armbands I have used in the past I notice the armband doesn't get as HOT (or sweaty) as other arm bands.

In my opinion its a great small and inexpensive option to the more expensive brands out there. While I don't suppose it would stand up to any "torture tests" (i.e., don't expect it to protect your iPod from a 2 story fall) I would recommend it to anyone who needs a no fuss moderately priced protective sleeve, and highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a lightweight armband for running/working out.

Review by Eric S. Olstad:

People seem to be very critical of these armbands. I did quite a bit of research with product reviews both professional and amateur before finally deciding to purchase this product for my wife for her to use with her iPod classic 80GB at the gym.

The Action Jacket accomplishes everything that was required -- to hold the ipod while working out, allow access to easily control the ipod and also allow to be plugged into a dock connector without removal from the case. The additional requirements were that it was to be comfortable and last a reasonable amount of time.

The iPod is easily placed-into and removed from the action jacket. It's secured by a simple velcro tag at the top. As a sign of good design, the soft part of the velcro is the part that touches the skin, so you don't have to worry about chaffing when running on the treadmill or something like that.

In addition, the bottom of the jacket has a reinforced opening for the ipod dock connector. It may require some finger nails to get at the buttons on the dock connector when removing it, however. But it's hardly an issue.

The jacket secures itself in one of two ways -- an elastic strap that runs through nylon "buckles" on the back of the jacket which secures via velcro to your arm (one size fits all) or a plastic belt clip that secures via a plastic nubbin on the back of the jacket. To use the belt clip, you have to remove the elastic strap as it covers the plastic nubbin which the clip attaches to. The strap-covered-nubbin is actually an important thing as well, as it protects your arm from the nubbin itself when using the elastic strap.

The jacket itself allows you to easily access the iPod control wheel. It's an open hole so there's no need to worry about that. I'm not sure what other reviewers are talking about a piece of plastic. There is no plastic there (maybe on an older version). If there was, you could easily remove it with a pair of scissors.

That's about it. If you're looking for something to provide protection for your iPod, this may not be the optimal solution though there is a decent amount of padding in the jacket.

People seem to expect too much when it comes to these jackets. I find the Action Jacket meets all expectations.

Review by Tiklsme:

I am very pleased with this purchase of the leather case for my ipod. It protects the screen like I wanted and fits snugly around the ipod. I was concerned that it might keep coming off but I carry it around in my bag and have not had it come off, infact I have to make a concerted effort to remove it when I want to take it off.

I would definitely recommend this product.

Review by MFlat:

Reminds me a lot of my custom Vaja Designs case which I paid big bucks for. The dock connector is well exposed at the bottom, which is bad if you want full coverage, but great if you need to attach numerous peripherals without taking the case off. Happy with this purchase!

Review by Stephen Hall:

The updated iPod Classic was probably the least exciting of the new iPods announced in the September 2008 update, but that does not mean it should be dismissed.

I own the 160 GB iPod Classic that has now been discontinued, but there are few differences (perhaps the biggest being the much slimmer shape of this 120 model), and I did get to check this updated 120 GB version out at the store, when picking up the new nano and touch.

Firstly, the 120 GB version is again smaller than the largest capacity available last year, but it is a single platter hard drive, which allows it to maintain the slim shape of the 80 GB version from last year. More storage, a hundred dollars less, and just as small. That is progress despite calls from others that the classic isn't exciting. It still serves its purpose as the original iPod idea. Big capacity in a simple to use device.

Next, the software has been slightly updated on the iPod Classic. It now includes Genius, like iTunes and the other new iPods. This allows you, when on a song you enjoy, to select the genius feature. The iPod will then compile a list of songs (playlist), which goes together with the original song you were listening to. This helps you rediscover music in your library, with a playlist to fit your mood at the time. I have been using the genius feature for a few days now, and it is impressive the way it compiles these playlists. I was skeptical, but overall, it does a good job. Furthermore, as another review mentioned, the iPod does seem more responsive with this update from what I saw at the store compared to my original 160 GB iPod Classic. Some speculation has been that the older iPod Classics will receive the software update of this new one, but I'm not holding my breath on that.

Overall, the original iPod concept was so good, and that is why the iPod Classic is still a solid choice for a music and media player. It will hold thousands and thousands of songs (up to 30,000 according to Apple at 128 bitrate). I also backup some important files to my iPod Classic, in disk mode, so that I have that additional extra copy of my most vital files. When you have such a large iPod, you can do that. It shouldn't be forgotten either that while the display of the iPod Classic isn't as good as the iPod Touch or iPhone, it is still quite good and you can play music videos, TV shows, and movies purchased on the iTunes Store.

Battery life for this new 120 GB model improved over the 80GB model from last year. Apple now estimates it at 36 hours audio and 6 hours video.

I'd recommend the iPod Classic without hesitation, to those who have more than 8 or 16 GBs of music in their iTunes library and want to carry their entire collection. Furthermore, if you have videos and video podcasts you want to always carry with you, again, you can't beat the storage. I have the lower capacity flash devices as well, but the big hard drive based iPod Classic continues to play an important role in my iPod Collection.

Review by Andrew A. Burnett:

I am a big tech nerd, and although I am a little disappointed that apple will be paying less attention to the classic ipod I bought one, and I really enjoy It!

I previously had a 30GB Video Ipod and It lasted me about 3 years. Its being repaired for a new battery now, but I figured I would upgrade since my library had grown.

Not much has changed to these new ones, except the interface a little. I love genius and I am stoked that it was worked into the functionality. It remains about the same size as my 5th generation? video and so still fits my old rubber case (which is nice).

Probably the best thing about it is, doing a comparison between my roommates 30GB ipod video and this one, I find that the audio quality on this one has improved quite a bit. I don't know if its the connectors or maybe a d-a converter, but it definitely sounds better. I am a recording engineer so I might be a little more apt to hear it, but its cool.

Overall I am stoked about my new ipod. Its a great device! I will be sad to see apple move on to more of a multi-tool type device, but that doesn't sway my review on this one. Enjoy!

Review by Venilla:

While the product does offer some impact protection for the ipod it does not go on very easily nor does it over any screen protection. It offers this as a case that allows for easy docking but I did not find it be be so. I found it a lot easier to remove the product from the ipod and then replace it. It tore alittle along the side with just a few times of having to remove it. I would recommend something else if you are frequently docking your ipod or there a chance your screen may be scratched.

Review by Tebo:

Since all iPod cases serve the same basic function I'll jst explaing the bad features of this one since it shares the same good features as every oother case. The rubber over the click wheel begins to streach after extended use causing it to ve less accurate after a while. Another probelm is ther is no form of screen protection. I liked this one to a point but quickly bought a replacement with screen protection.