216 of 225 people found the following review helpful:
From an apple hater, I've been wrong all these years. Still hate apple but love the IPOD
Firstly I used to be an apple hater, have always used Archos and creative labs and been very happy with both. Still thought as I've never meet a person who regrets buying an Ipod that there might be something in these players..So I put my money where my doubts were.
Firstly, my biggest hate for the IPOD is Itunes, I rip my music and already had thousand of tracks...
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
Apple iPod classic
This product has driven me mad! Formatted for a Mac, it refused to format for a PC. Every time I connected it to the USB port, my PC died and had to be rebooted. I tried it on 3 different PCs and even took it into the Leeds Apple Store for help. I spent hours online trying to get support and help. It just would not download my music from my PC or cooperate in any way with...
Firstly I used to be an apple hater, have always used Archos and creative labs and been very happy with both. Still thought as I've never meet a person who regrets buying an Ipod that there might be something in these players..So I put my money where my doubts were.
Firstly, my biggest hate for the IPOD is Itunes, I rip my music and already had thousand of tracks and really don't want to have to give a credit card to Itunes so that I can start transferring my music but you have to.. Now other than that the actual player is excellent. Once I got my head around the fact that as a non Itune guy that you can not just drag and drop your track onto you Ipod.
The player is light and sturdy and the head phones even more lightweight- firstly ditch the enclosed headphones and invest in a decent set of phones.
The player is excellent in the controls and style. Although I don't think you want this for Video invest in an archos for your films.
The sound of my MP3s is impressive and full, with GOOD VOLUME.
Some reviewers have said that the volume is an issue.. No the Ipod is loud you can set the maximum volume in the setting but this isn't the actual playing volume just the upper limit!! - whenever the Ipod is turned on it will start to broadcast at half volume by default, this is fine as a quick spin on your finger on the control wheel will put the volume to a level that is load enough to share the tunes with the person trying to sit next to you in silence. It will then stay there as you continue to play with the player.
As for the colour comments, gun metal black is the new true black and that is what this one is very macho. The mat black also is very smudge resistant.
PROS.
-Lots of accessories
-Excellent controls,
-Itunes (if you want to buy or download podcasts)
-Screen and sound quality is excellent
-Nice gunmetal black
-Very good battery life
-Good volume once you realise you need to give a quick flick
-I like the way Ipod pauses if you unplug your headphone so you don't miss a drop.
CONS
-Itunes (no option to avoid if you want to just use windows explorer)
-No drag and drop on any PC only on Itunes at home
-Screen not really good enough for watching movies (maybe TV shows or Videocasts)
Conclussion, I love the Ipod classic but am lukewarm over Itunes. However, I'm buying into Ipod not Itunes (try media monkey software for an alternative).
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"Apple vs. all other vendors" banter aside... this is a brilliant piece of kit.
I was on the lookout for a jukebox player seeing as I made the transition from casual listening to complete and utter audiophilia. Consequently, I began to rip mp3s at a high bit rate 320kbps; enjoying the greater sound quality of the music (couldn't believe what I had been missing)... Sounds amazing through my system. This led to my library size increasing almost four-fold. So my little 8GB Creative ZEN (the credit card sized unit) was no longer of favour (that even couldn't fit everything I had in my library, albeit at smaller file sizes/bit rates as well!).
And then there's this little beauty.
It accomodates to my huge library. Plays music flawlessly. The album artwork/cover flow functions are gloriously displayed on a nice wide screen (however, instead of arranging covers by album, the iPod arranges them by artist... which, if there are quite a few tracks that you have which feature additional artists, this equals A LOT of the same cover). The screen also serves purpose for comfortable video/movie playback.
Of course there is that much documented problem about music "not sounding as good as" previous models, but to be quite honest - I notice little to no reduction in quality. EU Legislation dictates that volume limiters are now applied to protect you, the consumer, from doing damage to your beloved ear drums. So yes... it might not be as "loud" as a previous model, but be rest assured that there is definitely no reduction in "quality".
Your ears will thank you someday.
As it is a hard-drive based player... if you tend to delete a lot of music off and load a lot on frequently you can notice a reduction in menu speed; it's because the file system gets a tincy wincy bit cluttered - but that's just extra jargon.
To counteract this, you can restore the iPod to it's original state when purchased... or... defragment the iPod like you would your normal PC hard drive.
This keeps performance tip-top.
So overall... a great player... and in support of the other review stated here... the player is indeed NOT BLACK like the previous generation... it is like a CHARCOAL/OBSIDIAN TONE with a metallic sheen; nonetheless, it retains it's huge aesthetic appeal. Very pleasing to look at, hold, drool over etc. etc.
So all in all, I'd recommend this to anyone with a steadily increasing library, choc-full of high bitrate or lossless music.
Oh, and if you do decide to purchase it... for the love of whoever... don't drop the thing. It's pretty much 'game over' if you do (hard drive fragility and all that).
Downsides:-
- no FLAC support, again...
- hard drive vunerability.
- cover flow bloat (can be fixed with iTunes, but time-consuming).
- earphones, although outputting at the 2Hz -> 20,000Hz range STILL don't sound as good, recommended to replace them with an alternative.
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I have resisted the i-Pod todate because I do not like i-Tunes. So I have already mp3 players by others (a 40gb Creative Zen Touch - which only really works on mains after 3.5 years, a 32gb Zen for the car, an Archos 605 for video and internet). However, my music collection is too large for the Zens to cope with (The SD card expansion on the Creative Zen is not the answer because that does not integrate with the flash-drive's music library) and the Archos is simply not good enough at sound reproduction for music, in my opinion. So, against this background here is what I think:
1. You do not have to use i-Tunes. My media organiser of choice (after trying so many) is Media Jukebox and it had absolutely no problem recognising my new i-Pod and copying across my music library and cover art. (I should qualify this by saying that most of my music is ripped and what I do buy is in mp3 format from 7digital, so I have never used the one stop shop does it all "benefits" of i-Tunes).
2. The click-wheel navigation of the i-Pod is good for basic navigation but the Creative Zen system, I think, is actually a better method overall.
3. The screen display of the i-Pod is great and, to me, better than that on the Creative Zen. However, on neither will I be watching video, so we are only talking about cover art and navigation display here.
4. The headphones are rubbish (as were the ones with each of my previous players).
5. As others have noted, volume is limited but it goes loud enough for me with a pair of decent headphones.
6. It is very well built compared to all my other players.
7. Sound quality is very good, if not stunning. On direct comparison, I think my 32gb Creative Zen is better (a tighter bass and more openess), but both are really enjoyable to listen to.
8. I have bought a crystal case and wallet to help protect it from knocks, but be warned that cases for the 80gb and 160gb previous generation do not necessarily fit the new 120gb perfectly.
9. If you have a large music collection, and want a quality mp3 player, then this now represents excellent value for money. If the i-Pod is as well built and reliable as my Apple Macbook then it ought to keep me happy for some years.
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This is a great MP3/Video player with fantastic storage capacity but I would like to point out the new 120GB is not actually black - its more of a dark charcoal grey! I know as I already have a Classic 80GB which really is black, which is no big deal in many ways, although your nice black docking station/speakers will not actually match.
Having said that, the screen is fantastic, really clear and bright and although there are many 'experts' out there who say the sound quality is so-so, 'and not as good as my old IPod', I think it is fine and compares favorably with my ZEN Jukebox. It is really well made and finished, praise indeed from someone who resisted the IPod 'army' for some years - but the capacity and function of the Classic was difficult to resist when the ZEN packed in - and I'm happy with my choice.
However, if you want your music really loud the new IPod range will not provide - I don't have a problem with it but as many forums indicate the EU legislation to limit the volume is a problem for some.
I don't have any complaints about ITune software either, not the fastest but easy to use and neither do I have an ITune account. I rip or load my own mp3 files and get the covers for the coverflow system from Google or Wikipedia.
If you want an mp3 player which is a great design with huge storage capacity and good performance the IPod Black Classic 120GB is definitely recommended - just remember it is not actually black!
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As a long time Apple skeptic it was with furrowed brow that I approached the prospect of buying into this latest iteration of the iPod. I had been happily using an aged 20gb Archos gMini with no problems, and enjoying every minute.
But I was lured towards the iPOd by the spectacular low price/storage ratio. £179 for 120gb of mobile media storage. I desperately searched for a reason to hate this product even before I bought it. After a little googling I found references to dark mutterings about poor sound quality and the terrible burden that is iTunes.
The question of sound quality was quickly addressed by finding an iPod to listen to. I auditioned mine at John Lewis' and bought it on the spot. The sound was cleaner than the gMini by a long chalk, and the stereo separation through my own aged Shure E2C ear plugs was amazing. (Ditch the supplied buds, they suck like a black hole on steroids).
Installing iTunes via download was painless, but importing all of my media files and dealing with duplicates was a real pain. If you have files that don't have tags be prepared that you will not easily be able to find them. You cannot simply set up a directory structure like you can on other devices.
I downloaded a few podcasts and some very entertaining games (the best of which is Peggle, don't leave home without it!) iTunes seems to co-ordinate things well enough, even if it does have a bizarrely clunky and un-Appley interface.
The iPod unit itself is beautifully made, if such things matter to you. And the sleek pocket friendly design is practical too, with the metal shell providing a welcome degree of ruggedness. The screen is pretty robust too, and quite visible in anything but direct sunlight.
Your interaction with the iPod will depend on how you get on with the touch wheel driven interface. It's tricky to start with, but after a few hours of cursing you will get used to it. Other aspects of the design (such as cover flow) are simply eye candy and serve no immediately useful function. But they are very Appley.
Having lived with the sound for a couple of weeks now it turns out that there is a significant issue that Apple have let slip through the quality control net.
If you use the bass EQ settings to increase the bass you do get distortion on loud passages. Lots of music these days is maximised through a compression process during mastering. If the signal is already saturated by that means then boosting the output by adding bass in the EQ settings will cause distortion. It won't be apparent if the track is quiet, since there is plenty headroom, but if the track is a loud one you will hear distortion.
Thankfully, the default flat EQ is good enough for my ears, although ideally I would like just a tiny wee bit extra in the basement. It's a small compromise I'm prepared to make, but it could become a major issue for those who need to compensate for poor or unbalanced headphones.
Another minor annoyance is that the price does not include a charger or TV-out cable. All you get is the crappy ear buds and a flimsy and short USB cable. So, if you need to recharge away from the computer factor in the additional expense of a charger. (I got a nice white one in Woolies for £4).
At the price this is an unbeatable deal. Small issues surrounding the EQ settings don't detract from the listening experience, and the unit is fast, easy to use and will swallow most people's music collections with oodles of room left over for a few films or downloaded YouTube videos.
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I've been considering buying an MP3 player for a while and the range of functionality of the Ipod attracted my attention every time - as well as the large hard drive. However by the time I'd decided to buy the 160GB model had gone out and the new 120GB model had come into the market. No matter, 120GB is still a lot of memory and even after several years my 250GB computer hard drive is well under a quarter full, so I decided to go ahead.
It's a lovely piece of kit. The screen is very clear though it does take finger marks rather readily - you'll probably need a screen protector though I found that buying a case wasn't necessary.
Now as to volume - I should say that I'm already severely deaf and have to use rather unusual hearing aids with a special headphone plugged into them. I do have perfect pitch and found that I can actually hear the music very well though I have to adjust the volume every time I switch the machine on in order to suit whatever's playing. I'm a Classical music person and anything that's piano or less I have to turn the volume up - but as soon as you get forte, I have to turn it down! I did try plugging the Ipod into my aging Sony hi fi and it worked very well though didn't produce as much volume as the hi fi's speakers do. However the hi fi itself is starting to skip tracks so once the CD has gone I can still play things using the Hi fi system by plugging the Ipod into it! I really like the way you can use the Ipod for different things like that.
The only charger supplied is via the USB cable so if you want to take your Ipod where you don't have computer access for charging you'll need to buy a USB adaptor. These cost about £10 so it's not really a big deal but I'd happily have paid an extra £10 or so to have it included in the box.
So far I've had no problems with Itunes or with syncing the Ipod although the computer decided to "hang" as it booted up the other day - just after installing Itunes. This might be worth keeping an eye on as it's a Windows XP machine. I should add that the Ipod charged up very quickly and that the charge seems to last very well.
I haven't yet tried the games or videos, but I can say that the player produces excellent quality sound and has had everything from Stravinsky's Rite of Spring to Purcell's Nymphs and Shepherds and Schubert's Fantasy in F Minor for 2 pianos thrown at it!! From that point of view I can certainly recommend it.
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This product has driven me mad! Formatted for a Mac, it refused to format for a PC. Every time I connected it to the USB port, my PC died and had to be rebooted. I tried it on 3 different PCs and even took it into the Leeds Apple Store for help. I spent hours online trying to get support and help. It just would not download my music from my PC or cooperate in any way with my systems. It also needs Windows SP3 loaded on the PC: not everyone's favourite and problems of its own. Having persisted and tried for almost 4 weeks, I gave up and sent it back. Bitterly disappointed and very frustrated at having spent so long trying to get it to work.
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I bought this iPod to replace a broken 4GB nano which i also had too much music for. I was stuck between this model and a 16Gb new nano.In the end i decided on this for several reasons. Firstly it has a huge hard drive 120Gb will let you put pretty much everything you own there. I have 1800 songs, about 20 dvds and serveral other music videos and youtude downloads. It still has 88GBs left. Also it is better value for money than the nano. This costs abbout £20 more than a 16GB Nano and gives you just under 10x the storage space. If you want a iPod more as a functional item rather than a fashion accessory then buy one of these. Otherwise buy a nano they are also very good and well put together bits of kit as are all iPods. This is my 4th and i have played the hell out of every one and they still last for a long time.
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For those readers looking through these reviews to help decide whether or not to fork out £162 on this piece of equipment (as I did for weeks prior to taking the plunge) all I can say is go for it. This really is an impressive gadget. As other reviewers have said you really can carry your entire music collection around with you. The machine isn't perfect, the sound output level isn't high enough with most,but not all, discs. This problem can be addressed with a 'boostaroo' available on Amazon. Also if you take your music seriously then do yourself, and your treasured music collection, a favour by recording in a lossless format. There is no need to use the agressive compression of mp3 nowadays. I used mediamonkey (absolutely, totally recommended) to convert 140 cds in WAV form. Fantastic. I can still remember the days when we used to record from vinyl onto C60/90 cassettes.....
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The iPod Classic (120gb) was my first ever experience of mp3, prior to this I had countless cds around, in fact the passenger seat of my car was home to more than 200. So, much of my reluctance around getting an mp3 player was the fact I wanted to avoid starting my music collection again, particularly as my musical taste wasn't mainstream. Still showing the scars from replacing all of my video collection with dvd, I researced before buying.
I scowered reviews to see just how easy it was to copy my existing cds to my iPod, but most reviews were from people who were on their second or third mp3 player and saw no need to staight the obvious. For all in the same boat as me, a complete novice, I can say the experience could not have been easier. Simply downloading iTunes from the website meant any cd I entered into my laptop (I'm using Windows Vista) would automatically lead to a prompt with the option to copy the cd to my iTunes programme, this would take only a minute or two to copy, you then simply syncronise the iPod to your laptop and it's there.
In fact nothing about this little machine is complex, downloading music is fast, easy and relatively inexpensive, navigation is intuative and the more advanced features such as downloading track info or album artwork for your collection is done in seconds. All your music is organised for you and can be accessed by album, or by artist, etc.
Despite some reviewer's finding fault with the device I haven't found any. The sound quality compares to anything I have ever listen on, the screen is crystal clear and my early experience of watching downloaded movies are good. For such a compact mp3 (smaller, lighter and thinner than my Blackberry)the memory is immense, I have transferred across over 100 full cd albums and other bits and pieces and I am not even at 10% of the available memory. If you are simply wanting to play music I would recommend this above other iPods such as the 'Touch' or 'Nano' for precisely this reason. The battery life is also unbeatable, it chargers in an hour and last for 22 hours + when in use and can be onstandby for weeks at a time, I charge mine around once a week.
I was anxious, especially when we are talking about spending in excess of £150. But all things considered I would say it is among the best purchases I have made in years and I can't rate the Classic highly enough.
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