December 22nd, 2007Review Of The Apple iPod Classic (160GB)
The iPod Classic is the latest refurbish of Apple’s iconic hard drive MP3 player, formerly recognized as the Video iPod or fifth-generation iPod. As Apple’s only remaining high-capacity MP3 player, the iPod Classic comes in both 80GB and 160GB versions, obtainable in black or silver.
 
Features
The iPod Classic has very few new features to talk about. Support for video and music playback, as well as photos, podcasts, and video games, are virtually unchanged.
The iPod Classic supports H.264 or MPEG-4 video in MOV, MP4, or M4V file formats, with a maximum resolution of 640×480 at as much as 30 frames per second. You can buy videos through the iTunes online store or import them into iTunes and convert them for playback. (Many third-party software video converters also do a great job converting videos for the iPod.) The Classic supports many of the video features we look for in portable video players. intended for instance, the Classic can recognize and skip sandwiched between the DVD-like chapter markers embedded in QuickTime movie files. It also does a dependable job automatically resume video playback at the point at which you last left off. Stopped up captioned subtitles can now be switched on and off for video files that hold up them.
The iPod Classic comes wrap up with a proprietary USB cable, a set of ear buds, and a universal dock fitting.
Looking past the obvious big-ticket improvements, the new Classic includes some small touches that are trouble-free to miss. Apple’s music shuffle function, for instance, has made a subtle evolution, now letting you easily slot in and disengage the shuffle function on the fly, with just a few clicks of the scroll wheel’s center button. By insertion the shuffle setting options (Shuffle Song, Shuffle Album, or Shuffle Off) in a song’s at the moment live window, Apple is productively giving you the ability to randomize songs until you find an artist you like–a lazy listener’s dream come true. We’re also happy to see that Apple has bundle three video games into both the iPod Classic and the Nano, giving us yet another way to stay distracted.
Apple’s audio file format support remains the same. Copy-protected AAC files purchased through iTunes are supported, of course, as well as MP3, Apple lossless, AIFF, WAV, and Audible files. We’re happy to see to despite the iPhone’s unique folder management requirements, the iPod Classic allows for physically adding and deleting music and videotape files without the hassle of playlist syncing. The Classic be able to also double because a USB hard drive in a pinch.
While the iPod Classic is a top-tier product, we long for some additional features, including the ability to use the headphone jack as a composite-video output, allowing photos and videos to be played to your television set without a third-party interface. While we can understand removing the little-used AV production characteristic to save on construction costs, we’re even more surprised that Apple has render all of the recently released iPods mismatched with a figure of third-party 5G video accessories as well. If you’re hoping to use a new Nano or Classic with an existing video dock, be sure to ensure that the artificial goods openly states it be compatible with the iPod Classic. Apple’s own Universal iPod Dock ($50) and part AV cable ($50) are guaranteed to work, of course.
Plus, there’s our standard list of long-neglected iPod features: FM radio, line-input recording, SD memory expansion, convention EQ, and native support for WMA and subscription music services. We’re not investment our mouthful of air.
 
Design
Cosmetically, the iPod Classic’s improvements over its predecessors are minor. An anodized-aluminum faceplate now replaces the glossy, all-plastic facade found on the previous generation. Overall thickness has also superior, with the 80GB iPod Classic now measuring 2.4×4.1x.41 inches–just a fraction of an inch thinner than the 30GB Video iPod we had in our lab. The screen, however, is still made from scratch-prone plastic (unlike the iPhone’s and iPod Touch’s), plus the chrome found on the back cover still begs for blotch.
The iPod Classic is nearly identical to the 30GB fifth-generation iPod (right). The iPod Nano (left) now split all iPod Classic’s ability, but in a much smaller format.
The Classic’s most impressive design step up is its dramatically overhauled menu system. One of the nearly everyone striking changes is a split-screen main menu that displays the selections on the right half of the screen and a depiction related to the selection on the left. For example, highlight the Music selection under the main menu, and the right half of the screen displays a random, drifting close-up of cover artwork from your music library. This same effect accompanies menu items such as movies, podcasts, and photos. Some might write off this split-screen effect as pure novelty, but the end result is quite beautiful. The Cover Flow schemes, for browsing your music collection with an emphasis on album artwork, finally make its Classic debut, although Cover Flow does lose some appeal when not on a touch-screen device such as the iPhone. We also found a clear amount of lag using Cover Flow. Users with large melody collections to sort through will prefer browsing using the list mode or search function. That thought, Cover Flow makes for a picturesque and engaging, if sluggish, way to browse your music.
 
Performance
Despite the major interface overhaul, the iPod Classic’s sound quality still sounds just middle-of-the-road. Although middling sound quality doesn’t seem to affect iPod sales, you’d think Apple would eventually address this long-standing complaint–if only out of pride. Users do get more than 20 equalization presets to choose among–ranging from subtle enhancement to dramatic bass boosting. Compared to products such as the Creative Zen V Plus, the Cowon iAudio 7, or the Toshiba Gigabeat U, however, the iPod’s sound excellence motionless leaves room for improvement. That said, after listening with our Ultras one HFI-700 headphones as well as a set of Sure SE310 earphones, we can say with confidence that the classic fidelity will surely satisfy most users.
The Cover Flow mode on the iPod Classic is a little slow, but it’s a beautiful touch.
Video playback was the most impressive aspect of the iPod Classic. While we were impressed by the crisp resolution of the iPod Nano’s smaller 2-inch screen, the 2.5-inch screen found on the iPod classic is easier on the eyes. Both players share the same 320×240 resolution and are capable playing files encoded on 640×480. By buy an additional component AV cable from Apple, it’s probable for users to output resolutions up to 480p (720×480) to a television.
Aside from the increased storage capacity and upgraded interface, the iPod Classic’s enhanced battery life is one of the better reasons to fork over your money. The 80GB Classic is rated at 30 hours of audio playback and 5 hours for video, while the 160GB version promises 40 hours of audio and 7 hours for video. While products such as the Archos 405 will deliver similar results for video playback, MP3 players capable of 30 to 40 hours of audio playback are a rare find. Check back soon for test results from our lab.
The iTunes factor
No iPod review would be complete mentioning Apple’s iTunes music software. For better or worse, the integration between an iPod and Apple’s iTunes music software is nearly airtight. If this is going to be your first iPod, it’s useful to download iTunes ahead of time to see if it works well on your computer and is natural for you to use. You should also be aware that most of the music and movie theater available for buy on top of the iTunes online store will play only in iTunes or on an authorized iPod and cannot be move to a non-Apple MP3 player.
As the ease of use of high-capacity hard drive MP3 players seems to be on the decline, we’re happy to see so as to Apple is ongoing to develop them. The iPod Classic doesn’t deliver the novelty of the iPod Nano or the iPod Touch, but it is immobile one of the best-designed high-capacity MP3 players on the marketplace.
