Electronics : New Apple iPod classic 80GB black

Rating: - I'll be honest, I'm only giving this 4 stars because not everybody is as fussy as me
I've had a fourth generation iPod for several years, and always found its sound quality to be excellent. Although the supplied headphones are, bluntly put, terrible. The detail and clarity brought out by a good pair of headphones like those made by Etymotic Research really makes the player shine - especially when the EU volume limit has been removed so you can really rock out (for like five minutes at a time, or else your ears blow up).

Which is where the problem starts.

I've used several pairs of headphones with my new iPod, and the better quality the headphones, the more faults are shown in the iPod Classics' reproduction. Using the same headphones, my iBook is fine, my stereo is fine, even my desktop computer's onboard sound is fine. But not the Classic. Nope. The midrange has slight distortion, the soundstage is closed in, the highs and lows sound artificial, and all in all, I've listened to far better cassette Walkmen in the early 90s. To finish it off, if you're using less sensitive headphones, the volume is too low and is apparently impossible to unlock. I inquired about the sound quality to Apple, and they quickly sent me another one.

It's just as bad.

Pros:
Cheap.
Large storage.
New user interface.
The front, at least, seems more durable.
Improved battery life.

Cons:
If you can tell the difference between 128kbps and 320kbps recordings, you'll definitely notice this is poor quality.
Can't unlock the volume limit due to encryption.
Background hiss is a serious blast from the past - didn't we leave this in the 80s?
The back is made from a strange, shiny, scratch-attracting magnet.

In short: an awesome music player, so long as you're deaf, don't mind poor sound quality, or otherwise don't listen to music.

Oh, and Apple's aftercare is very good - it's just a pity the product blows.

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Rating: - Amazing MP3 Player
I don't know what people are talking about with regards to the sound, sure it's not the loudest player in the world but the volumes certainly loud enough and is also really clear - i use the creative EP-630 earphones i've got it 3/4 of the way up most of the time but people that say this have probably deafend themselves from putting other players up too loud.

Build quality is really good aswell, only thing i would say though is i wish they would take away that shiny chrome at the back - scratches way too easy.

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Rating: - great features, great price, poor build....
i bought this day before i left to go travelling for 4 months. hadn't had time to test the headphones before boarding the plane, and they turned out to be faulty. the usb cable died a month later, and my ipod itself stopped working after resetting the device when it stopped charging. despite trying to get it working again, the ipod refused to work until a month or two later when it decided to start working again.

from my experience, my ipod was something i greatly loved until the problems really kicked in. while travelling i met quite a few people, who's ipods (all around 2-3 months old) had stopped working, or had serious problems. it would be something i would recommend someone to purchase, only if they are going to be to get it fixed or replaced in easy availability.

taking one travelling however is infuriating beyond belief....

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Rating: - I'm not that impressed :-(
I got myself the ipod Classic 80gb because I will be travelling around central and south America soon.. I just finished walking the Camino de Santiago and I was very happy I took along my little 2 gb Samsung so I thought I'd buy the ipod Classic 80gb so I could put most of my music collection on and take it with me while travelling.. I have about 8000 songs and still have room for popcastes,pics and video's .. I spent about 2 weeks importing and organising my cd's and bought a few albums from itunes... most of the time I spent organising was for album covers, because I found the cover flow useful... however, my pc crashed..Luckely tho I copied my music files to my external hardrive just before..however,once I got my pc up and running again I copied back my music and began to drag my music back to itunes libary...They went on ok, but they don't work, because itunes say there not the original files ???now I'm afraid to connect my ipod to my pc for fear of loosing all my music.. I've been told that if I had an Applemac pc I could move my music from my ipod to my pc..but I don't have an Applemac..so for those of you who are like me..not pc wise... dont get an ipod! ..I was not impressed with the sound either, even when I put my Sennheisers on my ipod its still not as good as my Samsung yp-z5 :-(

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Rating: - Ipod Classic - Does exactly what it says on the tin.
After owning many different brands of Mp3 players over the years. I have always fancied an Ipod.. after seeing my friends 'ipod video'. I thought I would wait for the next gen. I knew they suffered serious battery charge holding problems and the older Ipods wasn't very well built. I must say after recieving my Ipod classic, I am truly and well impressed, easy to load all your music instantly, battery life is superb, it was fully charged out the box. I have only had to charge once. Power lasted for a week on one charge. Impressive! Also, another good point to make, is the claim that Apple have made about the scratch resistance is 100% true. The new matt finish and steel backplate is virtually impossible to scratch. Plus the packaging was really good quality and must of cost Apple a fair few bob to produce.
Ok then... so thats the good points.
Here come the bad points...

1. The headphones are terrible build quality and sound horrible.(Had to buy some Sennheiser CX300's)
2. Doesn't come with a mains charger.(Had to buy one seperatly)
3. Doesn't come with Itunes on a CD, so if you haven't got broadband or dialup.. TOUGH! Luckily I have broadband, so was able to download the program.

Can't really make any other bad points.
Overall.. worth the money, as these used to cost the earth!