Electronics : Apple iPod classic 80GB black

Rating: - Good product, but software gripes.
On the whole, the iPod works fine - but it's firmware has limited format support and iTunes is just awful in every sense of the word.

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Rating: - Superb machine(s)
My last player was a CD Walkman. As it's now 15 years old, and I'm tired of lugging CD's around, I thought it about time for something new. Should I stick with Sony or stick my neck out and crunch on an Apple? Well I bought both...this iPod and also the Sony NWZ-A828K 8gig. My overwhelming opinion is that, first and foremost, they are both incredible machines. Buy either (similar price at Amazon) and you will be thoroughly delighted. The sound and pictures on both are sublime (Apple earphones very average so I use the excellent Sony with both players). I'm looking forward to many years' audiovisual pleasure with these. If I had to choose? The Apple....first and foremost it has ten times the memory....films,telly and music vids are all simple to rip (from my Sony HDD recorder) and load on the Apple, and with so much memory even films hardly register on the guage! I think a 2hr film goes on at 500mb....amazing picures and sound too! ipod user interface is better too, wheel and menus are intuitive and a pleasure to use. iTunes tries to lock you in a little (only 1 PC allowed) but it's slick and speedy to use and synching is rapid. DRM (protected) iTunes (ie most of them) won't play on anything else so if you want to put them on another machine you'll have to burn and rip them. It will play Mp3 and will convert non-DRM WMA tunes.

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Rating: - Awful product - avoid!
I've owned one these devices since Xmas 2007 and it's been a complete pain. The most serious shortcoming is its intermittent refusal to be "seen" when connected to my PC's USB port via the apple USB cable. Because apple doesn't supply a charger the unit eventually loses battery charge altogether. Consequently it can only be revived when plugged into a docking station for a few hours. When it feels like it, the iPod may then sync-up as it should when connected to the PC.

I also own a couple of Creative Zen Vision M MP3 players. I never have any problems with these. The PC always sees them when connected and charges them. I can also drag and drop folders without having the bother of sync'ing with just one PC.

It seems to me that apple has pandered to the lowest common denominator of PC/MAC users. They have made a completely inflexible product. Maybe, because I use PCs and not MACs, Apple is just trying to annoy me.

I will never by another iPod and will always opt for a generic MP3 player which allows me to organise my media how I choose.

It looks nice but that's about it.

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Rating: - Want a brick? Buy one of these
I completely disregarded my friends warnings about iPods "I worked in 'a company', we got about 15 returns a day for iPods, for gods sake don't get one" and am now in this situation:

1. The iPod can no longer sync with my music, as the hard disc is faulty after more than 2gb is uploaded.
2. Apple will not accept my iPod is broken.
3. Apple will not replace or attempt to fix my iPod.
4. Despite sending Apple customer services my iPod, they just sent it back stating that it is fine.

I have had my iPod one month and it has sustained NO damage. Be warned. Buy a creative 60gb, they're a bit pricier but I wish I had seen them first

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Rating: - Brilliant piece of kit but itunes does require effort.
Like alot of people who have already reviewed, i used to hate ipods & swore i'd never get one! But my massive music collection(45GB, 7148 songs) made it the only option.

I've previously had a 20GB Creative Zen years ago & a Sony 20GB until i bought this, so i'm used to music software. Itunes is a bit more effort but once your willing to take the time to tag your music, i spend a solid week correcting, filling in blanks & adding album artwork, it's worth it. The Coverflow part is excellent when all the artwork is added, but it has to be done manually for the music already contained on your computer, as the artwork & tags can only be got automatically for cd's ripped with itunes. Couple of issues: 1. when you import an album but it mysteriously doesn't show up, turn off the browser so the music is one big list & scroll to the bottom & hey, there it is because more than likely the tracks weren't tagged in the first place. 2. for some reason albums will spilt the odd time, 1 track on it's own & rest together even though the tags are the same, in that case i just deleted them & re-import.

When it comes to videos itunes is strange to, but again with work it can be done. I use a program called 'any video converter' to convert to mp4 video then it can be imported to itunes. The quality when played on the ipod is absolutely class!

The extras are cool, games, quizes, calendar etc, & the screen is brilliant, crystal clear!

I've no complaints whatsoever with the sound quality or the volume level, i put it up near maximum just to see & honestly if it's not enough you must have hearing damage. I did a sound comparison with my Sony & it's negiable difference, slight tone difference probably due to eq settings. But do yourself a favour & invest in descent earphones!

I had reservations in buying this but i have to say i'm very impressed.