Apple iPod classic 80 GB Black (6th Generation) OLD MODEL
by Apple Computer
|
Our Price: $294.99 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $115.00 (click here) Category: Network Media Player See more product details |
|---|
Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Apple iPod classic 80 GB Black (6th Generation) OLD MODEL
Customer Review: No Portable Audio Device Will Ever Be Perfect
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a fact. No matter what a company does to improve or change their portable audio device, people will always find something thats not to their liking. Is that a wrong thing? By no means so, but I believe certain comments in many reviews can become a little too serious and throw an average buyer off, like myself. I am in no way a very computer literate person. I do what I need to and that is it. I know many who read these reviews are the same way. To make it simple, this Ipod is not perfect. Neither is the Zune, nor the Zen. If you're wanting a 80 gb portable audio device you can simply choose between this and the Microsoft Zune. The way I would recommend you is to the Ipod. Im not a Zune hater by any means. I think one day they will outdo Ipod. For now, the Ipod still is greater. Why? One major reason, and the biggest at that, is Itunes. Please, even if you're still thinking about buying a Zune after this review, DOWNLOAD THEIR SOFTWARE! I came so close to buying a Zune and I happened to go ahead and download their software before I bought the Zune. I have over 25 gbs worth of Pearl Jam's live shows on Itunes. It stays very organized and is very neat. Zune went to transfer the live shows and it became a HUGE mess. Saying I hated it is an understatement. It took many albums(live shows mostly) rearranged their track list order and lost at least half of my artwork that I put on. I thought that maybe I could just fix it. Well, the only things you can really edit on the Zune software are song title, album title, and the artist name. You CAN NOT transfer files from one artist to the next. I had my collection of Pearl Jam shows broken down by year(1993,94,95 etc) and it took well over half of them and put them in different years. I know many people don't have that many live shows, but the point is it shows how faulty the software is. To me, thats a huge problem and can be largely annoying. If you have a manse amount of music, if you're buying an 80 gb audio device then you more than likely do, please be aware that when the Zune software transfers that much of your beloved music it may come out very messy and unorganized. With Itunes, you can edit almost any little thing you want. That really comes in handy for someone like me and those who like to be organized.
The Ipod device itself is pretty reliable and simplistic. I have never owned a Zune, but I imagine they cant be too much more reliable or better. I have had two models of the Ipod and both have treated me well. Some of the really nice updates on this Ipod compared to older models follow:
1 Bigger album artwork(slightly), although you cant just look at album covers and nothing more like the last model.
2 Better sound. This seems to be debated on a lot, but it seems the general conclusion, mine as well, is that the Iopd classic is slightly warmer sounding with a better bass response in general. Most people aren't too audio crazed, and they should be well satisfied with the sound this device can give. The Zune doesn't have an EQ, technically neither does the Ipod. The Ipod has presets that I think anyone can find one they like. I have found the Loudness, Bass Booster, Classical, Jazz, and Rock presets to be the best overall for Metal/Rock/Pop music. If you are mostly listening to your music at full volume, or close to full, then the Loudness preset really works well because it takes out some of the higher treble and mids that can be too ear piercing at higher volumes and may cause some distortion. Not to mention, if your headphones are pretty good quality the Loudness preset packs a pretty good punch as far as bass goes. It's my recommended preset. The Bass Booster preset is great for lower volume listening, but at loud volumes it can be a bit too distorted. Turning the EQ off is also completely fine with a halfway decent pair off headphones. The sound quality will still be great. I have found that turning the EQ off actually gives the warmest sound.
3 The Classic is actually on average 3 seconds faster than the last model. I have put my old Ipod beside this new Classic model and the Classic is ALWAYS faster.
4 When you browse through an artists albums you can see the album artwork beside the album title. Thats a pretty nice feature to have that the last model didn't.
Some of the cons that I have read about really only seem to be the click wheel and that the album artwork doesn't come up fast enough. I think that the new Classic models may not be quite as responsive, but they really are no where near as slow as people are making them sound. The more I use the new click wheel, the more I seem to like it. Its one of the things that I think some people need to just get used to. The number one thing I have found people to exaggerate on is the amount of time it takes for artwork to come up, or on the cover flow. I don't use cover flow, but have looked at it. Neither it or just regular artwork coming up for each song, really take that long to come on. It maybe takes 2-4 seconds at that. Is that really a big deal? I don't see it. 2 seconds isn't that long at all. People really go over the top with that.
In conclusion, if you still don't want to give the Ipod a try, please go ahead and downland the Zune software before buying the device itself. I'm glad I did. Many reviewers I'm noticing are really just Ipod haters. Some may have never used one, they just jump on that bandwagon of hating then. I don't think the device is perfect, but is suits my needs the best and what I think the general public needs are. I don't hate Zune at all, but the software needed for the device just sucks and is too messy and unreliable. I hope this helps some because I'm about as normal and simple as it comes when recommending these types of things and using them as well. I just don't want anyone to be as annoyed as I was with the Zune software. In the long run I do recommend the Ipod Classic. Is it perfect? No, but neither is any other MP3 player on the market.
Customer Review: Such a disappointment
Summary: 1 Stars
You can read on for a detailed review. In summary, if my music collection wasn't larger than the iPod this was replacing, I would put the iPod classic on the shelf (or maybe ebay it) and run the old one.
This iPod is the first apple iPod product I have felt was just an afterthought. I have owned the 1G shuffle, the 2G 4GB Nano, and a 4G 20GB iPod color (wife also has a 5G 30GB iPod Video). I absolutely loved all of them. All felt like polished products.
The iPod Classic feels like an afterthought that they came up with when they decided to make the iPod touch not a real iPod, but halfway between a nano & an iPod.
The iPod Classic is very underpowered, or the firmware is poorly written. Either way, you will find navigating through the menus very tedious and will start becoming annoyed. The first thing you will notice is that there is something wrong with the click wheel. It doesn't pick up your finger movements the way the other generations of iPod did.
Apple has never been very friendly to audiobook listeners, but the current software makes it really bad. You can no longer sort your audio books by genre (or author, or even book title). All audiobook files are only accessible in a single alphabetized list. Yes, that's files, not books. So to get to 'State of Fear' part 6 of 8, you need to scroll down through every file of every book you have that has a title that starts earlier in the alphabet than "S". For me, that's 187 files. What's worse, is the list isn't a normal list of files (as was in the last generation of iPod), but is double height for each file and displays a tiny picture of the book's cover next to the file. What's still worse is that most of the time these just show question marks and slow the scrolling process even more.
The podcast menu uses the same double height lists, as do virtually all lists. Currently you can't turn this off, and you get to wade through your songs in this manner.
The cover flow feature is completely unusable as it is so slow and the album art isn't populated quick enough to actually be of use.
The general navigation utilizes a 1/2 screen for the menu and 1/2 screen for artwork, cut vertically. Its only use is to look good in apple commercials. After the "wow, that's neat" wears off, you search around for how to turn it off, but sadly, you can't. All it does is make what you are trying to read cut off, and also slows down the iPod. You will notice between a 1 & 2 second lag time from selecting an item before the sub-menu shows up.
I would say you should buy a fifth generation if you can find one, or hold out for the next generation of the touch (when it has enough space to hold your music).
The only good thing about this iPod is that all the problems appear to be software related... however my fear is that apple won't be working too hard to fix them as the "touch" is their baby right now. The click wheel problems might also be software related, as it seems like some of the non-response you get is the software locking up, rather than the click wheel itself not detecting your finger. I would recommend not purchasing this iPod until a SIGNIFICANT software update is released.
I will update this review for new updates to the software if there is any noticeable difference. Currently I have version 1.0.1
*Update: I have found that if you disable "view album artwork" on the settings in iTunes, this dramatically speeds up the iPod. It is a shame you need to do this, but it even makes the click wheel more responsive. You will have no artwork, at all, on the iPod, but the music and menus will function quickly.
*Apple released software version 1.0.2. I have not noticed any change in performance running the iPod without artwork. I enabled artwork to test if the patch did anything there, and I must say that the speed of the menus has improved and the coverflow is a lot more smooth (though still not very useful). However, it is still slower than the old iPods and the flaws mentioned above remain.
*Apple released software version 1.0.3. Hopefully it will address some of the above mentioned concerns.
***WARNING - I have installed software update 1.1. It has some serious issues and I would not advise installing this update. For some, it is bricking the iPod. Not for me, but there are some really weird/bad things it does and I haven't noticed anything good that it does. The most noticeable negative change is that the iPod does not turn off correctly at the end of a playlist. I like to listen to my iPod as I fall asleep (The Classic Tales podcast is excellent, look into it), so I do an "on the go" playlist with one episode, so that after I fall asleep the episode will end and the iPod will shut off. Not so with the new update. At the end of the episode the iPod just plays what I can only describe as dead air. So, the iPod will just play this (I guess until the iPod runs out of batteries, but I usually just find it playing dead air in the morning and turn it off manually by holding the play button).
My fears about the software updates not being priority for Apple look like they are coming true. I have a sneaking feeling that they will update the iPod Touch to a full sized iPod (30GB-60GB) before the Classic is fixed. Again, buy a 5th gen if you can find one and avoid this product.
Customer Review: Awful reliability, odd software quirks
Summary: 1 Stars
DEVICE FAILURE
About three years back I purchased one of these iPods brand new during one of my tech-buying binges. I rarely used it, bringing it out for plane trips and other travel. I would occasionally take it out to put some music on it and charge it, but that was it.
After roughly a year I decided to use it while driving to work and back. Still, it received fairly light use and good care.
However, about a year back now (two years after purchasing it) I got the somewhat infamous "click of death." I had the iPod lying on the carpet. I was going through my old CDs to figure out which ones I wanted to get rid of, and since most of them were on the iPod I was listening to them and flipping through the songs.
At one point I pressed the "next" button. The iPod froze and started clicking. I picked it up, and it sounded as though something inside the device was loose. It took an hour before I found a solution online and was able to reset it. Unfortunately, that did not stop the clicking. No online solution worked, and iTunes was unable to recognize the device.
One bizarre solution I found online was to smack the iPod against something to bang things back into place. I refused to do this. Instead, for the next couple weeks I tried various methods like letting the battery die, resetting it continuously, plugging the device into the computer, and so on. No official solutions worked either.
Eventually it became clear that neither official nor unofficial solutions were going to solve the problem. My iPod had suffered some kind of failure because I pressed a button while it was lying on soft carpet. Such a high-quality device!
So, with all options explored and nothing to lose, I went ahead and tried the bizarre solution. I struck the back of the iPod up against my desk.
After resetting it again it worked (much to my surprise) - for the most part. Certain portions of the drive were inaccessible, but the rest of it worked fine again. When I encountered a track or album that caused the iPod to temporarily freeze, I would plug it into iTunes, delete the track, and re-sync it to the iPod.
For the past year this solution worked. Sometimes I would hear a click and the iPod would freeze, but it lasted only for a moment and then it would pass. Yesterday I was creating a new playlist in iTunes when it came across an inaccessible track I'd missed. It froze, and I had to use the Windows task manager to close iTunes. No big deal; it'd done this every once in awhile for the past few months.
After plugging the iPod back in, iTunes had to "verify" the device - and it deleted everything off the drive.
That had never happened before. Then the iPod got stuck again. Another hour ensued of trying to get the iPod to reset and get iTunes to recognize the device. I gave up for awhile, and I didn't bother smacking it up against anything this time. I shouldn't have to. Finally I reset it again and it's working now - with a blank drive completely reset to factory settings thanks to the earlier "verification."
I'm done with iPod. For the price it should be durable. For the price, it most certainly should not fail because you push a button when it's sitting on a soft surface. That's just unacceptable.
BEYOND DURABILITY
Aside from an obscenely pathetic hardware failure, the unit has a few other quirks.
Want to burn a CD using MP3s from iPod? You can't. Want to create a playlist without using a computer? Not allowed. Want to transfer files off the iPod like you would with a backup drive? Nope, sorry. Well, OK, I take that back. You CAN - but in Windows Explorer everything shows up as a number. You don't get any names - no file names, no artist names, no track names, nothing. Just a number for each file and folder, so good luck finding what you want.
The navigation circle seems cool at first, but after awhile I found myself longing for a simple button. I want a power button. I want a button for the volume. I don't want to draw continuous circles with my finger to get from an artist beginning with "A" all the way down to "W" (you can't go straight from Z to A or vice versa; you actually have to scroll all the way through the list). Sound quality was never very good either.
Ultimately, this is a two hundred dollar plus device with awful reliability and pointless software restrictions. Unless you're willing to pay up for an extended service plan, look elsewhere. Get a Sony Walkman; I bought one shortly after the first click of death incident, and it's been great. Get a Sansa; some family and friends have them, and theirs have worked fine for years. Even a no-name brand would have comparable reliability to iPod, if not better.
I don't care what you do, just don't bother with an iPod.
Customer Review: The review I wish I would have read!
Summary: 5 Stars
My review will be along the lines of the sort I was looking to see as I sat on the fence about investing in a new Ipod.
Feeling claustrophobic with my 2GB Ipod Nano, I've wanted to go bigger for a long time. My Nano is great and has served me well at work and around the house, but with over 70GB worth of music on my PC and a heavy rotation of talk radio podcasts, I wanted to have it all in the palm of my hand. As a teen in the early 90's I fondly wished that someday in the future I would be able to fit all of my music onto one small, portable device and have any song just a click away. Clearly that is possible now with the 80 or 160GB Ipod Classic.
When the Classic came out and delivered an 80GB capacity at $250 I knew this was what I was waiting for. BUT...every review I read or message board I checked out told horrific tales of buggy software and frustrating Itunes interface. I didn't want to settle for a used 5th gen 80GB when there was a new product out; I wanted the Classic. But after watching Youtube reviews and loading up on poor feedback about the initial September 07 launch of Apple's new offering I was put off enough to wait a few months. I figured downloadable fixes would be coming and I wanted to see what happened. I even started considering the Microsoft Zune.
After the 1.0.2 firmware fix there still seemed to be a lot of negative feedback about menu sluggishness, battery drain and the sort. This product seemed to be infested with bugs. Sometime in November it seems there was a 1.0.3 patch and that's where the trail went cold in my research. I didn't know if people were just sick of this Ipod's problems or if 1.0.3 did the trick. I was confused and couldn't find much information either way.
On 12/26/07 I decided to just throw down the money for the 80GB Classic. Black, if you're keeping score. I figured I'd just see what happens and planned to not be upset if I couldn't use it due to bugs or poor performance. I did not buy from Amazon because I wanted it that day, but Amazon by far had the best price at the time. Mine came from the yellow tag major retailer of electronic goods in Northern California. I include that just be informative about where mine was purchased.
I got it home, opened the box and first inspected the Ipod. Turned on just fine and I found no sluggishness in the menu operation. I was encouraged by this but knew I had a long way to go before being worry-free.
Plugged it in to Itunes and discovered it came loaded with the 1.0.2 firmware update and gave me the option through Itunes to update with 1.0.3, and I did. My Ipod never froze or did anything it shouldn't have. After a few minutes it was updated, reset and ready to receive my custom playlists. I loaded it with about 10GB of music the first day along with one episode of Family Guy and a handful of photos. This all transfered flawlessly. I disconnected with no problem.
Although I read pages of message boards slamming the Coverflow aspect, I didn't find it to be particullarly slow at all. It was actually much more responsive than I had expected. I don't use the feature to select music (I use Playlists) but it is very amusing to play with and I like seeing the album covers. Scrolling around today with just about 16GB of music and another TV Show is no slower than my Nano. I add a little more music each day so maybe I will notice a slight drag when the disc is closer to full, but let's be fair here and admit that the non-Nana ipods are hard drive devices and you should allow a LITTLE patience. But right now I can't tell the difference at all. The graphics are pleasant, the video viewing is great and while I do not utilize every possible function of an ipod, I am appreciative of the option to do so.
No, I don't bother with the provided ear buds, I use a basic ten dollar pair of Sony headphones--and the sound is fantastic. I could not be more pleased with this product. So for anyone who might be worried about the initial bugs, take note that mine works great. Maybe a combination of good firmware fixes and a better batch of Ipods (now that they are 3 months into the launch)...who knows. But mine is flawless.
I just recommend that you fork over the $30 or so for the Incase neoprene sleeve specifically for the classic to protect the screen and keep the grime and scratches off. Now that mine is wearing that I feel a lot safer while using it.
-MG
Customer Review: Better than my 30 gig gen 5 video iPod
Summary: 5 Stars
I've owned and loved my 30 gig video iPod for almost 2 years, and aside from a periodic problem where it won't power off until I've reset it, it's worked fine. I have noticed that screen changes (for example, clicking on "Music" in the main menu and waiting for the music screen to appear) had become sluggish as I added more songs and passed the 20 GB mark, but it still worked. However, it was obvious that I would exceed the 30 GB capacity before Apple comes out with its next generation of iPods, so I started looking at the current crop to see what would work best.
Like just about everyone, I want an iPhone, but not the first generation and (hopefully) not being stuck with AT&T as my cell carrier. So that ruled out the iPhone, at least for now. I was dazzled by the cool interface of the iPod Touch, but I don't have wall-to-wall WiFi coverage in my area and wasn't willing to make the compromise on capacity.
I wanted the capacity that the Classic offered, but had read conflicting reviews, even from people who are normally big Apple fans. I was especially concerned to read so many people complaining that the performance was actually worse than the video iPod. Reviewers also complained that the new interface was not responsive and didn't represent an improvement over the interface on the video iPod. However, after playing with one at a local retailer, I found the new interface to be a significant improvement and it seemed to work just as fast as my current video iPod. I opted for the 80 GB model, since my laptop's hard drive is only 160 GB and it didn't make sense to get an iPod with more space than my hard drive.
So far, I'm very pleased with the Classic. After spending some time with the new interface, I have found it to be much better than the old one. OK, so it's not a touch screen, but that's the trade-off for the larger capacity (at least in this generation of iPods). Unlike many users, I have had no trouble at all with the cover flow feature, and I like the way it works. If I scroll very quickly, I may have to wait a couple seconds for the cover art to appear, but it's not a big deal at all, at least for me. The titles appear no matter how fast I go, and I greatly prefer being able to browse my collection this way compared to scrolling through a long list.
I have not had any trouble with the click-wheel and have not noticed that it's less sensitive or less responsive than the previous model. When you scroll very quickly through a list, a large letter appears on the screen to show you what letter of the alphabet you're in, an intelligent and convenient feature that helps to keep you from scrolling too far in one direction.
I also like that the Playlist menu now shows the number of songs for each playlist, and most of the other music menus have enhancements, too (showing album art at the left of the entry if appropriate, for instance). I like the way the calendar works better than on my iPod video, and also like being able to manage alarms for calendar events more easily. (Maybe I didn't look hard enough, but I don't think I even had calendar event alarms on the 30 GB iPod).
The Classic connected and synched with my Vista PC with no problems, except for a repetitious request to register the iPod every time I connect, a problem I haven't yet solved. It took about 15 minutes to synch 20 GB of songs, which is actually faster than my previous iPod. As for sound, it seems clearer and more balanced than the 30 GB iPod, and also a bit louder. I had found that I had to turn up the volume on my older iPod just to have it at a listenable level, and I haven't had to do that on my new one.
I don't often use my iPod for video, but I like the new games better than the ones on my older iPod.
Overall, the Classic represents a significant upgrade over my previous iPod because of added capacity, better sound, and a better interface.