Apple iPod Classic (80GB, black)

Manufacturer: Apple Part number: MB147LL/A

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Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 38 reviews

More product information:: Editors' review; User reviews; Specifications; Manufacturer info

Bottom Line:: The iPod Classic is a refinement of the formula that put the iPod on the map. Few can match its combination of storage capacity, battery life, and advanced user interface.

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CNET editors' review

Apple iPod Classic (80GB, black)

price range: $207.95 - $249.99

The iPod Classic is a refinement of the formula that put the iPod on the map. Few can match its combination of storage capacity, battery life, and advanced user interface.

The good: The iPod Classic is just like the fifth-generation iPod with video, only slimmer, tougher, and injected with a more visually rich graphical user interface.

The bad: Video output now requires a proprietary cable; audio quality has not improved; some older iPod video accessories may not be compatible; users are required to use the latest version of iTunes, which may not work on some older computer systems.

The bottom line: The iPod Classic is a refinement of the formula that put the iPod on the map. Few can match its combination of storage capacity, battery life, and advanced user interface.

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iPod Classic

Editor's note: This review has been updated to include battery life data resulting from CNET Labs' testing.

The iPod Classic is the latest revamping of Apple's iconic hard drive MP3 player, formerly known as the Video iPod or fifth-generation iPod. As Apple's only remaining high-capacity MP3 player, the iPod Classic comes in both 80GB ($249) and 160GB versions ($349), available in black or silver.

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 improved, with the 80GB iPod Classic now measuring 2.4x4.1x.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), and the chrome found on the back cover still begs for smudges.

The iPod Classic is nearly identical to the 30GB fifth-generation iPod (right). The iPod Nano (left) now shares all iPod Classic's capabilities, but in a much smaller format.

The Classic's most impressive design improvement is its dramatically overhauled menu system. One of the most striking changes is a split-screen main menu that displays the selections on the right half of the screen and a picture related to the selection on the left. For example, highlight the Music selection on 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 system, for browsing your music collection with an emphasis on album artwork, finally makes 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 noticeable amount of lag using Cover Flow. Users with large music collections to sort through will prefer browsing using the list mode or search function. That said, Cover Flow makes for a scenic and engaging, if slow, way to browse your music.

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 640x480 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. For instance, the Classic can recognize and skip between the DVD-like chapter markers embedded in QuickTime movie files. It also does a dependable job automatically resuming video playback at the point at which you last left off. Closed captioned subtitles can now be switched on and off for video files that support them.

The iPod Classic comes packaged with a proprietary USB cable, a set of earbuds, and a universal dock fitting.

Looking past the obvious big-ticket improvements, the new Classic includes some small touches that are easy to miss. Apple's music shuffle function, for instance, has made a subtle evolution, now letting you easily engage and disengage the shuffle function on the fly, with just a few clicks of the scroll wheel's center button. By placing the shuffle setting options (Shuffle Song, Shuffle Album, or Shuffle Off) in a song's Now Playing window, Apple is effectively 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 bundled 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 that despite the iPhone's unique file management requirements, the iPod Classic allows for manually adding and deleting music and video files without the hassles of playlist syncing. The Classic can also double as 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 output feature to save on construction costs, we're even more surprised that Apple has rendered all of the recently released iPods incompatible with a number 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 check that the product explicitly states it is compatible with the iPod Classic. Apple's own Universal iPod Dock ($50) and component 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, custom EQ, and native support for WMA and subscription music services. We're not holding our breath.

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 quality still leaves room for improvement. That said, after listening with our Ultrasone HFI-700 headphones as well as a set of Shure SE310 earphones, we can say with confidence that the Classic's fidelity will certainly 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 320x240 resolution and are capable playing files encoded at 640x480. By purchasing an additional component AV cable from Apple, it's possible for users to output resolutions up to 480p (720x480) 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. Our CNET labs team found the 80GB iPod Classic is capable of 45 hours of audio playback and nearly 9 hours of video playback under realistic conditions. Although we didn't have the opportunity to test the 160GB iPod Classic, we think it's reasonable to expect that it will at least match, if not surpass, these results.

Is it worth upgrading?
If you're looking for an iPod that can store more than 16GB of music and video, the iPod Classic lineup is the only option now available to you. Those of you with more modest storage requirements of 20GB to 60GB will simply have to step up to the 80GB model or consider an iPod alternative. For file-hoarders anxious to break the 80GB Video iPod storage limitation, the 160GB iPod is a logical step forward.

Before you leap, however, you should know that the iPod Nano, the iPod Classic, and the iPod Touch, all require iTunes 7.4 or later in order to be compatible with your computer. We recommend testing the compatibility of the latest version of iTunes with your computer before making the purchase.

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 worthwhile to download iTunes ahead of time to see if it works well on your computer and is intuitive for you to use. You should also be aware that most of the music and movies available for purchase on the iTunes online store will play only in iTunes or on an authorized iPod and cannot be transferred to a non-Apple MP3 player.

Final thoughts
As the availability of high-capacity hard drive MP3 players seems to be on the decline, we're happy to see that Apple is continuing to develop them. The iPod Classic doesn't deliver the novelty of the iPod Nano or the iPod Touch, but it is still one of the best-designed high-capacity MP3 players on the market.

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User reviews

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Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 38 reviews

Showing opinion 1 to 10 out of 38

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7 stars

Great Portable Video Player

by God of Devices on March 27, 2008

Pros: Big Widescreen; First 'Rentals' iPod.

Cons: Too big; iPod Nano has same features; Click Wheel Very Sensitive

Summary: Over all the cons about the Apple 'iPod Classic' (80gb), the Video player is a new for small portable devices, this iPod in particular sold 800,000 in half a ...

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Summary: Over all the cons about the Apple 'iPod Classic' (80gb), the Video player is a new for small portable devices, this iPod in particular sold 800,000 in half a year!

It is smart, but I much prefer the iPod 'Video Nano' to this particular iPod.
6/10 - God of Devices

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1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 stars

C'mon... Why are some of you bashing this?

by ZTBELL21 on January 19, 2008

Pros: Video, 80GB storage capacity, nothing even comes close to the interface

Cons: What cons? No WMA support? Just add rockbox to your firmware... Also, the non-user-replaceable battery...

Summary: I got this player along with my new MacBook Pro 15.4" and really like it. Here are my reasons:
1. 80 GB storage and video playback. I know, M$
...

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Summary: I got this player along with my new MacBook Pro 15.4" and really like it. Here are my reasons:
1. 80 GB storage and video playback. I know, M$ and Archos have similar storage capacity, but can M$ and Archos actually put the capacity to good use with their own online music stores?
2. The iPod interface. Nobody (not even Creative, Archos and M$) can come close to the 7-year old (and near perfect) interface of the iPod.
My only gripe is the lack of a user-replaceable battery. However, that said, iPod gets LONG battery life (unlike my old Creative Zen SLEEK ) and has decent storage (unlike my Sandisk Sansa e250).

Overall, this iPod is well worth the $249 price tag.

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1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 stars

Still great for Music and awesome storage space! ! !

by quicksilver_pr on December 19, 2007

Pros: More storage capacity than the previous model for the same price, and battery life ! ! !

Cons: Video output now requires a proprietary cable; some older iPod video accessories are not compatible

Summary: I've only previously owned a 5th gen 30GB iPod Video. So far I am very, very happy with my new 80GB classic. Installation was a breeze. I already had ...

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Summary: I've only previously owned a 5th gen 30GB iPod Video. So far I am very, very happy with my new 80GB classic. Installation was a breeze. I already had iTunes set up with all my music, so all I had to do was load up iTunes and plug in the iPod, and automation took care of the rest. The iPod charged up in a few hours. That simple!

The 80GB classic is perfect for what I use it for: listening to my entire music collection from one convienent place. I've been listening to it for many many hours straight, and it's barely even touched the battery. The screen is nice and vibrant for looking at all the cover art, and the backlight auto shuts off to save on batteries when you aren't using it, especially useful when it's just sitting in your pocket or glovebox. The brushed aluminum looks very stylish and gives it a more solid feel. The clickwheel can be a little sluggish at times, but I've never found myself irritated by it.

All in all an excellent purchase. Extremely impressed by the battery life. and the fact that now you can get 80GB of storage for the same price of the 30GB.

What's also neat is that the iPod comes with 3 pre-loaded games.

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1 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.
3 stars

gimmik is 2 points lower from being at least functional

by newmaze on November 7, 2007

Pros: brite screen, battery life, stylish, 80Gigs

Cons: navigation, earfones, skrolling weel, editing

Summary: Elaboration on Pros and Cons:

Cons (prioritized by a severity of retarded dezine):

- when scrolling weel turns into a loudness level, it becoms too flexible for being stedilly efficient

...

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Summary: Elaboration on Pros and Cons:

Cons (prioritized by a severity of retarded dezine):

- when scrolling weel turns into a loudness level, it becoms too flexible for being stedilly efficient to hav mor satisfaction
- cannot play the transferred files in itunes directly via the ipod and once they ar only on the ipod - they cannot be transferred back to the PC; tho, ther iz a kopying function, but no vizible pasting function/spot
- even if files ar stil on the ipod but not on the computer, software iz stil unable to edit the itunes files, once they wer deleted from the PC hard drive or relocated to a different directory
- scratch-prone, heet-prone screen and metal casing (also temperature vulnerable for both heet and coldness)
- apple?s dark age earfones ar dingy: way too loos in the ear sockets to retain the louer freqencies for a hier fidelity audio; also they ar painfully uncomfortable rite after about 3 minutes
- cannot be used as a valuable external hard drive, despite its enormos size; (zip files and other kompressed formats may not be imported)
- minor digital clipping noiz occurs after ipod?s eqalizer is set out of flat range
- videos ar hard to transfer, common video formats ar non-transferable unless reformatted to be compatible
- slower muzik/or media loading due to the additional grafix/animation - seems slower than a previos generation ipod
- sluggish communication between the ipod and computer
- fotos ar not zoomable, wile scroll-touch or center-button cood hav been used
- duz not allau dragging the audio files into the audiobooks folders
- befor copping the same or similar files into itunes - software duz not ask to replace or not to replace
- laks a computer-tied folder in the itunes library for categorizing/organizing the fotos (yet fotos kan be transferred to the player in huge amounts)
- for a better grip, it is bilt to be conveniently operated with both hands, that means
by using jus one hand yoo?re mor risking dropping it
- less obvios for a 1st time user main menu shortcut (very essential), lame/not logical turning-off button shortcut [holding play for 1 sek]
- instructions provided in the box are insufficient

Pros:

- capacity of 80GB; mor than enuf for a common user
- brite screen and crisp letters, non-irritating colors like blue, green, white and grey
- album art cover looks kool + art cover dragging feature in itunes
- ranking iz very useful and simple
- durable metal as opposed to plastic (+ aluminum on the front)
- mor batteri life
- stilish, kompakt and thin; fits into the pocket eezily, not too hevy
- simple set-up [but somtimes overly simple]

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3 out of 7 users found this user opinion helpful.
8 stars

iPod 80 still wins the close battle against Zune.

by Justtryingtohelp on September 5, 2008

Pros: The iPod Classic 80gb is extremely reliable and comes with one of the best music player software.

Cons: The cons of this unit include poor screen size, lack of radio listening feature, and wifi connectability.

Summary: This MP3 player is very well put together. I have to say I hate giving my money to Apple just because their whole marketing scheme is "Were the cool computer ...

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Summary: This MP3 player is very well put together. I have to say I hate giving my money to Apple just because their whole marketing scheme is "Were the cool computer company," but better them than Micro$oft. At first glance, the looks are pretty good; sleek and lightweight. I was torn between two MP3 players before I finally set on the iPod: zune vs. iPod. Although the Zune might offer more features than the ipod such as bigger screen, sync sharing, wifi connectability, custom back artwork, and live Radio it is missing probably the most important thing: a reliable easy to use music program. iTunes is basically the zune killer which is why i ended up buying the iPod. The iPod's easy to use software makes using the iPod much more user friendly and allows for a huge library of downloadable content. Also the sizes of the two products really swayed my decision. Although the zune looks to have basically the same specs on size when one puts the iPod and Zune next to each other there is a slight but noticeable difference. Basically it comes down to personal preference. I value a good easy to use music program which zune currently lacks. Like I said, I dont care to much for the company Apple but they make a mean MP3 player. Although Zune has many more features who really wants to listen to the radio?? Isnt that the reason you bought an MP3 player? And it might have a bigger screen but I use my mp3 player mostly for music anyway and dont want to sacrifice size for an option that will spend most of its time in my pocket.

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6 stars

Very good product.

by SinisterPwn on September 3, 2008

Pros: Very good audio and video quality. nice a portable. nice look to it. very very very well organized.

Cons: tendency for hard drive to break after 1 to 2 years. high in price. song loading can be slow and tedious having to use itunes. not really good for watching movies.

Summary: Look into it more before you purchase one. it depends on what your looking for.

Summary: Look into it more before you purchase one. it depends on what your looking for.
8 stars

Best of the best in MP3 players!!!

by dragonkal8000 on July 30, 2008

Pros: Very thin and sleek, 80 GB of memory, nice screen, coverflow, aluminum front instead of old plastic fronts

Cons: Somewhat fragile, cheap headphones, scratches easily

Summary: After owning this thing for a week, the experience that this thing gives towards any music buff is incredible. Sound is flawless, has a generous 80 GB drive for tons ...

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Summary: After owning this thing for a week, the experience that this thing gives towards any music buff is incredible. Sound is flawless, has a generous 80 GB drive for tons of music, video and photo storage. I did not like Apple's headphones however. They still use the same cheap headphones that were in the previous iPod models. I would recommend to all prospective buyers to get a case for this asap because this thing scratches easily and is very fragile. Drop it once and the likelyhood that this is every going to turn on again goes down.

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9 stars

This is the best pmp available for the price

by sunildhawan007 on June 26, 2008

Pros: Great Music Quality,Sturdy,Benchmark Navigation,Detailed software

Cons: Fingerprint Catcher like back and nothing else

Summary: In my opinion this the best from the apple and the cost of this pmp is dramatically reduced and it also offers lots and lots of storage that allows you ...

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Summary: In my opinion this the best from the apple and the cost of this pmp is dramatically reduced and it also offers lots and lots of storage that allows you to take of whole of your music and movies library with you.

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8 stars

I love my iPod Classic!

by Cari_Caudill on June 10, 2008

Pros: put games, pictures and videos on here; incredible storage space; sleek design; programs on itunes

Cons: occasional screen freeze; occasional mismatching songs and albums; will not take off songs asked to take off

Summary: I've had my iPod Classic since last December, and i really do love it. The incredible amount of free space to fill with music, movies, music videos, pictures and ...

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Summary: I've had my iPod Classic since last December, and i really do love it. The incredible amount of free space to fill with music, movies, music videos, pictures and games is fantastic. I like that Apple did add more games, because I travel a lot with my family and it's nice to be able to do something other than listen to music and watch movies. Especially if you don't have any handheld games. I think I love iTunes just as much as iPod because of the programs they have. Along with just the store, Apple has put in an application called "Just For You", which takes the identifiable music on your iPod and finds songs you may enjoy. The other thing I like is the Free Single of the Week. The People at Apple search a ton of singles and give you their favorite- for free! Another application I like is iMixes. This is where people from anywhere can create and publish playlist

Apple iPod Classic (80GB, black)

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