iPod Classic 160GB

If you thought all we’ve been doing lately is sit around, think again. After a lot of effort we managed to get our greedy paws on the monstous iPod Classic 160GB, which launched just a few months ago. Who said persistence doesn’t pay? (For those who came in late, the Classic is merely a fancy name given to the sixth generation of what is commonly known as the ‘video iPod’.)

Unlike any of its earlier attempts at making the perfect video player, Apple has finally given the world a power-packed, neatly revamped iPod. The Classic has inherited many of its predecessor’s traits, but there are new features too.

Design and Features
The 160GB Classic is the fattest member of the iPod family, with dimensions of 4.1 x 2.4 x 0.53 inches. The 80GB is obviously slimmer, and weighs a bit less, but then the 160GB is for power users. If you’re one, nothing but nothing is going to stop you from buying this.

The shell of the player has been ‘aluminized’, making it sturdier. Apart from this and the size, the player looks like the previous generation of iPods. If there’s a change then it would be the look and feel of the interface. After the iPhone, it was only a matter of time before Apple infused a toned-down version into its other products.

A cool split-screen effect lines up menus on the left and images for selection on the right. Coverflow has been included, but it feels different without a touchscreen interface. That said, it still does what it’s meant to do – get you started with album artwork. Navigation is taken care by the click wheel. If you want to know how to add album artwork, please check out my feature on soft fixes for iPods.

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Coverflow is brilliant, with or without the touchscreen. But it’s a tad sluggish if the player is stuffed to the brim. Frankly this is something I expected, considering the 160GB of data on a hard drive. The worst thing, however, is that this sluggishness trickles down to the most basic functions, such as navigating through the device. This can be downright irritating. However, it plays music efficiently.

The chromed rear adds to the elegance, the only grouse is that it’s a fingerprint magnet. The screen is a good 2.5-inch color LCD with LED backlight supporting 320 x 240 pixel resolution at 163 pixels per inch, and now offers crisper video contrast and brilliant sharpness. But more on that in the next section…

Everything else remains the same. You get a calendar, contacts, alarms – and yes, a screen lock feature that lets you use a 4-digit password to activate the screen. One of the most appreciated new features is a direct access to the shuffle function on the fly. You can reach it via the middle button now.

However, value addition isn’t the only change the Classic has gone through. The AV output feature has been very inconveniently removed. You can set a maximum volume limit, so that you don’t go damaging your ear. You can also use the player as a portable hard drive.

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The sound certainly feels more refined compared to the fifth generation, and this too was expected. The player supports MP3, AIFF, WAV and AAC, plus Apple lossless and Audible files. Native WMA files aren’t supported, but protected AAC files work – provided they are bought from the iTunes store.

The music quality as usual is brilliant. Apple has worked on the sound, giving a more punch-packed output. The mid-level frequencies are more responsive now. The company should have included manual EQ settings as well, but I don’t suppose any amount of bad press is going to get Apple to do that!

There are, however, loads of presets for different genres of music. The earphones provided are pretty good. FM Radio still eludes the iPod, for reasons I can’t quite understand.

Video
Video format support include H.264 video, Low-Complexity version of the H.264 Baseline Profile with AAC-LC audio, M4V, MP4, and MOV file formats. Video conversion can be a pain, and iTunes is yet another pain in the posterior. You still can’t drag and drop, and support for third party applications like Winamp have been removed.

This is bad, considering it requires the new iTunes to work with it, and is mighty slow. God help you if you have a slow machine! I tested the same movie with the 30GB iPod, and found that the black levels are much truer in the Classic, and some of the issues I faced with the fifth generation iPod (such as mosaic compression) have been minimized.

Start up time for videos is fast, and you won’t face any trouble even while the videos change (or music, for that matter). It’s the navigation that’s a bitch. But you have to realize that once the player is full, the 160GB of content can be quite a handful to manage efficiently.

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The Verdict
The battery life is amazing – I’m sure Apple’s worked on it. It’s fatter and can hold strong for long. I managed to watch a little more than two movies of approximately 2.5 hours each. Music playback is equally well-matched, with about 10 hours of playback.

If iTunes puts you off and you’re seriously inconvenienced by the absence of drag-and-drop, perhaps you could consider the Creative Zen Vision:M (30GB). It costs Rs 10,500 in gray and Rs 14,600 officially, while the 160GB costs Rs 14,000 in gray and Rs 20,400 in Apple Stores.

All said, if you’re the type who commutes long distances and/or travel often, and want to carry all your music and movies, look no further than the 160GB iPod Classic. As of now, the warranty is global, so even gray pieces are covered. In any case the product’s a steal, so go for it!