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Review iPod 160Gb or why I bought Classic twice

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I was going to write a review of the iPod Classic for so long that I already had time to steal my 120-gigabyte and ... I bought the same one, but for 160 GB. And here the question arises: what are you, an idiot? what for? Yes, because it is more or less perfect, at least for me.
UPD: Added + and -. Thanks @MrMmka, Piom and Kane

UPD2: Thanks for the karma, moved to the thematic blog

Here is a box I received.
box

It is slightly smaller than that of 120GB, but inside it is the same.
120 160

We open. Here are the insides, without technical details.
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Well, let's start with the hero of the occasion.
iPod 160Gb
iPod classic. The black. I used the previous year, so I do not have to get used to it.
Well, I'll tell you right away what appeals to me in this series:
What still does not like:

Dimensions and weight


Height: 103.5 mm
Width: 61.8 mm
Depth: 10.5 mm
Weight: 140 g

Display


Sound


We now turn from technical characteristics and theory to practice and sensations.
To the touch this is a matte and slightly rough device from the front side and with a mirror back surface.
')


What we touch


Made with Apple-peculiar minimalism. Screen and 2 connectors: 3.5 mm headphone jack (I’ll talk about its features later) and a special connector for synchronization and charging from a PC or Mac via USB. From the buttons there is only a 5-position Click-wheel joystick and a lock lever. In his hands, he is very comfortable, the wheel without a case is easily controlled, with a silicone case sometimes there are difficulties when scrolling.
Tip : If you want the back surface to always be mirrored, it is better to wear it in a case (or stick a film), it is scratched even if you just put it on the table (a small minus).


Where we poke and paste


Buttons: Track Back, Track Forward, play / pause (play / stop) and Menu button (return to previous menu). Also, the central button, which allows you to select parameters in the menu or while playing music, and with a long press allows you to select additional options.
Well and, actually, the wheel itself: clockwise - down / left, against - up / right. Allows you to select tracks, change the volume or navigate through the song. Also actively used in games.

Observation: the surface of both the iPod and ClickWheel itself, compared with the iPod 120GB, has become rougher and, in my opinion, slightly less sensitive. This does not bring a noticeable reduction in convenience, but it will not be superfluous to indicate this fact.
Connector : Standard iPod connector. Used to connect via USB, to charge and sync with iTunes.
On the fly : if you are leaving for a long time, get the original charger from 220V. They are really high quality, and are suitable for other devices that can be charged from USB. Non-original ones often break and some are incompatible with iPods (even if it’s written that they are compatible), so check!

3.5 mm plug: Nothing remarkable, ordinary plug. However, there is one interesting lotion: there is a latch in the connector, so if you pull out the headphones, or if they accidentally fall out of the socket, the player pauses the track. Conveniently, when you really accidentally pull out the wire, in order not to look for what you stopped at (for example, films, podcasts, etc.)
Lock lever: convenient enough, not very often use it, because the player lies in the pocket and is not accidentally pressed, but the lever itself sometimes blocks the player, it is a bit annoying, but not enough to stick it with tape to carry the player on the belt.

Where we look


The iPod Classic installs a two and a half inch diagonal display and 320x240 pixels of resolution. Not to say that it is very convenient, but it is clearly stronger than in the iPod Touch, which you are afraid to break in your pocket. In any case, the display gives a very nice soft image with nice colors. It is very bright and can even work in the sun without backlighting. There are practically no reflections
The menu also looks great and is convenient to use. The list of sections takes up about half of the display. And the second half displays either icons corresponding to a section, or a part of a randomly selected photo, cover, or frame from the clip.
Convenience menu at a high level, all the elements in place, and master the menu is very simple. There is an opportunity to customize items and sections of the main menu.
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So, the composition of the main menu “by default”: Music, Video, Photo, Podcasts, Add-ons, Settings, and Now Playing.

Music: From here, the playlists are called, the music is sorted by artist name, album name, song name, genre and music composer. There is also a point of the function of searching for songs, as well as viewing the cover art of Cover Flow albums.
Video View videos. All files are divided into just videos, TV shows and video clips. Here, playlists of the video are called and the parameters are set, such as the video output image format, full-screen playback and activation of subtitles.
Photo . It contains all the folders with the downloaded images, as well as all the settings associated with it, from the time between switching slides to selecting the accompanying music, repeating, activating a random order and choosing the type of transition.
Podcasts: there is no unequivocal definition, but let's call it radio offlne. You can download entertaining, educational, educational and other podcasts.
Optional . Additional functions of the player: the appearance and installation of the system clock, games (3 games: guess the melody, arkanoid and kerchief), notebook, organizer, notes, stopwatch, alarm clock.

Settings : In the settings you can build a convenient menu for yourself, set the maximum volume, adjust the equalizer, select the work modes, set or remove the password.
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When playing music, you have access to some functions, such as: rewind, volume control, rating the song, add a track to the playlist, change the play mode (alternately) and view information about a song or podcast.

Accessories


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Headphones: standard Apple headphones. The wire is white, silicone braided, which reduces its weariness, but after some time it gets dark and becomes a little harder.
The mini-loudspeakers themselves are not bad, they are conveniently located in the ears, but do not forget that these are standard headphones and you cannot achieve wonderful sound from them, we are silent about the bass. Yes, and the rubber stroke contour peeled off after a few months. As it was said somewhere: Apple branded headphones are needed not so much to listen to music, but to make it clear that a person has an iPod. I still use them, but as soon as I save money, I’ll change them to Razer Mooray.
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The mini-jack is not very different from the jack of the headphones of the 120-gig player, but there is one significant difference - the rubber sheath in the transition of the jack to the wire, it is very convenient, because does not allow the wire to bend strongly and thus prevents its breakage. However, this braid with quite active use and frequent bending breaks after a while.

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The cable to connect to a PC or Mac is strong enough, does not cause any complaints. Perfectly compatible with original Apple charging from a 220V outlet.
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The connection with iTunes is excellent. The only thing that is a problem with the video, because The player understands only MPEG-4. The best free converter in my opinion is Videora .
Tip: if you have several computers and you don’t want to store all the songs from the player on each of them so that they are not deleted during synchronization - disable synchronization for music in the player settings in iTunes. Then you can download music to the player from any computer on which only the necessary software is available.

What we hear


The most important thing is forgotten! Is there any sound in the player ?? And the fact that he is to us, in order to play games, is it necessary?

The sound is good. I'll be brief. Soft, pleasant, the bass gives out a good, pleasant timbre. No rattling, jams and other troubles. When working with the Razer Mooray gave a great sound, at the maximum it was difficult to listen, because loud. When working with 2.1 from Creative and Velton Maestro, no noise or errors were also detected. Everything is fine, elegant. In general, the player produces a wonderful sound, the rest depends on the headphones.

What we pay


Indeed, about the price. This is probably the most tickling question in this gadget. Prices range from 8000 to 11000. The difference is in generations, and more precisely in the time of work. From 24 hours in the mode of playing music up to 36 hours. On average, fast charging of the player (80%) lasts for 4-5 days (I have a 24-hour clock): this is listening to music about 4-6 hours a day and watching videos 1-2 hours a day. So you can take and cheaper option. I personally think that the price is a bit overpriced, but in general - I am willing to pay that kind of money for such quality and such volume. The price is fully justified, the player let me down only once (and that, by my negligence), unlike the previous Iriver T10, which broke down 3 times a year for no apparent reason.

Communication with the service


The player really only broke once, and even then, because I dropped it in a puddle: sometimes the wheel stopped spinning and the jack stopped responding to pulling out the headphones (did not pause)
In general, I decided to take it to a service center. They understood the problem with understanding and said that in a week they would return a new one (!). No paperwork was demanded from me. That is, just brought the player and wrote down the name, then came and took a brand new player. The only thing is the loss of the library, which for me was not a significant drawback. This is a tangible plus, especially despite the fact that the case was not at all not particularly guaranteed.

So let's summarize:


iPod classic is a very convenient player, with a bit overpriced, but with a huge amount of memory, with a small, but bright and roomy screen.

Ratings:



Pros (5 - great, 1 - not very good, but good):
Large volume - 5
Bright screen - 5
Click wheel - 4
Locking lever - 3
Headphones - 3
Video playback - 3
iTunes - 2
Ergonomics - 5
High quality sound - 4
Ubiquitous iPod support - 2

Cons (5 - mega-terribly, 1 - not so good):
Scratchable back panel - 4
Small screen - 4

Large size - 2
HDD - 2
Few games in the AppStore - 1
Price - 4
Poor audio format support - 3

Overall, the average rating for this player is 4+ out of 5.
Reduced mainly due to price and screen. The rest personally satisfies me more or less.
For the notorious music lover - iPod Classic is what the doctor ordered!

Original in my blog .

Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/80920/

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