Home > Consumer Reviews > Apple iPod classic 160GB silver

I lost my previous 80 GB iPod not long ago, and I keenly felt its loss, so I bought this behemoth as a replacement so it would at least feel like an upgrade rather than a replacement. I guess the best indication of how much value you placed in something is how badly you miss it when it's gone. I bought my replacement the same day I realised it was missing.

The 160 GB model is noticeably chunkier than its smaller sibling, but not so much you'd actually bother. It retains the sleek, clean design and intuitive interface choices, although it shares a number of the same problems. While it usually works without fault, occasionally there are mysterious crashes and syncing problems that can frustrate. The headphones, while comfortable for short periods of time, I found painful to use for longer periods - a set of budded headphones would have been a nice gesture on the part of Apple.

Additionally, I would have liked a mains charger rather than a USB cable only - it's a portable device that I use at home, at work, and in the car. To charge it, I need access to a computer and the USB connection cable for the ipod itself. It's just a bit inelegant.

Despite this small problems, I still rate it a five star accessory. Of all the various MP3 players I have used in the past, none of them have ever been as valuable to me as this one.

It is my first iPod, and I like it a lot, but as other buyers I'm also frustrated by the volume cap imposed by EU regulations.

Even worse, this is the first generation of iPod's for which there is no proper fix to this inconvenience.

I've been trying to solve this with noise-cancelling headphones, but it just isn't the same as cranking up the volume.

Unfortunately this isn't a condition that affects Apple alone, so if you think it will bother you, try to buy your music player out of the euro zone.

Very impressed with the new design, looks much better than 5th generation, and it's a little cheaper too..
BUT, if like me you have been using Realplayer for the last 3 years to sync music onto your ipod.. FORGET ABOUT IT.
At first I thought maybe i could get used to using i-tunes, everybody else uses it right?..
Its an absolute mess! everything about that software is backwards!
I spoke to Apple and they tell me that it was a fluke that all my old I-PODs ever worked with Realplayer at all! What a load of cobblers!
If you don't mind using some half-baked software that jumbles all your music up then sticks it up your I-PODs AR$E all back to front then go ahead and get one of these!
But personally i think I'll just stick with my 5th gen player..

Now, besides I-tunes being a heap of junk, there are actually major problems with the I-POD itself.

Girls Aloud - Greatest Hits
Lenny Kravitz - Greatest Hits

These are listed in I-tunes as two COMPLETELY SEPARATE albums, all the ID3 data is correct for each song on both albums. when you play Lenny Kravitz - Greatest Hits from the 'cover flow' screen on the I-POD, it seems to think that you want to have a little blast of girls aloud in between each and every song! what a joke!

On top of that, around 5% of my MP3 collection simply will not play at all! a track will play for 10, 20, 30 seconds and then the I-POD just skips to the next one! when you play that track again and fast forward past the point that it skipped at- No probs! it'll play you the rest of that song as though nothing had ever happened. I can almost see this thing laughing at me saying "what? i didn't just skip a track"..

Serious faults, which i'm sure that Apple will fix with a firmware update after a few hundred thousand complaints.. but until then your stuck with a half finished I-POD.

iPod has certainly changed and improved my life, allowing me more listening time as well as providing opportunity to re-discover forgotten gems, thanks to Shuffle mode. The 160 is the best yet with excellent / better sound and more capacity. But of course one bummer is that there isn't really 160gb, there are about 147gb. Mine is already full and those extra 13gb would come in very handy. Even so, because I add about 100-300 songs per month, those 13gb and many future gbs are already booked up in advance. So, an urgent message to Steve Jobs: how about 300gb iPod for 2008? Please don't waste time with a 200 or 240. I urgently need a very big baby! Asap! Thanks very much.

iPod's in general are the best mp3 players you can get with very user friendly menu's. However for some of the "more mature generation" not so big on technology will find the click wheel a nightmare to navigate. For those people I recommend a shuffle as they are just a few very simple buttons.

The big thing i feel I need to comment on is the massive memory it has. This iPod is only for people interested on putting loads of movies and tv show's on this as, let's be honest, nobody would have as much as 40,000 songs to put on it. Anyway you would need about something like 80 movies on this to make it worth it. The 80GB is a struggle to fill up so think about 160GB. Your right, there is no point.

Great quality machine though with excellent sound from the headphones and excellent colours from the video playback