Is an iPod Classic still a good buy?

[Hermiod]

There are many "legitimate" videos in DivX/XviD format, I have stacks of them on this PC, mostly machinima.

Which could have been distributed in MP4 format just as easily.

 

[The Evil Dead]

I had an iPod "Classic" for several years, but it constantly broke on me, so I switched brands and have been totally satisfied with my Creative Zen ever since.

The GUI is better on the iPod but I love the sound quality and flash memory cards of the Zen.

 

[S. Gomez]

I wish Apple could have left the 80GB version, then I would snap it up without a second thought.

Well, the 120 GB costs the same as the 80 GB did last week. So really, they did keep the 80, and just threw in some more space for free.

But, as I said to the guy looking for the 160 GB, you can still get refurbished units.

They're in perfect condition and covered by the exact same warranty as brand new ones.

The 80 GB classic is going for $189 (CAN $) compared to $249 (CAN $) for the new 120 GB.

So you can save some money by going that way. The link is at the bottom of the store page on apple.com

Man, I must be getting slower in my, um, early twenties. I never thought of that. Definitely an option if I don't mind waiting a tad... though I have to make sure it will arrive before I leave. Have people had good experiences buying refurbished Apple products? (That one's a general question.)

I stopped by the Apple store after a visit to the library today, to have a look at the iPods in real life. I'm pretty much sold on the Classic now; the Nano just isn't comfortable to handle with my big thumbs. I can do it, but it feels a lot weirder than the Classic. So refurbished or new, that's the one I'm going to get I think.

Something else I've been wondering: Do the audiobooks on iTunes come split up into tracks or are they just one long one? I'm not sure because they only list the one track on the store.

 

[ATimson]

Have people had good experiences buying refurbished Apple products? (That one's a general question.)

Well, I haven't bought any myself, but I haven't heard any bad things to date from those who have.

Something else I've been wondering: Do the audiobooks on iTunes come split up into tracks or are they just one long one? I'm not sure because they only list the one track on the store.

There's only one track listed in the menu, but you can still chapter-skip within the book, and it remembers where you were if you decide to go listen to something else and start it again later.

 

[firehawk12]

Yeah, those are called enhanced MP3s.

 

[Starbreaker]

I bought a 40g Video on ebay for $150. I think that's a pretty good deal.

 

[Bloodwhiner]

Do the audiobooks on iTunes come split up into tracks or are they just one long one? I'm not sure because they only list the one track on the store.

Most of the itunes audiobooks are from audible.com - those come broken into multiple downloads.

I much prefer to get audiblebooks directly from audible.com rather than itunes. Audible's individualized library storage is vastly superior to itunes. downloads automatically download and import into itunes. You can change download types and re-download at any time of your choosing. It also won't let you buy the same book twice.

 

[S. Gomez]

I got it! I settled on 120GB Classic. Pretty sexy.

I still have to get a case and a power adapter; they were all out at the Apple Store.

 

[gh4chiefs]

I had an iPod "Classic" for several years, but it constantly broke on me, so I switched brands and have been totally satisfied with my Creative Zen ever since.

If I may ask, in what way did it "constantly break on you?" The reason I'm asking is I have a "classic" as well that's a couple of years old or so, and I've had a numerous problems with freezes ups. Lately it's been running smooth, but some time back, I was about to give up on it.

So I'm curious as to what kind of problems other users are having. I've got my eye on a Touch, but I'm a little skittish of Apple products after having numerous issues with this one.

 

[Ruaidhri]

I had an iPod "Classic" for several years, but it constantly broke on me, so I switched brands and have been totally satisfied with my Creative Zen ever since.

If I may ask, in what way did it "constantly break on you?" The reason I'm asking is I have a "classic" as well that's a couple of years old or so, and I've had a numerous problems with freezes ups. Lately it's been running smooth, but some time back, I was about to give up on it.

So I'm curious as to what kind of problems other users are having. I've got my eye on a Touch, but I'm a little skittish of Apple products after having numerous issues with this one.

I've had an 80gb classic for almost two years now, and I'm actually on my third one, because I've had battery problems. The first time was right before the initial warranty was up, and they replaced it. At that point I extended the warranty another year, and I'm glad I did so because at the beginning of this month the exact same thing happened. Again, the Apple retail store replaced it for free.

The second one did have a tendency to freeze every now and then, usually with the hard drive in a constant state of motion (which surely wasn't good for the battery), but resetting it always did the trick. One of the geniuses at the Apple store told me that if you tend to skip a lot of songs it makes the hard drive work more, sapping the battery, and that you have to be careful when charging the 80gb because it heats up A LOT, so I was advised to never charge it while it was in its protector sleeve or case. The hard drive units really need the chance to radiate the heat, or again it could damage the battery life.

Even with the issues I think it's a nice piece of hardware, though 80gb is a tad excessive for me. The 30 would have sufficed.

 

[Chess Piece Face]

Wow. I can't believe all these posts acting like you have to jump through a million hoops to use video on an iPod. I have an iPod, an appletv, and a dedicated video server using iTunes...all of which I have used Ripped DVDs, downloaded torrents and legally purchased downloads with ZERO problems.

WTF? It's all just a click or two.