When I got tired of using a small & cheap mp3 player, I looked around for something that could accomodate such a large and varied collection of music, as well as play it to a quality standard. Upon searching for a 'big capacity mp3 player' around certain sites, Apple's iPod Classic usually topped the list. With the massive leaps in space, there isn't much middle ground, going from around 2-16GB of space to a whopping 60-160GB, which leaves you with the choice of whether to go for a fairly cheap alternative and shift songs about when your taste inevitably changes or spend the cash on the real deal. The big worrying point is that if you're going to spend such a large amount of money on a luxury like this, what are the chances of it breaking, through accident or fault? Sure you can get it covered by insurance or warranty, but thats going to cost you even more. So perhaps on that basis, expensive gear like this would benefit a real music aficionado, who'd really get a lot of use out of it because if you aren't going to use it often, it becomes an expensive pocket brick, and if you aren't going to make use of the space, you are not worthy and you've wasted your money.

The 160GB iPod Classic is a sweet gadget that boasts superior capacity over almost any other alternative. Being an Apple product, its always going to look like a clean, modern bit of tech and you can be pretty certain it won't be made from inferior materials, more like unicorn hooves and dragon teeth at such a high price, but still reliable. Its often reported that many have dropped their iPods, only for them to appear undamaged, something reassuring, but still a reason to purchase a leather or silicone case (Recommended). Upon opening your very well designed iPod box, the first thing you'll notice is that switching tracks can make a worrying laser like sound (which is fairly subtle). Do not fret however as this is a common harddrive noise. Something else that may be a troubling cause for concern is the uncommon event of freezing. My first experience of this is most likely similar to everyone else's - iPod froze after connecting to a laptop via USB, looked up in the manual how to reset (hold middle circle and then menu button), witnessed the apple logo, then sweet relief in hearing Al Green's 'Let's Stay Together'.

Transferring songs by the thousands is merely a simple chore if you don't mind using iTunes and tracks are easily edited and arranged into playlists if you have any experience or patience with it. Consequently it is the reliance on a computer that proves to be the iPods biggest weakness. Once tracks are on the thing, you can't delete them until your next session in iTunes, same goes for playlists as you can only add them to a default 'On The Go'. Sure there is the option of 'Recently Played/Added' and 'Top 25 Most Played' but eventually you may want a more personal touch, something 'Genius' fails at. This however isn't a glaring negative, just a little annoyance, and because of it, the battery never seems to run out connecting it all the time, at least it doesn't if you are always expanding your musical horizons and currently preferred songs. Volume is fine with a handy limiter to set incase you have sensitive ears, you also get the usual 'EQ's' featuring pre-mapped frequencies and customisable ones. A slight criticism is that the volume's quietest sound is still too audible and not the best if you like sleeping with music on. (You can find a pair of earphones that have the small volume control to adjust this)

A large harddrive also provides various media capabilities - viewing photographs and films, alarm clocks & stopwatch, calendar, audiobooks, notes and some average music inspired games. Not especially necessary applications but they're there if you want them. An unusual feature is the on/off state it appears to be in, turning on in a second via any button but also activating when the headphone jack is inserted (a feature that can be switch off). Comes with your standard lock switch so's not to get up to anything in your pocket when out and about. The 'Cover Flow' may be a little slow sometimes but is a pleasant addition to have along with all the other selections that iTunes has to offer. In summary it meets all your music needs and makes them look pretty at the same time (if you have no complaints/vices about/against iTunes) with the only downside being your worrying state of mind if something goes wrong.