I have had this IPod for quite a while now and it's showing no signs of breaking anytime soon. I love music - I don't listen to my IPod every day though, as I work from home, but on train journeys into town, plane trips and just for those times you are on holiday and lazing by the pool this iPod has make time go very fast for me!

For me, the capacity of 80GB is plenty enough - I am not even using a quarter of that and I have a fair amount of music on it! If you however are using it for a lot of video perhaps a bigger spec one would help you out more. Although I suspect if you want to watch video on the go you'd get yourself an iPod with a bigger screen like the iPod Touch. But for me 80GB is more than enough. When you look at iTunes (the music transfer system - more on that below) it tells you how long your music would play for if you left the iPod on. I think mine is about 15 days (more than enough music for me) so I would say you could load on about 2-3 months worth of constant music before this 80GB capacity gets filled up!

For those who don't know, although I am sure you all do, iPod's hold digital music for listening to on the go. You use transfer software called iTunes which you download via a CD which comes with the iPod, and create a library of music, updating your iPod via a USB cable to transfer the songs onto your iPod. I find iTunes incredibly easy to use. They bring out too many updates though - seems like every week I get asked to update it! But aside from that, their purchasing methods are easy to set up and use, and it's also easy to transfer music from your own CDs onto iTunes. You can add playlists, sort your music and video into different lists, order it by artist or song title so if you also playing it through your PC everything is relatively easy to find (iTunes also coverts all your mp3 files into a compatible format). In iTunes you can also set all your songs to play at the same volume level so you don't get one quiet song and one louder song. It doesn't take that long to sync up either when you connect your iPod to your computer. I have a PC, I am not sure if it's the same with a Mac, I would imagine it's not as quick and easy though, as with most things to do with Mac!

I chose the iPod Classic rather than a Nano because the size was much better for me. I don't want a tiny little thing I am going to lose more easily thanks! Plus I am not a child, and I don't have child like hands so I want something which is easy for me to use and navigate. This did the trick. When this eventually breaks I will get an iPod Touch but for now this is just the ticket. The front of the iPod Classic has the standard click wheel that most iPods have which you use to scroll through your playlists and library - it's a good size and never feels fiddly to use. I hate touch screen personally, I am a girl and have finger nails and so touch screens would be of no use to me - far too slow and inefficient. You use the Menu button and the Skip buttons to also navigate your way through the menus - again all a good size and easy to function. The screen is big enough to see your playlists on, but like I said perhaps not an ideal size to be watching videos. I downloaded a few episodes of Friends to watch on long plane journeys and it is a strain to watch more than 2 episodes on this because the screen is so small! But for the amount I use it for video it doesn't really matter to me!

The back of the iPod is shiny silver and even though I used to put it in an empty pocket it still got scratched to pieces! I bought an iPod sock after that and found that it protected it from scratches well, but wasn't the best cover in the world for it. When I was abroad on holiday I found a great little Velcro pouch meant for a mobile phone that fits this perfectly, and now it's never out of it. Yes it's still scratched up on the back but it's my own fault I suppose and I don't really mind.

For me the sound quality is good for the size of the iPod - I can hear everything clearly and the standard volume settings are more than loud enough. There is an option to set a safety volume level on the iPod so you don't accidentally turn it up too loud and deafen yourself! May be a wise idea if you have kids who fiddle with things all the time! You get the standard white headphones with the iPod Classic - they are the normal in-ear ones and to be honest I find those the best ones. You can buy inner-ear ones which actually go right inside your ear which I hate - I find that whenever you move your head you hear the rustling sounds of the headphones moving around in your ear - much the same effect as when you wear ear-plugs. And they felt weird. And ones which go over your head just mess up your hair (lol). So the normal in-ear white headphones that come with the iPod are the best if you ask me.

If I am on holiday I generally take this and some portable speakers to play music in my apartment or hotel room, and still the sound is great! Most of that does come from the speakers granted, but I find the iPod very compatible with portable speakers which is another big bonus for me.

It looks sleek, it works a treat and the sound quality is great. Plus its easy to navigate and holds more music than you would ever probably need on a portable device! If you are looking for a good portable music player you have found a good one with the iPod Classic. Definitely recommended.