iPod classic first hands-on

And to round out the day's hardware hands-ons we wrapped our mitts around the new iPod classic. It's thin, it's solid, but it's still hard drive based, which for our flash-loving selves will always be kind of a bummer. But if you're the type that carries around 80 (or 160 friggin gigs) of media and you like to use iPods, this is the new king of the hill. (Photographed is the 80GB model, not the thicker 160GB iPod.) Unfortunately, tasks like Cover Flow ran about as (un)smoothly as on the nano, so if you're expecting a fully iPhone-like experience, don't get your hopes up.

P.S. -The new shuffles were difficult to find, but we also threw a couple shots of those in the gallery for good measure.

Gallery: iPod classic first hands-on

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[Yami @ Sep 5th 2007 3:28PM]

That silver is horrible. Really.

[Yami @ Sep 5th 2007 3:44PM]

I'm still in love with my iriver H10 really. Just bought some new headphones the other day to go with it, and really, who needs an iPod.

Is it me, or are those iPod's seem kinda rubbery. I prefered the sleek look of the previous gen to be honest, that some of my friends own.

[Hardcore @ Sep 5th 2007 4:21PM]

@tigs - He means "gay" in the sense that is used to describe something that is lame. If homosexual people can take the word 'gay' which originally meant having or showing a merry, lively mood and use it to mean homosexual. Why can't other people give the word a different meaning?

[Jeff @ Sep 5th 2007 5:28PM]

Easy way to rationalize pretty much any racial, ethnic or other type of slur. I think you've found a PC loophole! Or maybe not.

[Hardcore @ Sep 5th 2007 6:33PM]

Not true, most racial slurs began their life as racial slurs, this word had its meaning altered to describe a particular subset of the population.

[DC @ Sep 5th 2007 8:53PM]

I think they all look fugly. God, now the Zune's def got the lead.

[Borat @ Sep 6th 2007 1:55AM]

Only on a tech site would people use the word "gay" to describe something as lame. As if we needed more proof that techies were just immature folks. Whenever I hear some teenager use the word in that way I think it says a lot about that person.

[Glazun @ Sep 6th 2007 3:38AM]

Eh, but i know gay people who use the word gay when somethings lame. I know a lot of people who use the word. Gay as a term has multiple meanings.

Anyway, the new iPods look cool. Kinda bumbed that the touch didnt use a harddrive, I would've bought a new iPod if it was a 160gb touch screen ipod though the price would probably scare me away..

[Craig @ Sep 5th 2007 3:30PM]

you know, the 80gb ipod classic is the "perfect ipod" i've always wanted... a slim, single-platter hd ipod that will store at least 40gb of music (to match my old zen jukebox 3). now it's out (two years too late), and the ipod touch establishes a new definition for the "perfect ipod". if only it had a higher memory capacity.

[Tom White @ Sep 6th 2007 5:22AM]

I agree, I hope what they say about the navigation not running smoothly isn't too bad. I would have been happy with the old interface. This is the ipod I've been waiting for for years, the touch, for the moment is just a gimmick, with only 16GB storage. Once that has at least 40GB I may consider it.

[martin @ Sep 5th 2007 3:31PM]

hey i like! black espesh

[Afsheen @ Sep 5th 2007 3:31PM]

Damn. Today's Engadget has pushed the envelope past the kind of Apple coverage when the iPhone was coming out. Jeez. Fanboy much?

[Paul @ Sep 5th 2007 6:06PM]

Yeah, I mean, a popular electronics company launches a bunch of new products, and it's getting press on a gadget site? WTF? Jeez, next we're gonna start seeing plane crashes and election coverage on CNN.

[Vic @ Sep 5th 2007 3:31PM]

I feel totally overwhelemed reading all this info about ipods. I have an old 40GB "Color" "Photo" Ipod and I think it's time for me to waste some money and get an IPod touch. Damn you Apple!

[Outinthedark @ Sep 5th 2007 3:35PM]

Man I feel overwhelmed...! I just bought my 2nd iPod the other day [4gb 1pod nano 1st gen for nike+ipod]. I've been rocking out my now 5 year old 40gb that just kicked the bucket...

No thanks to the iPod touch...quite possibly I'll pick up the last gen ipod video...don't like this aluminum stuff...

[D @ Sep 5th 2007 3:33PM]

PLEASE -- TELL ME -- Is the screen plastic or glass? I've always hated how easily the iPod's screen scratches!

[eh @ Sep 5th 2007 4:53PM]

Exactly what I want to know, I hope endgadget can answer this in an "ipod round up" or whatever with thoughts and impressions. Theres a big difference between soft plastic that is usually used for ipods and scratch resistant glass used on phones.

[Seung-Hwan @ Sep 5th 2007 3:35PM]

The same crappy screen huh?
160GB would be great to use on a truly multimedia device that can play videos on a nice screen, but 160 GB is hardly useful for a device that plays only quicktime on a dimunitive screen.

[Homeboy @ Sep 5th 2007 4:04PM]

Yeah man.

You have to choose between.


Small screen + high capacity

or

Big screen + low capacity



Way to go Steve!!*NOT!!!*

[caramelzappa @ Sep 5th 2007 7:54PM]

Personally, I think even the ipod touch/iphone's screen is much too small to really watch videos on. the 160gb classic is perfect for people like me who have 116gb of music and want to carry it with them.

[reple @ Sep 6th 2007 2:15PM]

How long will it take to listen all 116 gigs of music?

[Justin @ Sep 6th 2007 3:14PM]

How long will it take to come back from a trip you're on when you realize you can't play some song for a friend because you didn't think to put it on your player before you left home?

[SFDJ @ Sep 6th 2007 4:47PM]

That's EXACTLY the point..... Apple is now trying to push people to have more than 1 iPod.... Touch for better viewing, Classic for carrying it all, Fat Nano for commute.... and finally a Shuffle for jogging.... Plus.... the costs are all over the map so EVERYONE in the family can have at least 1 iPod..... Not to mention all the fanboys who would probably have 2 or even 3 iPods

It's all about marketing...... Wake Up, People....... Steve's a marketing genius none the less.....

[Seung-Hwan @ Sep 6th 2007 5:00PM]

Well, that may well be what "the people" end up doing, but as for me, I already have a portable media player with a 4 inch screen that plays DIVX, XVID, WMV, and so on.
It's just really too bad. If they had given the Touch an 80GB, or even a 60GB and demanded $399, I would've gladly bought it.

Another truly disappointing thing was the lack of improvement on the UI.
Sure coverflow and all these things are nice, but what about ID3 editing on-the-fly?
What about being able to delete files?

Simply put, they did not innovate at all.
Touch is just a neutered iPhone, Classic just has more storage and Nano... well it just looks ugly so I will never even consider it.

[mrhammerstein @ Sep 5th 2007 3:37PM]

Without that expensive blu-ray player, this would be an entire front page of Apple news. Engadget is slipping. keep it up fanboys.

[Maverickfiveo @ Sep 5th 2007 5:58PM]

Heaven forbid that when major news in the tech gadget arena comes out, a tech gadget news site covers it thoroughly. I'm sure you complained that Engadget was all M$ when the Xbox 360 launched. If Apple is the biggest news (which gauging by their stock price, I'd say a few people seem to be interested in Apple lately,) then let a news group cover it and quit complaining. I'd rather have too much news than not enough. The search bar is a beautiful thing.

[Eric Leung @ Sep 6th 2007 1:15AM]

if engadget is slipping then stop reading it and leave, its your choice what you read, its their choice what they write

[Brian Spence @ Sep 5th 2007 3:39PM]

I'm pissed. I don't think this will work with the Nike Plus gear, even though the iPod Touch is Flash based!!!

Check it out:

http://www.apple.com/ipod/nike/

There's a picture of the new Nano over the shoes, and there's no mention of the iPod Touch, even though there is a mention of the iPod Nano being the only compatible version. This really, really sucks, because I was hoping the junk my nano and upgrade to this. DAMN IT!!!!!

[Will @ Sep 5th 2007 8:20PM]

Yep only Nano's (Look at the supported iPods at the bottom) http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=6C04E07A&nplm=MA365LL/B

[Rob @ Sep 5th 2007 3:42PM]

What products have a similar size and price as the 80gb Ipod?

[Phillip Black @ Sep 5th 2007 3:42PM]

I think this should satisfy the people that didn't like the 16GB on the touch. Try 160!

[Eineins @ Sep 5th 2007 3:42PM]

160 gb is over half inch thick I think the apple fan-boys call that a "brick"

[Mark @ Sep 5th 2007 3:44PM]

Does the iPod Camera Connector work with it? (and Nikon RAW files?)

[jc @ Sep 5th 2007 3:45PM]

Ugh, that silver is ugly!

I'm kinda disappointed that the cover-flow runs un-smoothly, I was looking forward to that. I also wanna see the 160gb next to the current 80gb (what I have now).

I don't think I'm going to buy this round, as nice as the Touch looks, the 16gb just isn't even close to cutting it for me.

[riggs @ Sep 5th 2007 3:46PM]

Whats with all the crappy looking screens?

[Zorque @ Sep 5th 2007 3:47PM]

Can we please stop taking design cues from the iPod Mini? Those things were horrible and it feels like we're regressing a little here.

[Jeff @ Sep 5th 2007 5:32PM]

Yeah, they were so bad that they were only Apple's #1 selling player at the time. And when they were replaced, a black market sprang up with them usually going for twice the retail price for a while.

And remember all those complaints about scratched nanos? How many of those complaints do you hear these days?

I was saying *two years ago* that if Apple was smart, they'd switch the entire iPod line to the mini casing. The mini was built like a tank, as is the current nano, as will be all these new iPods. You can run a truck over an iPod mini and it literally won't have a scratch on it. My wife's is now over 2 years old and she doesn't even use a case with it and it looks literally good as new.

[Inguz72 @ Sep 5th 2007 3:47PM]

The only thing that saddens me is the fact that now this is called "classic." With our insanely gluttonous, consumeristic American ways a product we would have considered insanely technologically advanced a few years back is now dubbed "classic". Hilarious. No wonder we're so fat with these crazy product cycles.

Go ahead boys keep artificially inflating a non-existent economy before it all goes down in flames.

[Luis @ Sep 5th 2007 3:49PM]

Why does Engadget favor Flash over HDD?

[Yami @ Sep 5th 2007 3:59PM]

Simple, because flash isn't going to die on you overnight. Flash has a lot less mechanical parts, it's lighter, starting to get cheaper now, and it's also smaller.

[Inguz72 @ Sep 5th 2007 4:06PM]

MY HDD 30gb one has already made the groaning sounds of impending death a couple of times.

[bryanthornsberry @ Sep 5th 2007 3:50PM]

Well. One step forward in capacity, three steps back in design. The fif-gens looked better. These look almost "old school" ipod.

[Paul @ Sep 5th 2007 6:08PM]

By "old school," I assume you mean, "classic..."

[Zal @ Sep 5th 2007 3:59PM]

The Archos 605 wifi is looking better every day.

[poood @ Sep 5th 2007 4:08PM]

umm.. what will happen to the iPod5G? will they update the software or keep it the same?

[eddy_88_nite @ Sep 5th 2007 4:10PM]

man that 160 gig...hold more than most of my friend's hard drives...I;m just a die hard sony fan...Can't get enough of their mp3 players XD

[Senor_Tom @ Sep 5th 2007 4:30PM]

i just got the 5.5G version, about 2 months before they announced this. I'm glad i didnt hold out. The only thing that inteersts me is the classic, but i don't want 80 gigs for a stupids price. I want 30 like i have. And making the cover flow un smooth is about as a good idea as the ipod touch. BAD. The nano isnt bad, but boy is t ugly. The capacity increase is good, but now it can take vids, its way too small.

[DooM @ Sep 5th 2007 4:36PM]

I'm not a fan of the paint. It looks like it should be a fishing lure or something.

[Ratchet the Lombax @ Sep 5th 2007 4:36PM]

Well I will definitely be getting the 160gb Pod "classic" since my 40gb is just about full. I really don't care about the video, internet of youtube features of the ipod touch. I just use mine for music anyway so the larger the hard drive the better plus the price is great.

[Dan F @ Sep 5th 2007 4:46PM]

Anyone know if there's a firmware update for 5g ipods to get the new interface?