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Provides: Portable music, video, photo and game player

Developer: Apple Corp.

Minimum Requirements: USB 2.0 port, Mac OS X v10.4.8, iTunes v7.4

Retail Price: 80GB - $249.00; 160GB - $349.00

Availability: Out now

I believe it was They Might Be Giants who once observed that just because a song's old, that doesn't mean it's a classic. They're correct, of course, and far too many DJs and VJs and all other manner of Js make that mistake.

Now, we've got a classic iPod. Is it really classic? Well, it's the oldest, and I guess that's point, even if the only resemblance the iPod classic bears with the original is it's basic shape. But adding a new number in front of G was growing tiresome, and calling it the iPod "video" would become inaccurate, considering it's not the only iPod model that supports video. So, classic. Okay.

But what's new about the classic? The first thing you'll notice is the new look, now with the brushed metal appearance on the front in either silver or black; no more white. Both colors are better at repelling fingerprints than their predecessors, but not so with the back of the iPod, which is still the traditional chrome color that not only attracts smudges, but also scratches very easily. Even simply setting it on your desk and picking it up is likely to scratch the back of the iPod, so you'll either want to get a case as quickly as possible or line your desktop with velvet.

Also new to the design are slightly curved edges on the faceplate, which give it a sharper look and make it more comfortable to hold. Beyond that, you've pretty much got the same thing as the 5G iPod.

Inside, though, you'll see some welcome upgrades. Apple claims the battery now gives you 30 hours of music play time on a single charge with the 80GB version, 40 hours with the 160GB. The 80GB battery will get you five hours of video play, and the 160GB gets seven. Real world results will be less than that, of course, but it's still a big improvement over the 5G version. Remember that longer play time means fewer charges, and fewer charges means longer battery life before it dies completely. Perhaps it's because my 5G is almost two years old without a battery change, but I almost felt guilty for charging the iPod classic as often as I did, because I never got below half a charge to begin with. It's like I wasn't trusting it to do its job, and I could feel the battery resenting me.

The larger hard drive is also great, even if the 160GB model will be excessive for the majority of iPod users. 40,000 songs? I'm not sure there even are 40,000 songs. The 160GB will be useful if you're loading up the iPod classic with photos and videos, but even then that's 200 hours of video. Of course, at only $350, some users will find that having the extra space may be worth the additional $100.

No matter which model you get, there are a few other new perks to the iPod classic, most of which are found in the video interface. First, you've got the Cover Flow song selection, which allows you to flip through your music collection like flipping through CDs in a modern juke box. In order for this to work effectively, though, you need to have the album artwork for your music. If not, you just see a grey square with eighth notes on it. Even if you do have all of your artwork in place, Cover Flow isn't a great choice for navigation because it tends to stutter a lot and it's difficult to stop the flow precisely on the album you want. This feature is more about showing off the iPod than using it.

Similarly, there's a new feature that splits the screen in half and pans across the artwork as you select your music. Same with your videos. This is purely about aesthetics, but it does help give the iPod classic more of a video feel. The display is altered slightly as music's playing, too. The album artwork is now larger and skewed slightly, with the addition of the traditional Apple mirror fade underneath. The track number has moved underneath the rest of the song details, and your rating is now shown, as well. All of this is for the better.

Unfortunately, not all of the changes are. Once the top model in the iPod line-up, the iPod classic interface now feels antiquated next to that of the iPhone and iPod touch. And despite all the new video interface features, the screen remains at 2.5". This means that those with 5G iPods would be upgrading solely for the new look and the larger hard drive, and that's simply not enough to justify the cost.

In fact, those with 5G iPods should definitely not upgrade. Apple has made two huge, uncharacteristic, boneheaded blunders here. First, the iPod classic is incompatible with any games you've purchased and downloaded from the iTunes store. If all you've bought are iQuiz, Vortex and Klondike, no worries. Those come free on the classic. But none of the other games will work. This isn't the case with videos and music, of course, so it's really rather baffling.

Even worse, the TV Out feature doesn't work on any third party dock or cable that doesn't have an Apple Authentication Chip. What does this mean? The details can be found here, but the gist of it is that you'll no longer be able to watch iPod video on your TV with most third-party devices. So, if you've spent $150 on a DLO HomeDock Deluxe II, for example, too bad. Loser is you. There are some theories that this is a software issue that Apple will eventually fix, but don't take that chance. Wait until you know for sure before bothering with the upgrade. [Update: In early October, Apple did, indeed, address this issue with a software update (v1.0.2). I tested the new version with my DLO HomeDock Deluxe II, and the iPod classic's TV Out did work with that device.]

Still, that doesn't take away from the fact that the iPod classic is a streamlined, robust model that's easily your best iPod choice if you watch a lot of video or have a large music collection. Is it really a classic, though? No, and it probably won't become so with time. The game incompatibility and TV Out problems, though, maybe become two of Apple's classic blunders.

We'll see what They Might Be Giants have to say about it.

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