Apple iPod classic 3rd Generation White (20 GB) MP3 Player

Before I begin, I must say, I am a complete geek when it comes to my technology purchases. It must be one of the best available, I must get it at a lower price then retail, and it must be able to meet AND exceed my needs, meaning I need it to have some features I think I'll use eventually....even though I end up never using those features at all....sad but true. I also get a kick out of researching various products available with similair features, and reading reviews and opinions on sites like Epinions and various discussion forums before I settle down and ultimately make my final purchase.

I started in the MP3 world with a Compaq Ipaq that came with a 64 MB postage stamp size MM Card, and an extra slot to fit another card in there for additional storage. It was a great device while it lasted, nice for the gym, hiking, good for limited music quanitities and short trips. the size was great, it could fit anywhere, but the sound quality was a bit tinny and again the storage was so limited. The past few years, PDA's have been released with MP3 playback ability, but again quantity is limited, and I wasn't bringing my Palm unit into any gym or hiking trails in fear of breaking it. I eventually lost my Ipaq cable, couldn't find a replacement, Ipaqs were discontinued when HP purchased Compaq and I felt I wanted an up to date MP3 player and the search began.

I was skeptical of Hard Drive players because of reviews and discussions mentioning skipping and poor battery life. But I was interested in the unbelievably large storage capacity. When I had the Ipaq I had been transferring a lot of my music selection to my PC and converting all my music to files so I could regularly change the selections. Then I came across Sony Minidisc and tried it out. Great Sound quality, the discs were cheap, but I didn't like that I would still have to keep many discs available so I would have to keep switching.....I could do this with CD's. I even tried just using MP-3 CDs but again, it still wasnt convenient enough because I would still have to switch CD's in the car, and the size of CD/MP3 players were larger and too fragile. So I returned the Minidisc player and researched further.

The final selling point for me on a hard drive based player was the ability to transfer every CD I own to 1 small unit. My car was a mess with all the CD's I had all over the place in my visor, armrest storage, back seat, map pockets, etc. The pros far outweighed the cons and the other players with longer battery life were too limited on quantity so my mind was set. So as I researched which storage capacity would be good enough I completed my CD library transfer to my PC. 13 Gigs of music. I was going for the 20 GIG drive.

I looked at Archos and RCA Video players which were pricey, large, and again very fragile looking. Besides, I have PDA's that could do small videos if I wanted. For what I was looking for I narrowed my search down to Rio Karma, and Apple IPOD. The Karma was nice, but the look, feel, and ease of use, along with the support and quality sold me on the Ipod. I went to Best Buy and every other store in the local area and got frustrated and that everyone was sold out. As disappointed as I was, this was saying something about the product, so I went to bestbuy.com and looked up stores that had it in stock. I found and called a local Best Buy that had one that was open Box. Normally I am shy away from that, but I wanted one bad, and they offer a good no questions asked return policy if it broke. It was also extremely cheap compared to brand new so at $319.99 with a $39.99 replacement plan, I bought it.

The packaging was really cool, a cube shaped box and indiviual parts protected by styrofoam. It had the Ipod unit, headphones, a cradle, AC adaptor, a firewire cable, a remote control, and a case with a belt clip. I took everything out powered up the Ipod and loved the touch of it even more then when I looked at it in the store. Really ultra modern look and feel. I installed the software, plugged it in, and nothing happened. AUGH! my thoughts instantly went to this is why I don't buy open Box. I perservered though and hoped it wasn't the unit itself. I went to Apple.com and found a service center Apple store 10 minutes away. I brought it there, and they diagnosed and replaced the cable for me free of charge. This quickly impressed me about their service. I quickly went home and tried again.

This time everything happened fast and almost immediate. It took less then 5 minutes for Itunes software to tranfer everything into my Ipod, and it was ready to go so fast. I navigated through the menus and found myself impressed with the customization of it all. I also had a function that could sink my phone numbers and appointments for fast lookup and alarms for my calendar. I never even opened my earbuds as I have Sony earbuds already, and the music quality impressed me. CD Quality, excellent bass, this was just indescribably perfect for me. I could search my music by browsing artists, song titles, Album, I put together playlists with entire bands music collections, and mixes. This was definitely a keeper for years to come. Only 1 disappointment was volume....I like it loud and it gets loud but is a little bit limited.

Accessorys:
I purchased the Belkin car adaptor which acts as a mini amp, it has a jack where I plug it into the cigarette lighter and amplifies the music for crystal clear sound through my cassette adaptor and charges the Ipod as I listen and drive. I use the remote to switch songs so I don't have to take my eyes off the road. I purchased a leather case with a plastic windows and cutouts so I can navigate the ipod without removing it from the case. I also got a battery powered mini speaker so I could listen to it on my desk at work.

Musically, there is nothing I can't do with this unit, it is a fantastic piece of equipment. I plugged it into my home stereo and it sounds as great as if I put a CD in a player. I also plan to upgrade my car stereo soon, I will be having the installer put an adaptor in the back of the head unit that could plug into my belkin car adaptor and play the music as an auxillary component to bypass using any cassette adaptors and heighten the sound quality. My Ipod allowed me to remove every CD from my car and keep them at home leaving plenty of much needed storage available in my car.

As far as battery life, I had this thing running straight through at one point for 9 hours and the battery meter had no bars left, yet it was still playing.

The only negatives I could really point out are that it could scratch easily. The battery meter is inconsistent, I never really get a solid reading on how much life is left. That is forgivable because for the most part I have it charging either in the cradle at home or in the car charger.

I hope you get what you want out of this review as I try to point out my ridiculously extreme scrutinizing of everything available before I put my money into the final purchase. Good luck and happy Ipodding.