Big Bang for the Buck

Over the past two months I have read reviews for the various ipod speaker docks as well as tested several in stores. I'm not sure you'll find many comparable to this one especially in this price range. I agree with the previous review that you will have to adjust the EQ on your ipod to boost the treble otherwise the bass can become overpowering with some types of music. If you're looking for simple design with surprising sound this is the one. I owned a portable speaker dock prior to this and ended up parting with it. Although I can't fold this down and put it in a case to take it wherever I go the sound quality far outweighs the portable ability.More detail ...

great case

great case stylish very nice i bought it its cool. if u buy it get a screen cover b/c it dont have one but its ok. i love it 10/10.

reasonable price!More detail ...

Great Concept; Design Flaw; Bad Customer Service

I bought this product for my boat. The idea was to jack into the AUX of my boat's car stereo have TuneView Dock plug into that and remotely control the iPod out on the deck via the TuneView remote.



Initially it seemed to work fine. I even updated the firmware without a hitch. However near the middle of the boating season for me (May-September) I noticed that the batteries housed in the unit (2 AA) started to rattle around and if I shook it they'd easily lose their connection and the remote would go black.



I opened the battery door and looked a little closer. It appears that the actual housing for the AA batteries is physically larger than it should be and and the battery terminals have the sole purpose of holding the batteries in place - and thus keeping the power source in tact. This is a pretty serious design flaw. What ends up happening is that over time those slim metal terminals bend (its not like they are spring-loaded) and eventually the two AA batteries just jostle around in there and its up to the alignment of the moon and stars whether you end up getting power. I tried bending the terminals forward. This is a hack and did not work in the end...as one of them just broke.



Here's my other issue with the unit: about a month after I had it a black horizontal line showed up on the LCD and would not go away.



Now here's my big issue with the company: Keyspan was purchased by Tripp Lite recently (2008). I bought the unit summer 2007. I *should* have contacted Keyspan immediately when I started to have issues...but I did not and this is my fault.



I contacted Tripp Lite support and I was told that I could ship the unit to them at my expense and if they thought I had dropped it then they would simply return it to me. I explained that I felt the battery terminal issue was a design flaw and I failed to see how that could ever be the result of dropping the unit and they told me that "Past experience has shown us the bent battery terminals is sometimes a tale (sic) tale sign of the unit being dropped."



Given that and the fact that I was 2 months past the 1 yr warranty I did not ship it back. They indicated that if it was not in the 1 yr period they were not liable to do anything anyway. I can understand that and it is my fault for not taking more timely action but still...I paid $170 USD for this thing and now it is pretty much worthless.



One end of the battery terminals is a removable piece that I can probably re-inforce. The other side is soldered to the PCB so I have fewer options there.



I felt compelled to post my experience here so others would be warned. I really feel the customer service at Tripp Lite could have taken the high-road here but they chose not to. Your mileage may vary.More detail ...

control dock for ipod and more

the denon control dock for my ipod exceeds my expectations. it was the only dock that i found with a GUI so i could manage all my pictures and music on my 160 GB ipod through my tv. another great feature of the dock is having an ehternet port allowing access to over 7000 internet radio stations. the remote control is small and has all the functions i could ever want. in my opinion this control dock is one heck of a buy!More detail ...

The New Firmware seems to have ironed out A LOT of the bugs others have talked about!

**Before you read some of the negative reviews please consider this was BEFORE the new firmware update 1.0.3 came out so unfortunately they had unresponsive clickwheels itunes messing up etc. Also some people simply did NOT upgrade their firmware for whatever reason but A LOT of those problems have been fixed with the new firmware so UPGRADE YOUR FIRMWARE AS SOON AS YOU GET YOUR IPOD! It will make a BIG difference!**



Ok on to the review..I just got my 80 gb ipod classic recently with a 3 year extended service plan immediately got itunes version 7.5 and upgraded the firmware immediately to 1.0.3 which seems to have taken care of A LOT of bugs people have been reporting. It must have because I am not getting ANY of the problems other have reported such as laggy clickwheel itunes freezing etc. The clickwheel is VERY responsive only a light touch is needed and scrolling through cover art was very quick! No problems whatsoever with the clickwheel. I also have had no problems copying files to itunes and transferring them to my ipod. The ipod itself is a thing of beauty love the non scratchable surface but the back of the ipod is where you can see all the fingerprints etc so get a good cover for it. The slimness of it is very sleek and heck this ipod just looks cool. I got the ipod up and running in no time after I transferred my music over. Love the search feature as well. There is a lot of features settings and extra's. Heck I even like the clock.



PLEASE NOTE:TURN OFF & DON'T use the EQ (equalizer setting)if you want normal distortion free sound. I was using the EQ and wondered why a lot of my songs had distortion. I thought it was due to the bad sound everyone was talking about until I turned OFF the EQ. Upon turning the EQ off the distortion vanished completely the sound was just fine pretty good in fact. It's a shame that you have to turn off the EQ settings to get good sound. Hopefully Apple will fix this with a firmware update.



I almost got one of the itouch ipods but the very limited space is what kept me from doing so. 80 gb is plenty of space for my music a bit of videos etc. It might not have wifi or a touch screen but it's got tons of space for my music and that's what counts! I love my ipod classic can't find much to be picky about except for the sound when EQ is enabled. It does exactly what it's supposed to is easy to navigate videos look crisp/great on it and most of all it holds a crapload of music. Just remember to upgrade your firmware to the newest version disable EQ and invest in a good pair of headphones. One of the best things about the ipod classic is that because it has so much space I don't have to worry about how many mp3's I put on it. I've never downloaded so many mp3's in my life! I literally put my entire collection of mp3's on it and still have tons of space left. Overall I rate the ipod classic 80 gb (black)...absolutely superb.More detail ...

Nice compact ipod speaker system

My husband bought me this system for my birthday a little while back. I wanted something to play my ipod on that had decent sound quality but I did not want an alarm clock type system which was pretty much the only thing I could find where I live (small town). While the description says that this has an alarm clock thankfully it is not the main function (I'm sure it works fine but I haven't even bothered to set the time as it usually doesn't show on the screen anyway).



First off the SC-HC3 has a very small footprint. It is extremely thin for a system and could easily fit on a bookshelf or mantle which was important to me; I didn't want something large and bulky since I wanted to put it in the dining room and kitchen area of my house.



It has an ipod dock and CD player which both are covered by a sliding panel another plus since I have pets and did not want the fur to get into the ipod docking area when not in use. The ipod can play while the panel is open so you can scroll back and forth manually or you can use the remote control that comes with the system. And the part that covers the ipod is a dark plastic but see-through when the ipod is on so you can see what song is playing. The part of the panel that covers the CD is metalic silver and not see-through. There are system buttons on the top so the front of the stereo looks very clean and not cluttered and they're simple and straightforward to use.



Now I'm not one of those people who can tell you if the music comes across pure or crisp or robust or is highly superior to another system. But I do think that for the most part it does sound good not hollow or too much bass and it does sound clear.



The only complaint that I really have with it has to do with the ipod dock though. It has a pivoting dock connector that pops forward to help you put the ipod in. I have an ipod touch and with it being so thin it is sometimes hard to get it to connect on the first (or tenth) try. There is definitely plenty of room in there for larger ipods which might fit better. And then (this might be just the system I got) every once in a while the connection didn't fit right and when the music plays there is sometimes static during the song. At first I thought it was that the song had been corrupted at some point but the static would happen between songs and when I paused it. And since it sounded like radio static I thought that something was wrong and the radio was playing through the system while I had the ipod on. Then I realized that it was the dock. When I pulled the ipod out and placed it back in the static disappeared. Not a huge deal since I try to remember to make sure it is firmly on and I've only had that problem a few times and it's now been a while and like I said it could just be the one I got. If it continues I'll probably exchange it. UPDATE: It's been a few months and it hasn't happened since.



But overall it is a nice system that doesn't take up much room and is mainly for music not an alarm clock.More detail ...

The New Firmware seems to have ironed out A LOT of the bugs others have talked about!

**Before you read some of the negative reviews please consider this was BEFORE the new firmware update 1.0.3 came out so unfortunately they had unresponsive clickwheels itunes messing up etc. Also some people simply did NOT upgrade their firmware for whatever reason but A LOT of those problems have been fixed with the new firmware so UPGRADE YOUR FIRMWARE AS SOON AS YOU GET YOUR IPOD! It will make a BIG difference!**



Ok on to the review..I just got my 80 gb ipod classic recently with a 3 year extended service plan immediately got itunes version 7.5 and upgraded the firmware immediately to 1.0.3 which seems to have taken care of A LOT of bugs people have been reporting. It must have because I am not getting ANY of the problems other have reported such as laggy clickwheel itunes freezing etc. The clickwheel is VERY responsive only a light touch is needed and scrolling through cover art was very quick! No problems whatsoever with the clickwheel. I also have had no problems copying files to itunes and transferring them to my ipod. The ipod itself is a thing of beauty love the non scratchable surface but the back of the ipod is where you can see all the fingerprints etc so get a good cover for it. The slimness of it is very sleek and heck this ipod just looks cool. I got the ipod up and running in no time after I transferred my music over. Love the search feature as well. There is a lot of features settings and extra's. Heck I even like the clock.



PLEASE NOTE:TURN OFF & DON'T use the EQ (equalizer setting)if you want normal distortion free sound. I was using the EQ and wondered why a lot of my songs had distortion. I thought it was due to the bad sound everyone was talking about until I turned OFF the EQ. Upon turning the EQ off the distortion vanished completely the sound was just fine pretty good in fact. It's a shame that you have to turn off the EQ settings to get good sound. Hopefully Apple will fix this with a firmware update.



I almost got one of the itouch ipods but the very limited space is what kept me from doing so. 80 gb is plenty of space for my music a bit of videos etc. It might not have wifi or a touch screen but it's got tons of space for my music and that's what counts! I love my ipod classic can't find much to be picky about except for the sound when EQ is enabled. It does exactly what it's supposed to is easy to navigate videos look crisp/great on it and most of all it holds a crapload of music. Just remember to upgrade your firmware to the newest version disable EQ and invest in a good pair of headphones. One of the best things about the ipod classic is that because it has so much space I don't have to worry about how many mp3's I put on it. I've never downloaded so many mp3's in my life! I literally put my entire collection of mp3's on it and still have tons of space left. Overall I rate the ipod classic 80 gb (black)...absolutely superb.More detail ...

The New Firmware seems to have ironed out A LOT of the bugs others have talked about!

**Before you read some of the negative reviews please consider this was BEFORE the new firmware update 1.0.3 came out so unfortunately they had unresponsive clickwheels itunes messing up etc. Also some people simply did NOT upgrade their firmware for whatever reason but A LOT of those problems have been fixed with the new firmware so UPGRADE YOUR FIRMWARE AS SOON AS YOU GET YOUR IPOD! It will make a BIG difference!**



Ok on to the review..I just got my 80 gb ipod classic recently with a 3 year extended service plan immediately got itunes version 7.5 and upgraded the firmware immediately to 1.0.3 which seems to have taken care of A LOT of bugs people have been reporting. It must have because I am not getting ANY of the problems other have reported such as laggy clickwheel itunes freezing etc. The clickwheel is VERY responsive only a light touch is needed and scrolling through cover art was very quick! No problems whatsoever with the clickwheel. I also have had no problems copying files to itunes and transferring them to my ipod. The ipod itself is a thing of beauty love the non scratchable surface but the back of the ipod is where you can see all the fingerprints etc so get a good cover for it. The slimness of it is very sleek and heck this ipod just looks cool. I got the ipod up and running in no time after I transferred my music over. Love the search feature as well. There is a lot of features settings and extra's. Heck I even like the clock.



PLEASE NOTE:TURN OFF & DON'T use the EQ (equalizer setting)if you want normal distortion free sound. I was using the EQ and wondered why a lot of my songs had distortion. I thought it was due to the bad sound everyone was talking about until I turned OFF the EQ. Upon turning the EQ off the distortion vanished completely the sound was just fine pretty good in fact. It's a shame that you have to turn off the EQ settings to get good sound. Hopefully Apple will fix this with a firmware update.



I almost got one of the itouch ipods but the very limited space is what kept me from doing so. 80 gb is plenty of space for my music a bit of videos etc. It might not have wifi or a touch screen but it's got tons of space for my music and that's what counts! I love my ipod classic can't find much to be picky about except for the sound when EQ is enabled. It does exactly what it's supposed to is easy to navigate videos look crisp/great on it and most of all it holds a crapload of music. Just remember to upgrade your firmware to the newest version disable EQ and invest in a good pair of headphones. One of the best things about the ipod classic is that because it has so much space I don't have to worry about how many mp3's I put on it. I've never downloaded so many mp3's in my life! I literally put my entire collection of mp3's on it and still have tons of space left. Overall I rate the ipod classic 80 gb (black)...absolutely superb.More detail ...

My favorite iPod to date. (A.K.A. The iPod Apple should've released in 2007.)

NOTICE: This review is for the NEW 2009 160GB iPod Classic NOT the 2007 160GB iPod Classic!



The new 160GB iPod Classic is easily Apple Inc.'s best iPod to date and out of all of the iPods that I own this is my favorite.



First the capacity of this iPod is simply unbeatable. I've yet to see another portable media player that can match the iPod Classic in capacity. I have a huge music library and it's nice to be able to carry every song that I own on my person at all times. What's more thanks to the iPod Classic's capacity I also have room to carry a few videos with me and some of my photos. If you don't like having to pick which songs to load onto your portable media player the iPod Classic is the way to go.



The second thing that I love about this iPod can be summed up in two words: it works. The 160GB iPod Classic that was introduced in 2007 was extremely buggy had a non-responsive Clickwheel on many units crashed frequently and required a hit-and-miss firmware update to stop the hard drive from spinning even when the device was "off" which often lead to dead batteries. All of these problems left the 2007 160GB iPod Classic warming shelves and earning it the infamous "honor" of being the "worst selling iPod ever" according to Apple. I'm pleased to say that the new 160GB iPod Classic released earlier this month has virtually none of these problems. There's no "spinning hard drive bug" the Clickwheel is incredibly responsive and the device isn't crash-prone. While it's true that many of these issues were fixed with last year's iPod Classic there hasn't been a truly functional 160GB model until now. To put it bluntly this is the iPod that Apple should've released in 2007.



Another thing that I really like about this iPod and the iPod Classic in general is it's ability to double as an external hard drive. While I believe that the iPod Nano is also capable of this the only iPod that really has enough space to function as an external hard drive is the iPod Classic. The hard drive functionality admittedly reduces the number of devices I have to carry on me at any given time. If you regularly work with large files and are considering a new iPod the iPod Classic is the way to go plain and simple.



So what are the caveats? Well for starters as with every other iPod Classic this is a hard-drive (rather than flash-memory) based device. As a result it has moving parts which make it unsuitable for running or any physical activity that exerts mechanical shock onto the iPod. Unless you exercise constantly with your iPod though this really shouldn't be an issue. The only other caveat which is more of personal taste than an actual flaw that I can find is that Apple has not made any cosmetic changes to this device since they introduced it in 2007. Now don't get me wrong the point of an iPod "Classic" is to retain the "Classic" design but after seeing how much better a black Clickwheel looks on the silver iPod Nano I'd have thought that Apple would have given the silver iPod Classic a black Clickwheel as well. However I admit that this is entirely my personal preference and not a "flaw" per se. I've put a quick list of pros and cons together which can be seen below:





Pros: Largest iPod Capacity-wise long battery life "Genius" feature excellent value for your money well-built doubles as an external hard drive and improvements to Cover Flow.



Cons: Hard Drive (rather than Flash memory) based storage medium; device is cosmetically identical to the 2007 80GB model. (I still don't understand why Apple hasn't colored the Clickwheel black on the silver model to match the iPod Nano.)



Finally I would highly recommend this product which is why it gets five stars from me. I don't like the iPod Nano; it's too small for my hands and the screen is too small for my eyes. While the iPod Touch may have app store access and Wi-Fi I find it to be a really gimmicky device that makes for a poor portable media player (Apple was wise to position it as a handheld game system) and is really an "iPhone without a phone." In contrast the iPod Classic is an excellent portable media player it has an excellent interface and it only costs $249 dollars. To put things in perspective the 2009 160GB iPod Classic costs $70 dollars more than a 16GB iPod Nano and $150 dollars less than a 64GB iPod Touch. All in all I highly recommend this product.More detail ...

The Original - Survives

The updated iPod Classic was probably the least exciting of the new iPods announced in the September 2008 update but that does not mean it should be dismissed.



I own the 160 GB iPod Classic that has now been discontinued but there are few differences (perhaps the biggest being the much slimmer shape of this 120 model) and I did get to check this updated 120 GB version out at the store when picking up the new nano and touch.



Firstly the 120 GB version is again smaller than the largest capacity available last year but it is a single platter hard drive which allows it to maintain the slim shape of the 80 GB version from last year. More storage a hundred dollars less and just as small. That is progress despite calls from others that the classic isn't exciting. It still serves its purpose as the original iPod idea. Big capacity in a simple to use device.



Next the software has been slightly updated on the iPod Classic. It now includes Genius like iTunes and the other new iPods. This allows you when on a song you enjoy to select the genius feature. The iPod will then compile a list of songs (playlist) which goes together with the original song you were listening to. This helps you rediscover music in your library with a playlist to fit your mood at the time. I have been using the genius feature for a few days now and it is impressive the way it compiles these playlists. I was skeptical but overall it does a good job. Furthermore as another review mentioned the iPod does seem more responsive with this update from what I saw at the store compared to my original 160 GB iPod Classic. Some speculation has been that the older iPod Classics will receive the software update of this new one but I'm not holding my breath on that.



Overall the original iPod concept was so good and that is why the iPod Classic is still a solid choice for a music and media player. It will hold thousands and thousands of songs (up to 30000 according to Apple at 128 bitrate). I also backup some important files to my iPod Classic in disk mode so that I have that additional extra copy of my most vital files. When you have such a large iPod you can do that. It shouldn't be forgotten either that while the display of the iPod Classic isn't as good as the iPod Touch or iPhone it is still quite good and you can play music videos TV shows and movies purchased on the iTunes Store.



Battery life for this new 120 GB model improved over the 80GB model from last year. Apple now estimates it at 36 hours audio and 6 hours video.



I'd recommend the iPod Classic without hesitation to those who have more than 8 or 16 GBs of music in their iTunes library and want to carry their entire collection. Furthermore if you have videos and video podcasts you want to always carry with you again you can't beat the storage. I have the lower capacity flash devices as well but the big hard drive based iPod Classic continues to play an important role in my iPod Collection.More detail ...

The Original - Survives

The updated iPod Classic was probably the least exciting of the new iPods announced in the September 2008 update but that does not mean it should be dismissed.



I own the 160 GB iPod Classic that has now been discontinued but there are few differences (perhaps the biggest being the much slimmer shape of this 120 model) and I did get to check this updated 120 GB version out at the store when picking up the new nano and touch.



Firstly the 120 GB version is again smaller than the largest capacity available last year but it is a single platter hard drive which allows it to maintain the slim shape of the 80 GB version from last year. More storage a hundred dollars less and just as small. That is progress despite calls from others that the classic isn't exciting. It still serves its purpose as the original iPod idea. Big capacity in a simple to use device.



Next the software has been slightly updated on the iPod Classic. It now includes Genius like iTunes and the other new iPods. This allows you when on a song you enjoy to select the genius feature. The iPod will then compile a list of songs (playlist) which goes together with the original song you were listening to. This helps you rediscover music in your library with a playlist to fit your mood at the time. I have been using the genius feature for a few days now and it is impressive the way it compiles these playlists. I was skeptical but overall it does a good job. Furthermore as another review mentioned the iPod does seem more responsive with this update from what I saw at the store compared to my original 160 GB iPod Classic. Some speculation has been that the older iPod Classics will receive the software update of this new one but I'm not holding my breath on that.



Overall the original iPod concept was so good and that is why the iPod Classic is still a solid choice for a music and media player. It will hold thousands and thousands of songs (up to 30000 according to Apple at 128 bitrate). I also backup some important files to my iPod Classic in disk mode so that I have that additional extra copy of my most vital files. When you have such a large iPod you can do that. It shouldn't be forgotten either that while the display of the iPod Classic isn't as good as the iPod Touch or iPhone it is still quite good and you can play music videos TV shows and movies purchased on the iTunes Store.



Battery life for this new 120 GB model improved over the 80GB model from last year. Apple now estimates it at 36 hours audio and 6 hours video.



I'd recommend the iPod Classic without hesitation to those who have more than 8 or 16 GBs of music in their iTunes library and want to carry their entire collection. Furthermore if you have videos and video podcasts you want to always carry with you again you can't beat the storage. I have the lower capacity flash devices as well but the big hard drive based iPod Classic continues to play an important role in my iPod Collection.More detail ...

My favorite iPod to date. (A.K.A. The iPod Apple should've released in 2007.)

NOTICE: This review is for the NEW 2009 160GB iPod Classic NOT the 2007 160GB iPod Classic!



The new 160GB iPod Classic is easily Apple Inc.'s best iPod to date and out of all of the iPods that I own this is my favorite.



First the capacity of this iPod is simply unbeatable. I've yet to see another portable media player that can match the iPod Classic in capacity. I have a huge music library and it's nice to be able to carry every song that I own on my person at all times. What's more thanks to the iPod Classic's capacity I also have room to carry a few videos with me and some of my photos. If you don't like having to pick which songs to load onto your portable media player the iPod Classic is the way to go.



The second thing that I love about this iPod can be summed up in two words: it works. The 160GB iPod Classic that was introduced in 2007 was extremely buggy had a non-responsive Clickwheel on many units crashed frequently and required a hit-and-miss firmware update to stop the hard drive from spinning even when the device was "off" which often lead to dead batteries. All of these problems left the 2007 160GB iPod Classic warming shelves and earning it the infamous "honor" of being the "worst selling iPod ever" according to Apple. I'm pleased to say that the new 160GB iPod Classic released earlier this month has virtually none of these problems. There's no "spinning hard drive bug" the Clickwheel is incredibly responsive and the device isn't crash-prone. While it's true that many of these issues were fixed with last year's iPod Classic there hasn't been a truly functional 160GB model until now. To put it bluntly this is the iPod that Apple should've released in 2007.



Another thing that I really like about this iPod and the iPod Classic in general is it's ability to double as an external hard drive. While I believe that the iPod Nano is also capable of this the only iPod that really has enough space to function as an external hard drive is the iPod Classic. The hard drive functionality admittedly reduces the number of devices I have to carry on me at any given time. If you regularly work with large files and are considering a new iPod the iPod Classic is the way to go plain and simple.



So what are the caveats? Well for starters as with every other iPod Classic this is a hard-drive (rather than flash-memory) based device. As a result it has moving parts which make it unsuitable for running or any physical activity that exerts mechanical shock onto the iPod. Unless you exercise constantly with your iPod though this really shouldn't be an issue. The only other caveat which is more of personal taste than an actual flaw that I can find is that Apple has not made any cosmetic changes to this device since they introduced it in 2007. Now don't get me wrong the point of an iPod "Classic" is to retain the "Classic" design but after seeing how much better a black Clickwheel looks on the silver iPod Nano I'd have thought that Apple would have given the silver iPod Classic a black Clickwheel as well. However I admit that this is entirely my personal preference and not a "flaw" per se. I've put a quick list of pros and cons together which can be seen below:





Pros: Largest iPod Capacity-wise long battery life "Genius" feature excellent value for your money well-built doubles as an external hard drive and improvements to Cover Flow.



Cons: Hard Drive (rather than Flash memory) based storage medium; device is cosmetically identical to the 2007 80GB model. (I still don't understand why Apple hasn't colored the Clickwheel black on the silver model to match the iPod Nano.)



Finally I would highly recommend this product which is why it gets five stars from me. I don't like the iPod Nano; it's too small for my hands and the screen is too small for my eyes. While the iPod Touch may have app store access and Wi-Fi I find it to be a really gimmicky device that makes for a poor portable media player (Apple was wise to position it as a handheld game system) and is really an "iPhone without a phone." In contrast the iPod Classic is an excellent portable media player it has an excellent interface and it only costs $249 dollars. To put things in perspective the 2009 160GB iPod Classic costs $70 dollars more than a 16GB iPod Nano and $150 dollars less than a 64GB iPod Touch. All in all I highly recommend this product.More detail ...