Realistically -you probably hear many reviews saying this was the holy grail of MP3 players, or it's the worst MP3 player ever.... I love mine - but hate it too... Ultimately I own one and am more than happy... Here's why....

The iPOD 80GB is a revolutionary MP3 cross format player. There are many cons about this unit that are "over-reviewed" but there are even more Pro's! Anyone who says the iPOD video has a low quality screen should be shot. The display is 60% brighter than previous generations of the iPOD, and sharper. Maybe these people are confusing the "video quality" with "display quality". I work at a retailer that sells these and Zune players - and even a plethora of other portable multi-media devices - the iPOD has the best display -PERIOD...

I took a high definition copy of various Apple "Get A Mac Commercials" and trans coded them to a H.264 MPEG4 format. The results were eye-poping beautiful, consistently smooth, rich quality from the display. So video quality for me was excellent! DVD-Equivalent.

Audio was excellent too! Although the unit does not support a "user EQ" the default ones were actually pretty dead on. I wish it supported various BASS options. Perhaps a low frequency enhancer or something to that sort. But I listen to opera, dynamic-range, and fidelity are essential. The iPOD's sound processor handles high-bitrate audio perfectly in either MP3 or AAC format. Also the audio level is extreemely loud. Simulating the experience of hearing the equivalent of 160 db. of the volume equivalent of a jet taking off. Hence the iPOD has a built in user selectable audio limiter.

Aesthetics's. Probably the reason many people flock to it - style. Yeah you get fingerprints on it - wash your hands more! I don't get prints on mine as much as other people. But comon - anything thats shiny is going to get them if you handle it. Duh! Scratches easily? The only scratches I have are on the back side with the laser engraving - this was not supposed to stay perfect forever. When you slide it around on it's back while interfaced with a PC it'll get little hairline scratches. Another important physical feature is the volume control. It is touch sensitive "jog-dial" thats rests in the middle bottom of the unit. This is the best physical feature. Adjusting volume on the fly is a breeze - and once you get used to using your iPOD you can adjust the volume without even looking at it.

Durability: The important thing is that the unit is engineered to take a beating. You "CAN" run and have "skip-free" playing just like the flash equivalent MP3 players. I've had the iPOD for over 2 months now and have not experienced any type of abnormal playing ever. Even after dropping it on cement! If you read about the engineering of the iPOD's, Apple incorperates flash memory into the unit to "cach" the music in advance, then it shuts off the hard drive as long as the cach is full - hence the battery life and skip-free playing. So dont let the fact that it has a hard drive be a disappointment. You can still say that 80gb is better than 8 for about the same price! Still worried that it will break? Almost ever retailer sells an extended warranty. Target (where I work) sells them for $39 for 3 YEARS OF FULL COVERAGE!!! (does not count water damage)
Circuit City's is about $50. There - problem solved.

Software: I love the software on the unit. I can advance, and search, and quickly navigate artists, albums and songs faster than I can on any other MP3 player. People that need an "easy to use" monster MP3 player need not look any further.

CONS: ...Get ready...
Some things that are bad... I hate getting to this part but there is some stuff... The iPOD only supports MP3 and AAC audio formats. For video is only supports H.264 and MPEG4. This royally sucks. People like me who are audiophiles and love formats like .OGG, monkey audio, and other formats (too many to remember) then your out of luck. I think .OGG sounds better than AAC. period. I wont get into the details. But iPODS only stick to what "apple" thinks the industry should use. Apple in a sense - forces it's "Macintosh" ideology on people who enjoy "open-standards", even with MP3 players.

The iPOD can support .OGG, monkey and other lossless and lossy formats - but dosent. Where players such as the ZEN ...do. The iPOD also does not have an FM transmitter built in either. So listening to the radio on your $350 player is a negative. After market accessories cost more than the player does. Apple was smart selling a popular player but also cornering consumers for accessories that are excessively over priced. The 80GB player comes with NO AC adapter cable. You can only charge off a PC. It comes with headphones and a USB cable. When I sell iPODS to customers I make it a habit to warn them that when you buy a $350 MP3 player that it "comes with NO software" and you need to download it first. What was Apple thinking NOT including software - OR even a manual? No freaking instruction book!?! Needless to say I had a 3 day learning curve using iTUNES and the iPOD. Apple really leaves people kinda vague on what the player can and cant do too... So transferring your videos to the unit is going to be an uphill battle no matter what. Period, no matter what software you use. It CAN be done but with much stress and dis-satisfaction. Apple has neutered the poor iPOD so much for video support you almost just say screw it and give up transferring anything to it because everything is so vague (kinda like a Mac lol). iTunes will upload your videos but if there is a discrepancy about a video it just rather not say anything and leave you guessing on why a video did not transfer. Simply put - it wont give you a clue on video compatibility. You can now convert videos to Apples H.264 format in iTUNES, but if you already converted a DVD for instance, once, - why didn't it work right the first time? Good luck! The iPOD has a bitrate limit, and 99% of videos are variable bitrate so if you go over, just ever so slightly the video cannot be uploaded to the unit. There is 1001 reasons iTunes will not upload compliant videos and many software companies are still trying to figure them all out. iTUNES wont tell you compliances either. I guess Apple thinks I'm retarded and just rather not allow me to do video on my own.. Darn it.

Why I own one?
I bought the iPOD 80GB because honestly - the ZEN is too small. I love the ZEN, and it was my first choice even though the wireless on it is completely worthless. But Apple also thought about mass media for the elite audio/video enthusiasts so this turned my opinion.

I put my movies on the unit and enjoy watching them on the 2" screen, whether at a doctors office and board or while laying in bed trying to get to sleep and want to see some comedy or a drama to take my mind off things. It does not matter the size of the screen or overall quality of content, but the experience and interaction with the media that "is" present. The experience is fast, easy and fulfilling. Apple is renowned for it's craftsmanship and thought for aesthetics's. Hence why the iPOD is the most popular mp3 player. It's beautiful and expresses in a sense how much I value the music collection I have - physically, metaphorically, and anesthetically.

Its a pretty big unit but that's nit-picking about cutting-edge technology that is incorporated within the unit. You cannot find anything smaller. So why complain about the size? It fits in my pocket perfectly and I love it. I still stress about it falling out and not noticing! So is it really THAT big? (I grew up using a computer that ran DOS and had a 30MB hard drive) so this is cutting edge.

Overall - if "quality" is what is a buying decision for YOU. Then an iPOD is the right decision. If your into multi format compatibility, ripping DVD's and trans coding or muxing video - than it is not. Maybe Apple was smart for keeping it to just the basics when it comes to video format compatibility?

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 328
Recommended for: Music Lovers - High Capacity Storage for an Entire Album Collection