Apple iPod 30GB Video/Black (5th Generation)

Having only had my iPod since last Xmas (8 months ago), I can't comment on the reviews stating the iPod will die after a year. However, so far I find that the battery life is excellent for audio (more than 8 hours as I've left it on overnight, and during a transatlantic flight and it was still going when I woke up both times), and audio is pretty much all I use it for - videos and photos on such a small device are little more than gimmicky, and 30GB is more than enough for all of my music in 128-bit format.Although I'm sure there are better MP3 players out there I'm yet to see one so stylish - and with the equally stylish iPod dock devices out there, we're slowly replacing our old stereos about the house with iPod docks. Downsides are that if you use Windows Media Player and have all your music in WMA, then you have to convert it all to MP3 or AAC. And if you disconnect from the PC when its still synching, it's easily corrupted and you have to do some funky on-off-menu+play-wheel around stuff to reset it, which may or may not save your music. OK, it's heavily flawed, but like most Apple stuff, it looks cool, and I've just bought another for the missus, which she loved. Watch out for this one's replacement, the 80 or 160GB 'Classic' iPod.

This is a seriously brilliant piece of kit.As someone whose devotion to music goes back over forty years it's unbelievable that I can carry round in my pocket all my favourite albums, and quite a few of the second, third & fourth rank choices as well. I suppose that I could have sprung for the 80GB model which would hold my entire collection, but that smells a bit of overkill, the 30GB model holds in excess of 500 albums.No more agonising over what CDs to take on holiday, and then regretting the choice when I get there, they're all here in this tiny package, I wish I had been able to own this since the sixties!!I can't envisage that I would ever want to watch a film on a two and a half inch screen so I don't really care about the video capabilities, it's the music I bought it for, and it performs brilliantly.It's beautiful to look at and easy to use and sounds good. Luckily my new car has an auxiliary connection for the iPod so I guess I'll have to organise some playlists for longer journeys.All in all I am delighted with my choice, and the service from Amazon, I ordered the iPod on a Thursday lunchtime, it arrived at 7.30 the next morning, so five stars to Amazon as well as Apple.BTW, I didn't have any of the predicted problems with compatibility with Windows Vista either.

Being a 45 year old music fan I have built up a large collection of c.d.sAfter hearing my kids cheap m.p.3 players I was not over impressed, but my son bought a Creative Zen nano 128mb and the sound was really good.This changed my view on mp3 players.After debating between a nano 8gb and for a similar price the video 30gb I decided on the latter. I started converting all my music to Itunes a couple of months in advance and boy, am I glad I did!After purchase it took a few hours to charge the battery and load all the tunes but I have now got 15gb of music loaded and it really is second heaven. It gives you your music collection in one little box and enables you to pick and play your music at will instead of sorting through your collection playing the odd song from different albums.Using my full sized hi-fi headphones the sound is superb and you can download podcasts, buy music videos which are stunning on such a small screen and create playlists and more.The search functions are really useful and I have to say it is the best purchase I have made for years.If you have a large selection of music you will not regret this purchase.I am well impressed and would reccommend anyone to buy, buy...buy.

I have recently purchased a black 30Gig iPod and use it in my car with an FM transmitter, at home and on the train to watch videos, and in work to play a slideshow of my photographs (something to look at when I should be working)Sound quality is brilliant (with 3rd party headphones) and the screen has to been seen to be believed. The whole item feels like a quality piece of kit, and there is something almost beautiful about the design, simply holding it in your hands you know you've made a good purcahse.I'm not sure that I agree with the comments regarding the battery life being so bad, as I use mine to display a slideshow of photographs (screen on default brightness) on my desk during my working day (about 8 hours give or take) and it does this without complaint. How much time do you really want to be using it non-stop?!I read in a magazine somewhere that only a "penny-pincher" would go for the 30Gig in favor of the 80Gig, but I have over 3000 mp3's and 20 x 40 min videos and still have space left over. I reckon I saved myself 60 odd quid!All in all I am very pleased with this product, great sounding, great looking, good performance that intergrates with virtually every part of my life. Easily worth the asking price