Apple iPod Classic (third generation, 160GB, black)

Pros: More storage than most players come close to, has everything you've come to expect from an iPod product, reliable for long-term use, good sound quality.

Cons: Lack of any real innovation, design is simple but looks and feels tired (especially with the click-wheel), performance can be occasionally lagged and unresponsive.

Summary: The iPod is one of those devices that everyone knows about: the basic media player from iPod with a few variants. Everyone knows what one looks like and how to operate them. It's so familiar that it might be overly so.

Since just about everything that we've come to expect from Apple's original iPod is still present, I won't bother delving much into the features. if there was an award for most simple and standard media player out there, the iPod would be guaranteed to win this across every site. Having 160GB of space, this latest version of the iPod Classic has more than enough room for those with large amounts of music, videos and/or pictures. Though one could argue that those who don't have nearly as much content even on their computers would be fine with one of the less-expensive iPod versions, this third generation offers the best bang for buck. And given how much Apple products tend to cost, that's saying a lot.

The Classic's screen still looks nice and plays videos in adequate quality, but with large screens dominating the market (including devices such as the Zune, iPod Touch and iPhone) it's tough to feel compelled towards using the product for anything other than music playback. And given the $250 price tag, I wouldn't mind losing some of the (lesser) features and quirks for a more affordable price.

While the iPod Touch might be a more physically appealing product, containing more (better) features and a vastly superior interface, it's still tough to justify the purchase of a 64GB product for $350. Given the gap between that and this 160GB iPod Classic for $250, one begins to long a more reasonably priced bridge between the space, design and features.