Remarkable Battery Life
Perhaps the most major improvement I noticed in the iPod Classic over the iPod Video (my main iPod for the past few years) is in the area of battery life. The battery life offered by the iPod Classic approaches remarkable. I kept the iPod on standby for nearly a week and drained almost no battery at all.
In trying to drain the iPod's battery completely, I was able too squeeze nearly 24 straight hours of music playback before the battery cried for mercy. This lines up pleasingly well with Apple's rating for the Classic's battery. Though this isn’t a functionality improvement, whatever Apple’s done to improve the battery life so dramatically on the Classic will keep its owners happy for many, many, many hours.
The End of the Line
With the iPod Classic offering so many of the traditionally excellent features of the iPod line, and a few strong improvements, it may seem hard to believe that this could be the last iPod of its kind. But that seems almost inevitable. After all, where can this kind of iPod go from here? More capacity and battery life, no doubt, but as soon as you begin to add Internet connectivity or a more robust platform for programs, you cease having a traditional iPod and venture into the iPhone/iPod touch territory.
And that’s OK. This version of the iPod has served many people well for many years — and changed many things about the world as it did so. Here’s hoping that as Apple moves its efforts more squarely towards devices with larger screens, connectivity, and third-party programs it creates as refined and appealing devices as it’s done with the iPod Classic.
