So, my MP3 player's battery is on its last legs, and so I'm considering buying a replacement. Unfortunately, pretty much the only MP3 player greater than 30Gb is the iPod Classic. So, does anyone have any views on it? Is it worth £200?

I realise Apple's policies on their OSes is bad, but then again there's not much OS to control in the Classic.

Sony makes a pretty good MP3 in the walkman. Mine is an 8GB but I know they have a 32GB variant here.

Edit: As far as I know the Walkman carries no DRM as I move things between a blackberry, my computer, PSP, and MP3 all with no play issues.

The replacement to my current 80GB Ipod will probably be an Ipod Classic, unless Apple manages to release an Ipod Touch with greater storage than I already have. I'm a little wary of waiting too long though, as when they last said that "the whole Ipod line" was updated, the Classic wasn't mentioned at all so it may well be on its way out.

If you care about moving songs to/from it through the Windows Explorer, get something else. If you want to play anything other than MP3, ALAC, and compatible MP4 video and audio, get something else.

If you're fine with Itunes and its limitations (can't copy from the Ipod to the computer) or what alternative third-party applications you may find (there are ones that you can bring with you and run directly from the Ipod not needing to be installed on the computer), it's at least as good a choice as any other player.

My personal opinion, it's well worth the money.

I recently got a Cowon J3 and the sound is awesome. 32 GB's (expandable to 64 GB) so lots of room. I would take a look at the Cowon's before you purchased anything, listen to one if possible . . . =)

Edit: Video Take grain of salt prior to watching but the sound is what sold me.

Not bad, but it's the same money for the iPod, and less storage. (32Gb vs 160Gb And my iTunes is reporting about 37Gb of music in its library. Sure, it's a mess, but I doubt I would be able to trim it so that it's below 30Gb.) Not really fussed on using Windows Explorer. I realise that there's less restrictions, but it makes it hard to organise. Most of my library is either MP3s or crappy quality WMAs, which iTunes converts anyway. Likewise, most of my videos are MP4. Downloaded Media Money, apparently it can rip the iPod's contents onto a computer, and there's plenty more where that came from. Plus, 160Gb, which is massive.

Again, slightly more expensive and less storage. But if the audio quality's that good, I may have to have a look. Plus, sounds like the battery life is excellent. Hmmm...

I personally use a Zen X-Fi . 32GB storage but the sound quality is second to none. Firstly it has the X-Fi Crystalizer tech and secondly native support for FLAC.

Edit: seems you can also get $30 off the price with the code 2W8ABNFF

Personally, I use SharePod when I for some reason want to copy music back to the computer, which doesn't happen all that often. No installation, runs directly off the Ipod.

Have a look at the Philips GoGear range. thier songbird software is shit but the devices themselves seem easy to use and quite robust.

I've had an iPod Classic 160gb for a couple years now, and I and I'm somewhat happy with it. I have a large music collection and a lot of audiobooks (I'm an Audible member), all of it fits on it with room to spare. The only thing that is making my nervous is the hard drive, which might be starting to go bad. Every once in the while the music skips with an audible "CLICK" noise.

I've got a 60gb iPod Classic that I've had for a few years now. No problems with it whatsoever. The battery still lasts a long time and it's been working flawlessly. There's also absolutely no need to use iTunes with it as there are many freeware programs for transferring music to and from the iPod. I use Winamp simply because I started using Winamp a LONG time ago and have been too lazy to switch to something else. But there are many other (better) freeware programs that will let you set your music up on your iPod, including MediaMonkey and Foobar. I think that these programs can even do the initial formatting of the iPod so you never need iTunes at any point in the process.

If I had to find something I didn't like about the iPod Classic, it would be the lack of a dedicated volume control, but I'm not even sure if any of its competitors have one. I also don't like the headphones that come with it, but I just use my own set anyway. I recommend headphones with their own volume adjustment, as the iPod's volume normalization feature doesn't work that well. Also, if you are in any menus on the iPod you can't adjust the volume, so it's good to have volume control on the headphones.

Get a smartphone.

I definitely agree with Waitorious...save some money for headphones, if you don't have any already. For a company that prides itself on high quality products, Apple's headphones are a BAD joke, some the worst sounding and least comfortable things I've had the displeasure of putting in my ear.

Noted. I've got a pair of headphones (of the old fashioned, over-the-ear type) that I'm fond of, so I'll probably use them.

RE: Zen X-fi2: My sister has one, and I really can't get on with the UI. Nice idea, shame that (in my experience) it was too fiddly and it just got frustrating. Maybe I'll get used to it over time, but honestly? I'd be inclined to give it a pass. That's not to say about the quality of the rest of the player, I'm a bit of a Creative fanboy myself (aforementioned current MP3 is a Creative Zen Vision M. Mint player, shame it was pretty much Creative's last in the hard drive MP3 player market, although I supposed flash based players are finally starting to reach the Vision M's 30Gb.) and would recommend the Zen X-fi 2 over (for example) one of the new iPod Nanos (which seems to be an even larger exercise in touch-based UI frustration, not to mention quite a bit more expensive than its rivals).

RE: volume controls: I'm used to having to go back to the Now Playing screen to change volume. I realise I could just go Menu Button > Set Volume, but I couldn't be arsed.

RE: smartphone: Nope. I have difficulty spending £10 a month on my bog-standard pay as you go phone, I see no reason to spend £15 a month (or worse, £30-ish a month for an iPhone) on a more expensive phone. Alternatively, stupid moneys up front and getting fobbed off by bandwidth charges. Again, nope.

RE GoGear: A quick Amazon search suggests that this is the only 32+Gb model available in the range, and another quick look at reviews suggests that they're mixed. Hmmm...

Heh, right. I haven't even unpacked my Apple earphones since I much prefer a nice big pair of headphones to any of those in-the-ear shmucks, thus it didn't even occur to me to comment on them.