[Heyyoudvd]

I have an old 4G iPod (the monochrome one, not even a Photo) and I'd appreciate some clarification regarding how the Videos and Classics work.


On my 4G, the screen itself is monochromatic so it doesn't use much battery (unless you turn on the backlight), meaning that the screen is kept on constant during play. Because of that, I can fiddle with the controls all the time without having to worry about wasting too much battery life (yes, skipping tracks does use excess battery because the HDD has to spin but it's not like turning on the backlight).


With the iPod Video and Classic, the screen is full colour so in order to conserve battery life, I understand it shuts off automatically after a little while, while the music continues playing. My question is how does this whole 'system' work? When listening to my iPod, I often fiddle with the control (adjust volume, skip to the next track etc...) while the player is in my pocket so does that mean that the Video/Classic will turn the screen on each and every time I do this and will thus kill the battery even moreso? Also, if the screen is off, does that mean I can't just grab the iPod to look at the time or track name without turning it on and wasting more battery?

Can you explain how the Videos and Classics work in this regard, seeing as how I'm looking into picking up an 80 gig Classic to replace my aging 20 gig 4G?

Thanks.

 

[BassheadJazz]

Well, I know that you can change the settings for how long you want the backlight to be on when you perform an operation (2 seconds, 4 seconds, etc.) and you also have the option of always leaving the backlight off. With the Classic however, the battery life is so great, that I don't really see how nitpicking a few minutes of battery life would affect you that much.

 

[Heyyoudvd]

When the backlight is off, does that mean that the entire screen is off? ie. do you need to turn the backlight on every time you want to look at the song title and does the screen turn on every time you adjust volume or skip tracks?

 

[Artemio]

No, the screen is always on.

 

[Heyyoudvd]

So the battery life figure listen (ie. 30 hours in the 80 gig model's case), means that you can get roughly 30 hours of playback and can view the screen anytime? Would adjusting the volume or hitting the skip button in my pocket turn on the backlight each time?


Also, in the spirit of head-fi, I have a couple quick headphone questions. Will the Classic sufficiently drive my A900s? Also I haven't been following things for a while but are the KSC75's still the best choice for cheapo portable sound or has anything dethroned them yet?

I appreciate it.

 

[Chef Medeski]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heyyoudvd /img/forum/go_quote.gif So the battery life figure listen (ie. 30 hours in the 80 gig model's case), means that you can get roughly 30 hours of playback and can view the screen anytime? Would adjusting the volume or hitting the skip button in my pocket turn on the backlight each time? Also, in the spirit of head-fi, I have a couple quick headphone questions. Will the Classic sufficiently drive my A900s? Also I haven't been following things for a while but are the KSC75's still the best choice for cheapo portable sound or has anything dethroned them yet? I appreciate it.

The battery life is calculated as follows: Click shuffle. Let iPod play until it stops. Stop stopwatch. And of course this is for 128 kbps AAC files. So higher files will further reduce the battery life as will backlight and skipping. Higher files and backlight won't decrease it that much. Skipping will have a larger effect. Again unless you must have above 25 hr numbers, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[htbyron]

On th4e ipod classic, the screen is always on, but the backlight shuts off after a predefined amount of time (default is 10 sec). After that, the screen remains on but is terribly difficult to read without the backlight. After a slightly longer time (I just timed it at slightly over 60 sec), the screen reverts to a simpler, monochrome display, which shows a triangle (for play), the current clock time, and a battery level indicator. This monochrome screen is slightly easier to read without the backlight, and disappears when any button or the touchwheel is pressed, reverting to the now playing screen. The mono screen is not very informative, but it may save some battery, as it is static. And you easily get to an informative screen by touching the touchwheel. Hope this helps.

 

[Heyyoudvd]

Thanks, that's exactly what I wanted to know.

Just for clarification, when you say that hitting the touchwheel causes it to revert to the "now playing" screen, do that mean the first state or the second state (ie. backlight on or off?)


This is a little disappointing though. I was hoping There would be a standard 4G-like screen shown while the music was playing, so that the backlight doesn't need to be turned on but the screen still displays all the important information visibly, like it does with the old monochromatic iPods.

 

[Chef Medeski]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heyyoudvd /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks, that's exactly what I wanted to know. Just for clarification, when you say that hitting the touchwheel causes it to revert to the "now playing" screen, do that mean the first state or the second state (ie. backlight on or off?) This is a little disappointing though. I was hoping There would be a standard 4G-like screen shown while the music was playing, so that the backlight doesn't need to be turned on but the screen still displays all the important information visibly, like it does with the old monochromatic iPods.

Backlight on.