The Register’s Tony Smith gave the new iPod Classic a mixed review on Thursday. The new case, the extra storage and new new UI were welcome, but other problems negated some of the gains.

The positives for the new iPod Classic included the case, which better resists finger prints, the larger storage, and the new user interface. "Turning the Classic on really rings in the changes. Fresh from the iPhone, Apple has re-purposed its graphic designers’ work for the new iPods. The updated iPod user interface doesn’t simply borrow the iPhone’s visual style, it clearly works the same way, albeit through the clickwheel rather than a touch-sensitive display," Mr Smith wrote.

iPod Classic

Album art really shines on the new iPod, however: "The fact it is optional tells you immediately it’s not ready for primetime," the reviewer noted. In his opinion, the iPod’s CPU just isn’t up to the task, and there are noticeable pauses. "...Cover Flow feels crammed in." Even so, Cover Flow aside, the UI was considered an improvement.

One plus for this next generation iPod is the storage capacity. While some have lamented the poor audio quality of the classic MP3 format, the massive storage of the iPod Classic affords the option to store much more music in a lossless format. One could store 650 albums at original CD quality.

"Or you can store 200 hours of H.264-encoded video at 640 x 480 - more if you encode at 320 x 240, the Classic’s actual screen size. Even the 80 GB model can hold 100 hours of 640 x 480 video or 330-odd Lossless albums. Video playback is smooth, and the picture crisp and bright on the Classic’s nice display. For video, we’d prefer a bigger screen - enter, again, the iPod Touch - but this one’s not bad for occasional viewing," Mr. Smith wrote.

A few minor problems were noted. It’s possible that video out now requires a new Apple dock, and some iPod peripherals which take video out via the 30 pin connector may no longer work. The reviewer couldn’t test this and advised buyers to wait for more information from Apple before buying an iPod classic if they’ve made a big investment in peripherals. Also, games for the previous iPod don’t work on the Classic.

The bottom line was that there are many improvements, but some minor issues detracted from a rave review.