Remember That Old iPod You Threw Away?

It could be worth big bucks. Like fashion, electronics tend to come back popularity long after they’ve been discontinued and can end up costing substantially more than they sold for when they were new. Such is the case with the iPod Classic which many have ditched long ago for one of the several svelte new iPod versions. This year it’s a popular stocking stuffer as more than 3,000 have sold on eBay since it was discontinued in October and are fetching up to $400 a pop according to The Guardian UK newspaper. One of the attractions is the 160GB storage capacity which can hold around 40k+ songs (who has a library of 40k songs?) which is much more than the current models can offer. Apple quit making them after stating that they no longer has access to the components and a redesign wasn’t something they were willing to pursue. The inclusion of a spinning platter hard drive rather than gobs of solid state flash storage is what allows the storage to be so expansive yet still be affordable. However, hard drives are more fragile than solid state memory so those that find one under their Christmas tree this year might want to take a little more care with it than their phone or latest generation iPod.

With cloud music services available (albeit mostly pay, whether it be for the service or the data consumed) there’s less need for so much self-contained storage so it will be interesting to see how long this wave of demand holds up. As supply becomes more scarce, prices will only continue to climb.