iPod Collectors
Nick Wellings listens to music on his iPhone, preferring not
to disturb any of his 108 iPods. He figures his collection
would hold 231,000 songs, but only one has ever been
touched or seen the light of day. They remain sealed in their
boxes, just as they were when they left the factory.
The iPod’s impact was brief but seismic: the sleek
and at times colorful device caused an upheaval in the
music industry in the 2010s. Soon, however, the release of
the iPhone relegated the iPod to junk drawers, closets, and
boxes as it suffered the same fate as the Sony Walkman.
But in its heyday, the iPod shifted our listening habits
away from albums and CDs by allowing downloads of individ-
ual songs, inspiring us to build unique playlists of our own.
We had thousands of songs in our pocket, letting us score
and curate the soundtracks to our everyday lives.
Apple still makes a few versions of the iPod, but these
too will likely disappear. Even as iPods disappear from the
market, however, interest in collecting them is soaring — and
so are the values of certain models.
“I collect iPods … because of their design and stamp in
history,” said Wellings, an IT expert who lives in Manchester,
United Kingdom. “Most of Apple’s devices tend to pave the
path for the future, and it’s always nice to show others the
original item that started a trend.”
So it began in 2001, a few months after Apple
launched iTunes with a 5GB model that stored 1,000
songs. By April 2007, Apple had sold 100 million iPods,
making the pocket-sized powerhouse the biggest-selling
digital music player of all time; for several years, it rep-
resented a sizable percentage of Apple’s revenue. It also
transformed the company from a computer maker with a
sliver of market share into a consumer electronics giant.
But 2007 also saw the debut of the iPhone, and it
wasn’t long before iPod sales began to slow. By 2014, Apple
discontinued making and selling the iPod Classic, though
Apple Stores and other retailers still sell new versions of the
iPod Shuffle, Nano, and Touch.
As iPods disappear, Apple fans may want to rummage
through their junk drawers, because those old devices could
fetch a few bucks, especially for anyone who bought one,
maybe intending it as a gift, and left it sealed in the box.
Values for iPods, especially first-generation Classics, can
range on eBay from a couple of hundred dollars for used
ones in excellent condition to several thousand dollars for
those that remain factory sealed. A search for the devices on
eBay one day in 2016 turned up a number of unboxed iPods,
including a first-generation 5GB Classic offered for $14,900.
One seller offered the first three iPod models — 5GB, 10GB,
and 20GB — unboxed for $50,000.
In 2014, a 20GB U2 Special Edition iPod Classic sold
for $90,000 on eBay. Wellings has one similar to it but has
never been offered more than a few thousand British pounds
for an iPod in his collection. People considering purchasing
these items should be aware of their true cost and not fall for
inflated prices.
Brian Burke, the president and owner of SellYourMac
.com, said there is no official Blue Book–type guide that
determines the value of vintage technology. “If you have
to have it tomorrow, it’s never a good price,” Burke said.
“There’s no rhyme or reason to when [values go up]. It strikes
out of nowhere, and the pricing is unbelievable. I’ve had
people tell me first-generation Apple Watches were being
bought for the same reason. I disagree [about their future
value], but I could be wrong.” Burke suggested viewing past
sales of items on eBay to get a sense for the value of an item
you might be considering.
Many Apple collectors are keen on collecting first-of-
a-kind iPod models and rare prototypes. For example, Ivan
Chernov, an iOS developer who lives in Germany, collects
only special edition (SE) iPods, which were produced in
limited numbers and bear the names of certain celebrities
or bands, such as U2, No Doubt, Madonna, and Tony Hawk.
These iPods are marked with an engraved autograph or logo.
There is also a Harry Potter special edition iPod; issued
in 2005 and 2006, it carries the official seal of Hogwarts. And
an SE iPod came loaded with Beatles music.
“These were almost the most expensive iPods ever,”
Chernov said of the SE iPods. “The Harry Potter Collector’s
Edition iPod was on sale, and you had to buy the complete
Harry Potter Digital Box Set together with a 20GB iPod. That
was a one-time $548 order and, for sure, there were not so
many who did it.”
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