10.18.07
The iPod Craze
I never used to be into iPods. I actually owned several “other” mp3 players before I owned my 20GB Gen4 iPod. I never wanted to buy into the hype surrounding them. Were they really that great? Naw. It’s just hype!
All that changed one day when I saw a site called freeipods.com. All I had to do was create an account, sign up for an offer, cancel it later if I didn’t want it, and then get 5 friends to do the same underneath me and I’d receive a brand new 20GB 4th Generation iPod. If you’re thinking Pyramind Scheme or MLM, you’re not far off. But Wired Magazine and several other reputable online places were touting it as a legit business. How could I go wrong?
So I signed up. It was easy. I signed up for Learn Windows on CBT series for $6.95. It was one of the cheaper offers and if it didn’t pan out, I’d only be out about $7. Then I convinced 5 of my friends to sign up under me. They signed up for offers as well.
Long story longer, I ended up cancelling the Windows CBT service for a refund and after all my friends’ offers had been verified, my order went into a queue and I waited until I saw the words, “Shipped” on the freeipods.com website.
About a week later, my shiny new iPod arrived from UPS. It couldn’t have been easier! It just took a while because this site was so popular at the time. After using my new iPod for a week, it became clear to me why the iPod was so great. (I’ll save my thoughts on DRM for another article)
The touch wheel was so cool. No moving parts. It sensed my finger’s position on it and scrolled through my songs with ease. And the screen was so big and had so much information on each of my songs. After about a month, I could only manage to fill it up halfway (10gb). To this day, I still have about 5GB free.
I love my iPod and am looking to purchase a new one this holiday season. But being the avid shopper and deal finder that I am, I definitely won’t be paying full price for one! Now where do you think I can find a great deal on an iPod? Ebay? Sure. Ebay.com is great for finding bargains, but it sometimes takes a while to win an auction and I want something a bit more definite. You could wait for Black Friday, but do you really want to face those crowds?
Have you ever considered buying direct from Apple? Yes, Apple! Apple has an awesome refurbishing program. They factory-service their return units to “as good as new” status and back each one with a brand new one-year warranty! You get everything you would from a brand new unit except you’re paying a lot less! It even arrives in Apple’s top-of-the-line packaging.
Apple’s inventory is constantly changing, but some of the deals at the time of this posting include
4GB Silver, Green, Pink, or Blue Nano $199 $99.00
If you don’t have to have the latest and greatest iPod flavor of the month (they simply are too new to have returns just yet), then why not save yourself a lot of money and buy an iPod or two at a substantial discount through Apple’s Recertified iPod page? I don’t buy refurbished a lot, because I don’t know enough about everyone’s refurbishing programs. I do know about Apple’s though.
This is one of the best kept secrets regarding iPods. Oh yeah, did I forget to mention FREE Shipping as well?
If you do decide you’d like to purchase a refurbished iPod, we’d appreciate it if you went through our link.