Apple announced a free recycling program for iPod, the world’s most popular digital music player. Beginning today, customers can bring iPods they no longer want to any of Apple’s 100 retail stores in the US for free environmentally friendly disposal, and those who drop off an iPod, iPod mini or iPod photo will receive a 10 percent discount on the purchase of a new iPod that day.
iPods received for recycling in the US are processed domestically and no hazardous material is shipped overseas.
More details of Apple’s worldwide recycling programs are available here.
even if my battery died, id still keep my ipod as a external hard drive. having a 30gb portable hard disk is worth missing out on the discount.
I must be dense or something. “iPods they no longer want”? I bought my wife an original 5Gb iPod a couple of years ago, and it still works fine. We’ve replaced the battery once, admittedly, but other than that, it remains a perfect unit! What’s going on here?
possibly there are people who dont want an older iPod, and this also appeases the enviros who say the iPod is an environmental hazzard.
Even if the battery fails and you don’t want to replace it, buy another dock and leave it hooked up to you stereo permanently.
If anyone has an iPod they don’t want, give it to me, and I’ll pay 10% of the cost for their new iPod.
i’ll be taking them up on this one. i loved my gen 1 ipod until the firewire connector loosened so much that it became useless. i’ll take that 10% discount no doubt. i wont be using the new one though… i already have a photo and a shuffle…
“iPods received for recycling in the US are processed domestically and no hazardous material is shipped overseas.”
Well that’s nice of them. Companies can ship jobs overseas, but no hazardous material. Cool.
This is indeed nice of them, but you can sell even broken iPods on eBay for much more than the 10% discount this trade-in program would get you.
iPods DO break occasionally, especially if you use one outdoors a lot as I do. When the Gen 1 wheel breaks off or the jack gets mashed out of shape or the case gets cracked (and the warranty/AppleCare period has expired), that’s the best time to get a new iPod.
I solved my problems by keeping my 40 GB iPod (my third) inside and buying a shuffle for outside. Only problem is that the lanyard is now a grungy gray and the blue and gray paint speckles are only on one side of the shuffle.
But mainly this gets the enviros off of Apple’s back. Hard to believe that iPods are blamed for ruining the environment when the glaciers in Antarctica and Greenland are melting at a rate not found for hundreds of thousands of years. A little balance, please.
WOW, THAT SHAO KHAN ADVERTISEMENT IS REALLY ANNOYING AND IRRITATING. I WANT TO DOUBLY *NOT* CLICK ON IT BECAUSE:
A) IT’S SO ANNOYING
B) I HAD TO HUNT FOR THE OFFENDING ADVERTISEMENT
C) I HAD TO ACTUALLY MUTE MY COMPUTER TO KEEP FROM THROWING IT ACROSS THE ROOM.
I’m keeping my Gen 1 iPod as a memory of the first Apple product I ever bought – I liked it so much I used a friend’s Mac to put the initial set of songs on it. I have since purchased a Powerbook and switched from Windows, so that Gen 1 iPod is a great reminder of how simplicity and focus on function, not ‘features’, can ‘Start Something’ big. Meanwhile, BillG can have his ‘Rich, Integrated’ environment crash on him all the time.
(BTW it still holds its charge and lasts for several days in standby mode – it stays in my car several days in a row)
How about a 10% discount on a computer if I bring in a Windows PC or old Mac….
^^Seconded.
<cynicism>I love Apple’s products, but they haven’t really been up front on certain issues. Like the Gap, which has Steve Jobs as a board member, Apple projects a hip progressive image, but avoids confronting some of the social and ecological problems caused by their products.
Apple is so proud of their environmental policies that they bury that info in their site map under ‘additional information’ with no other links from anywhere in the site.
Not that other big corporations are any better.</cynicism>
I wouldn’t mind a $50 discount on the replacing of my ‘it plays for 2 hours then it’s dead’ G3 iPod battery.
Too bad I live outside of the USA in Canada. I guess the faulty batteries didn’t get sent to the rest of the world…….NOT!
10 % discount? Is Apple not aware that even BREOKEN ipods are selling on ebay for AT LEAST $40? Or that funtional 1G iPods are still selling for $120? Doesn’t seem a good deal to me.
I’ll take it! But not until my iPod HD dies. Wake me up in 5 years.
The only reason they’ve done this is because of those jackasses talking about how Apple is bad for the environment. I don’t think any right minded person would give in an old iPod for 10% when they still work great. My 2G 10 gig I expect to be using for another 5 years at least.
I’m a longtime Mac and iPod user, but this iPod recycling program probably has less to do with addressing environmental concerns, and more with ensuring ongoing profits. As the story said, folks can bring in their old iPod, and will score a hefty 10% discount for a shiny new model. (That’s up to $45, if you’re buying a top-of-the-line model, a great discount.) But what folks may not realize is that by doing this, Apple is proactively attacking the market for used iPods … and generating sales for new iPods.
Say you bring in your much-loved, scratched iPod to the Apple store. By giving it to Apple, you’re missing out on an opportunity to sell it used (on eBay, local newspaper classified, etc.) for a price that would likely be more than the 10% discount you’d receive. Furthermore, by giving your ‘Pod to Apple, you’re effectively helping reduce the number of used iPods available for sale on the market.
This helps Apple in two very significant ways. 1) It shrinks the “used” market for iPods (in which Apple generates no revenue), thereby generating traffic to iPod retailers for new product. And 2) It guarantees that you yourself will purchase a new iPod, from which Apple directly benefits. Unless you bring in a busted/dead iPod for the discount — or bring in a 1st gen iPod with an extremely low resale value — there’s very little you can gain from this so-called recycling program.
Wanna new iPod? Splendid. Sell your old one on eBay and use the cash (which will often be much more than $50) to purchase a new one. Don’t fall for a scheme (admittedly, a very clever scheme) that will directly benefit Apple, prevent the “used” iPod market to grow, and give you far less money than your used iPod is worth. As much as I admire Apple and the iPod — and as much as I respect the environment — this recycling program seems more like an insidious money-making scam.
My wife’s ferret got my 3g Ipod. It is so scratched up the buttons rarely work. I just got a remote for it and keep it in the glove box and use the remote to control it. I got a new ipod for travel use.