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Finding Holiday Discounts on iPods?
jeffy124 asks: "I was hoping to get an Apple iPod for Christmas. Alas, it's too expensive and out of the budget. So I'm forced into purchasing it for myself. Hoping to cash in on a holiday season bargain, I've been keeping my eye on the sales circulars that come in the newspaper. I've seen plenty of discounts for MP3 players of all kinds (Rio's, Dell's new HD-based player, etc), and the iPod has also shown up. Christmas does not yet seem very merry to me. They're always at the regular $299/399/499 price, never at a discount of any sort. You read that right, it's 'for sale' at the *regular* price. Stores guilty of this include Best Buy, Circuit City, Target, and CompUSA. Why do stores do this? How often? And does anyone know why Apple has been singled out while their competition has gotten their products discounted? Anyone know who *is* granting discounts on iPods this holiday season?"
"The other day came in the mail a 10% off coupon for various items at Best Buy, including 'MP3 Players' as indicated on the front of slip. Hoping this was how I was gonna get that discount, I set aside time this weekend to drive to Delaware in order to skip out on my local state sales tax too. I turned the coupon over, and in the legal disclaimer was the phrase 'Excludes Apple iPod Players.' Needless to say, a Merry Christmas is still aways off."
...is after christmas. That is when all the best bargains are found.
because they can. (boring).
next issue?
La via sola al paradiso incommincia nel inferno
Until they day after you buy one, Apple will annouce price breaks of $50-$100 and new larger capacity models.
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
AFAIK, Apple is the one keeping prices up. If you look at third party Mac sellers, they will often give you a memory upgrade, HD increase, free accessories, etc., but almost never a price break. My guess would be that Apple exerts similar influence regarding price controls of other product lines, too.
If you want a cheaper ipod, your best bet is most likely going to be eBay.
;) of course, you may find yourself needing to replace a battery.
I can't believe there isn't some collusion between the retailers and the manufacturers over Xmas, which has an effect on the 'sale' price. Perhaps Apple said 'No'.
I don't think it's morally right to say that a product is 'on sale' unless there's been a reduction in price though - at least in the UK, there must have been an immediately preceding period at which the product was priced higher for it to be marketed as at a 'sale' price...
Simon.
Physicists get Hadrons!
Find someone that's willing to buy it for you through their higher education discount. In Canada, a $439 10GB iPod goes for about $379 if you use an educational discount, if I recall correctly.
I bet it sort of works like the Gamecube price. The company selling the product sets an artifical price limit. In order to be able to sell the product you have to sign a contract agreeing to the price point. So best buy must have signed some sort of agreement with apple and it cannot lower the price. Simple.
In linux libertas
Just because it's listed in a circular doesn't mean that there's any sale price. We are just conditioned to believe that.
I haven't seen ipods for anything less than MSRP at any B&M either, probably due to the demand being so high.
The only time you will find Apple products for sale is when Apple passes along end-of-life discounts. (i.e. right before the new model comes out)
A Multiplayer Strategy Game for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux
I bought my Ipod over the summer used from amazon.com. I know their are people who have issues with the battery longevity but I have not noticed any problems. Best thing was I payed $150 for a 10gig Ipod.
I recently upgraded from my iPod to the Rio Karma, and it is THE iPod killer. More reviews can be found here: article.
Interested in open source engine management for your Subaru?
To make money.
How often?
As long as the market will bear.
Is it fascism yet?
Supply and demand, baby. Deal with it. You don't WANT an iPod competitor. You want an iPod. Don't try to pass the competitors off as equivalent and then bitch about a price differece. Go buy the competitor if you don't like it.
Step 1) Create product
Step 2) Sell it at market price based on supply and demand
Step 3) Profit
It's so easy, even Microsoft can do it!
"If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid." - Epictetus
Have you considered a refurb unit? Checkout the Apple Store and look for the big red "SAVE" tag on the left. I used a refurbished iBook for quite a while and it never gave me any trouble..
I used to work for Apple, and I know first hand that Apple forces resellers to their pricing structure.. You won't find any apple products for less than they sell for at the apple store.
This seems to be the case with a lot of products in the retail environment. Gaming consoles come to mind. While many retail products in the big box stores are discounted due to wholesale bulk purchasing, some products manufacturers just won't let the retailer alter the price, because it doesn't jive with their "Marketing" plan.
You can find them for about here for $289 and there's a fun $20 rebate available also. So you can get it for $269 AR and there is also free shipping. So it's below the iPod it's 20 GB AND it supports Ogg and FLAC. It also has unofficial support for Linux so you lose the apple 'coolness' but your pocketbook and open source will thank you!
Because Apple does not allow you to sell Apple products below the pricing offered by Apple themselves.
Apple does, however, let you bundle things- so your best bet is to look for the best bundle(free case etc). Smalldog and MacConnection are among several catalog companies who regularly do these deals, because it's the only way to be competitive(and not a terribly good one, either.)
Do get a case; mine was scratched all over within a half week, and I was excruciatingly careful with it. Also, DO get an extended warranty, and DON'T GET IT FROM APPLE, it's shorter and MORE expensive than Best Buy's(for example.)
FYI- don't bother looking for an iTrip. I placed my order two months ago with Griffin and they have yet to ship me mine. It's getting cancelled tomorrow, I'm fed up of waiting, and I hear the FM adapters all suck anyway.
Please help metamoderate.
Your scenario is driven by demand, my local CompUSA is generally out of stock of them, not by choice but because demand is so high.
They're maintaining the price and pushing a huge advertising campaign, it's a good strategy, higher price & lower volume = bigger profit & lower manufacturing cost.
If you don't like apple's game do as I did, don't play it.
Does anyone actually have a Java program designed to control air traffic, or for the operation of a nuclear facility?
...They're always at the regular $299/399/499 price...
.. 'Excludes Apple iPod Players.' Needless to say, a Merry Christmas is still aways off.
.
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The other day came in the mail a 10% off coupon for various items at Best Buy, including 'MP3 Players'
Looks like "still a ways off" is $29.90
Finally:
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE
(special deals page):
Refurb iPod 10GB (Mac & Windows) Dock not included: $229.
You didn't look very hard, did you?
Wild conjecture, but maybe it's just because they have such a strong brand name (kid wants an *iPod* for xmas, not an mp3 player) that they feel that their product is unique and that sales wouldn't drastically increase if they cut their prices (or conversely sales wouldn't drop that much if they kept prices high, because their customers don't see the cheapo competing mp3 players as valid substitutes for an iPod.)
:P
Kinda like toy fads -- what kid would want to accept a cheap knockoff "Fondle Me Herbert" doll when all their little pals have "Tickle Me Elmos"?
-fren
"Where are we going, and why am I in this handbasket?"
You don't put your product on sale unless you have some need to put it on sale.
They have marketshare, and they have a product that's selling like mad. Why lower the price when people are buying as many as you can make anyway?
Why should I have to enslave myself to Apple
You shouldn't. Nobody's forcing you, right? If you want to spend the money for the iPod, then do it. If you don't, then, er, don't.
...at the Apple Store
Scroll down and click on "Special Deals" on the left side of the page.
10GB -> $229.00 (no dock)
15GB -> $279.00
30GB -> $349.00
It's called Minimum Advertised Price.
Apple sets it. You can't re-sell Apple products below this set level. Nobody can.
Yes, Apple has been sued for this. (not successfully IIRC).
In fact, Apple HAS successfully sued resellers for selling under MAP. They put some of them out of business - they were called "Grey-market" MACs, they were bought overseas, and sold into the US market. (some people ended up frying the power supplies because they were set to 240 instead of 120).
Other industries have also been sued for MAP, and gotten their asses handed to them. But since Apple is *NOT* a monopoly, they can get away with it. Don't like it? Buy a competitor's product.
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
Apple can enforce a "Minimum Advertised Price." That is, you cannot advertise the product for less than a certain amount.
Apple cannot control what you actually SELL it for, though.
However, if you're a retailer and you know you have X allocation of iPods, and you can sell them all at full retail, why discount?
if you buy a VW bug
i am in the market for a digital camera. no matter where you go, they are all the same price. exactly the same price. it's been afew years since i worked retail, but this is a defense mechanism of sorts. one, since nobody is the low price leader, and everybody price matches, then nobody gets screwed, everybody sells some. besides, that way, store A doesn't run out, while store B gets screwed, which also pisses off customers. and it encourages people to buy now, because they ain't gonna find it cheaper next door. it also allows the stores to add on their own deals and warranties. this is where they make the big bucks. you even see this trend with cars. the price is the price. the real difference is in service. i for one will not shop in best buy, etc., because their sales drones don't know shit. i would rather go to ritz camera, and i know that the price is the same. manufacturers have been trying to do this for some time. there was a famous case a number of years ago with browning shotguns. they wanted all dealers to price them the same. went to court and lost. but, if you look at the hardware market, the markup is almost nil. as for ipods, you bet your ass that if you sell it for $1 less than apple without their approval, you'll never get another shipment. macmall sells their hardware for $5 less, but i guess they got a deal from apple. and besides,l they always throw more memory, etc., in with the deal. just don't expect things to change. and truthfully, i think customers like it better. if you want a good deal, go to ebay.
My problem? I was perfectly gruntled, until some numbnuts came by and dissed me.
Part of Apple's pricing strategy is that "it cost's more, so it must be good.", backed up with Apple's general image of creating superior products. I just wonder what will happen if Apple ever releases a $200 or $300 pc. Complete Mayham?!?
If you're worried about price, why not look at other cheaper options? I have a Creative Zen which was much cheaper than an iPod, with considerably more storage. Also, the iRiver iHP-120 looks amazing. Check around for reviews, and you'll find that both of these products are held in high regard. Don't fall for the Apple hype!
If your looking at getting the best price possible you'd do well to wait until the end of the busiest buying season of the year.
Quack, quack.
Dude... Apple was all over the place advertising that they were discounting iPods and accessories by 10% off for one day only (the day after Thanksgiving I think). This was originally for brick and mortar stores, but they extended it to their online store as well
Too bad you missed it I guess... I picked up an iTrip for my iPod at the discount. (BTW iTrips suck bad... it never worked right... I took it apart and half the wires weren't soldered in correctly... I resoldered it and it still doesn't work as good as those cheapy Belkin FM Transmitters).
--- Nothing To See Here ---
You've also got to remember that Apple is plenty proud of their products and doesn't tend to discount much.
--==-- I've found Karma to be a relative thing... Ya know, the kind you invite to Christmas...
EXACTLY.
I bought a dual 2ghz G5 on ebay for $2700. They retail from Apple for $2999. The same machine had been used by someone doing a magazine review, repackaged, and sold on ebay. Everything was still in it's wrapper. I'm 100% satisfied.
(I then went out and bought 1 gig of 3rd party RAM for half the price the Apple RAM would have cost).
Especially since this one was not plagued with the "noisy power supply" problem (I asked the seller first) - you can't get THAT guarantee from Apple.
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
On Amazon, they have them for 15-25 bucks cheaper than the standard price, but to see the price you need to add one to your shopping cart. The obvious explanation is that they're legally prevented from advertising the discounted price.
Either that or they're hoping to cash in on dumb hipster-wannabes who forget to remove it from their cart.
------- Was it just a coincidence I got moderator points the first time I logged on to
Apple hardware prices are damned-near set in stone. This is because, unlike most manufacturers, Apple does not head out looking for the best price on manufacturing, design, support, etc.. Apple picks better business partners, who pay higher wages to employees. So to keep profit margins high, Apple locks its prices pretty high.
Also, don't forget that Apple has its own retail and online stores, because very few retailers have ever done a good job at selling Apple hardware. Keeping those stores profitable is key to keeping the company aflot. The last thing Apple wants is for everyone with an Apple store and a Best Buy near home to go get Apple hardware at Best Buy at a discount.
Dell has discounts in their S&P store all the time. Dell sells IPods. 2+2 = 4
.8). If the coupon is only good at the small business store, then you'll most likely have to pay sales tax (small possibility at home store as well)
Dell had a 20% off all purchases in their home store coupon this past summer, so I was able to get my 30GB ipod for $400 w/ no tax ($500 *
Alright, maybe I should just keep my mouth shut... But I work retail (at EB) and this has always been an annoyance - especially over the holidays.
On sale means that items are being sold...for example, "On sale now!" means that the product is currently available in stores for your purchase. Not necessarily that it is available at a special, lower price.
Yes, I realize that "on sale" can also mean that you've got a new, temporarily lower price...but it doesn't have to.
We get signs up all the time for new games and products that say "on sale now", and then people get upset when we're charging the same price as our competitors.
yrs,
Ephemeriis
"Work is the curse of the drinking classes." -Oscar Wilde
What you are seeing is an example of "price control." Price control is a relatively common practice, especially for companies that create higher-end products and have limited (or no) direct-to-customer distribution. Essentially, Apple has the ultimate discretion as to which retailers it will sell iPods too. In order to qualify to carry an iPod, that retailer, be it Best Buy, Circuit City, or any other, must enter into a binding agreement with Apple as to the pricing of the unit. Under that agreement, discounting of the units is generally either completely disallowed, or allowed only with manufacturer approval. Thus, the Best Buys and Circuit City stores HAVE to sell the iPod at whatever price Apple tells them to.
Where it starts to get shady is when a retailer that hasn't signed a price control agreement with the manufacturer gets their hands on the price controlled units, and starts selling them at a price below the manufacturer's price point. This generally happens when a retailer that has an agreement with the manufacturer unloads some overstock or demo units, when a retailer goes bankrupt, or when a shipment "falls off of a truck." Many manufacturers that use price controls get very, very unhappy when this happens. Most price controlling manufacturers will cut off sales of product to retailers that sell overstock to discounters. This can lead to shady, under-the-table dealing, units with serial numbers ground off so the manufacturer can't trace who sold it to whom, and general malaise. Most manufacturers won't honor the warranties on items purchase through third-party discounters.
If you think Apple's price controls are nasty, take a look at the high-end watch world. Companies like Rolex won't even allow retailers to advertise the prices of their watches AT ALL. Take a look at a jeweler's ad in the newspaper for Rolexes- they'll always say something to the effect of "call or visit for pricing." Watch companies are also well known for forbidding internet sales. And they put out propaganda to the effect that all watches sold by discounters are counterfeit.
It's the manufacturer's world. We're just here to consume.
--Use this space for notes--
I am planning on buying a 40 gig 3rd gen ipod tomorrow, and they are priced at 479 at my school. You may want to goto a university in your area and see what they are selling at in the bookstore. Most of the time you don't need a student id either. Might save you a little money, and no shipping
Apple sells refurbs on their "special deals" section of the store.apple.com site. They are discounted, but come in plain packaging, not the cool box you get on a new one. Didn't matter to me.
I bought a 10gb iPod refurbed for 249 a while ago. The unit was not cosmetically refurbished. There were scratches and dings on it. I had to return it once for further repair. Still, I saved a few bucks and now the unit is OK.
Just know that a refurb may not be a walk in the park, and if it's a gift for someone else, they may get a very used-looking one.
The web site dealmac.com keeps track of the best prices for Apple-related products, including ipods. Right now, none iPod of the deals listed are especially great (eg they list the 10 GB iPod for $229.00 from the Apple Store), but there should be updates soon.
Denn wir sind wie Baumstaemme im Schnee. Scheinbar liegen sei glatt auf, mit kleinem anstoss sollte man sie wegschieben
Here you go:
1. Education Discounts - Find a kid or a teacher.
2. Apple Consultants Network - http://consultants.apple.com
3. Apple Employees - that's some good action if you can get the hookup. I'd rather not say much about that for fear of an Apple Lawyer shoving a sock down my throat. (It's where I scored my iPod from, and I'm a certified ACN member)
4. CompUSA employees - they can buy at CompUSA's cost.
The discounts are out there, you just may have to put yourself in indentured servitude or buy a bunch of beer for someone (especially in the case of the CompUSA employee, Apple employee, or the kid).
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
Good deal available on Ebay and elsewhere, especially if you're willing to get a last-gen model.
Apple (just like any other manufacturer) charges the stores X dollars to carry a product (the store actually has to buy them...). This is called the wholesale price. Now Apple's wholesale price might be really, really close to the MSRP. In order for a store to make a profit, they MUST charge more than the wholesale price.
Video Game Consoles and other hardware usually has a high wholesale price so the retail price is usually never discounted. Software (Games, CDs, DVDs, et cetera) usually have a very low wholesale price so some stores will give you wicked discounts on them in the range of 10%-30% and in some stores even %50.
If you shopped the day after Thanksgiving in an Apple store, you got 10% off on an iPod. Sorry you missed it.
I bought a 10gb model at Target.
I signed up for the Target credit card and got an instant 10% off. That saved me $30 right there.
Then they gave me a smart card reader, and another 10% off my next credit card purchase, plus another 10% off any on-line purchase.
Wow. I'm done. It was easy, and to be honest I haven't used their card since. Maybe I'll start using it if my current "favorite" card continues to screw me with their crazy rules.
Join AudibleListener for 12 months and get an iPod for $100 less. Naturally you'll spend $14.95 per month on the AudibleListener account for 12 months, but you'll also get one audio magazine, newspaper or radio program plus one audiobook each month. What, you expect something for nothing?
Oh yeah. Tell 'em sdmb sent you.
MORTAR COMBAT!
Why are you letting society put so much pressure on you? You're running around like a headless chicken trying to get something that you can't really afford. Don't let society do this to you, and you will be so much happier. If you really are going to find a use for an MP3 player, get a cheaper one and spend the money you saved doing something social with your family/friends. If they shun or pressurize you for not having the coolest gadget, that's their problem not yours, and they're probably not worth having as friends (family's another issue).
Sale (in French) means dirty. The French offered a discount on dirty (dent and ding) items and then the English picked up on the word. Or it's just a funny anecdote I just pulled out of my ass
Reminds me of my neighbor, Richard Abrams, who is in the paper distribution business (which is huge). He owns West Coast Paper company. His big, yellow trucks ply I-5 all ove rthe place. I was buying for my org, so I asked Dick for a discount.
"Sure!" he said. "How big a discount do you want?"
"You mean I get to choose?" I asked. Wow! Nice neighbor. It must pay to know people in high places.
"Sure!" he said again. "You tell me what discount you want, then I'll tell you the retail price!"
Guess there's a reason he's still in business.
How about a moderation of -1 pedantic.
Keep an eye out for Dell's stackable coupons... they often have $35 off $350 and $45 off $450 pretty regularly. Many times, they will have these in addition to a blanket %10 off all peripherals. As of a few months ago, they were not excluding the iPod although they will occasionally exclude some items. Keep an eye on this site, as they usually report any Dell deals on a regular basis.
I am very confused by the many posts claiming that price fixing is legal, as long as there is no collusion among suppliers.
I worked in retail for many years, selling high-end electronics (audio, and later video, components). Price fixing on the part of manufacturers was absolutely forbidden. It still went on, but the government could come down hard on someone if they found out.
There were a number of clever ways manufacturers used to get around these restrictions. The most popular was a 'minimum advertised price' policy linked to advertising dollars (i.e., you got a rebate if you sold things at or above the recommended minumum price).
I have been out of the business for several years now, but I find it hard to believe that things could have changed that much. Could someone with solid current information please clear this up for all of us?
Apple has always controlled prices on their products even if you do not buy the product directly from Apple. You would think that Apple would sell more iPods if they allowed their stores to control pricing however that could undercut Apple's direct buyer market. They control hardware, software, and prices which can be positive and negative depending on how you view Apple.
Only the largest distributors ever do this, and it is only by about $5.
Also for many retailers Apple products just don't have a lot of margin, i.e. very little profit, so there just isn't much room for discounting until a product reaches end of life (EOL) and all pricing restrictions are removed.
Shawn's Tech Articles
I bought mine and the same thing happened, but then I noticed my school's bookstore had it for 25% off. Apparently there is an education discount on these suckers.
So get yourself to your local college bookstore and either find an oblivious checkout clerk or contact a friend who has a friend who is still in college.
You save at least $40.
The Apple Federal Store offers discounts of $30, $40, and $50 on the 10-, 20-, and 40-GB models respectively.
I hold it, that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing. -- Thomas Jefferson
Check for iPods that are "Open Box." They are usually returned by someone who upgrades or downgrades size. They can't be sold as new, so must be marked down. Just bought a 20GB this past weekend - $339. Added in the 4-year Best Buy warranty for $40 to cover the battery and basically anything else that goes bad within 4 years. Also persuaded a fellow customer to take the iPod over the Nomad, even though it still cost him more and had a smaller hard disk. I don't think that Apple needs to drop prices to increase demand.
I know this probably won't happen for many of you, but I swear this to be the truth..
:-)
I sent my wife up to Best Buy when they were having their 10% off thing this weekend. I already saw on the coupon it said mp3 players 10% off (except Ipods). I told her to take it anyways, but then she lost it, ah well - so she did take the double-your-best-buy-reward-zone coupon.
She picked up the 40G ipod, a armband case or whatever, and the extended service plan.
At the register, she gave them her coupon, and the girl working the register said "Do you have your 10% off coupon as well?", and my wife said she didn't, so the girl went to a couple other registers to find one!!! She let it go through, too.
And, my wife doesn't know what happened after that, but she started talking, walked away, and found another 10% off coupon.
So, everything we bought only cost about $520 after tax. Ahhh.. And I was going to be content getting my 800,000 reward zone points.
Not that I am trying to plug this product but after having bought my Nomad I came across an article that talked about a huge flaw with the I-Pod which is that the battery cannot be removed and that Apple will replace it for you at a price of around 250$. In other words you not only not get a discount you also have to be prepared to pay alot more further down the road.
After reading that article I really started to appreciate my investement in the Nomad player even if the interface isn't as good as the Ipod's wheel and software. It took a few days but I found ways to navigate it.
I'm not telling you to buy the same thing I did, I'm just telling you to really look at what you are paying for before putting down alot of money. Considering how much you pay for these products, I think it's really worth taking time to find the right product for you than just getting the cool looking one. To me it was more important to be happy with my player than to have the wow factor.
Hope this is useful.
It used to cost $255 to get Apple to replace the battery, but after this guy got the word out, Apple mysteriously dropped the price to $99. Or you could go for a third party battery for $45.
Vino, gyno, and techno -Bruce Sterling
AC comments get piped to
Please actually know something before you post. Wait, I'm sorry nevermind, everybody does it. Thanks for playing. And stop linking to dirtylittlesecret you bunch of ****ing morons.
Anyone who whines about being modded down should be.
Best discount I found:
;-)
Nomad Zen NX [not a commission link]
50% more storage than the 20GB iPod, at 2/3 of the price. There's a 60GB version, at less than the cost of a 30Gb iPod.
It's got replaceable batteries, and unlike the iPod, you don't have to remortgage your house to buy a replacement battery. 14 hour claimed battery life. (that's between charges, not 14 hours until you need a new one
It's got a big-screen, it's small, light, has a charger. No GNU support. No OGG. No remote control.
Here are the developer prices for the iPod:
10GB: $239
20GB: $319
40GB: $399
Disclaimer: This comment was generated by a Flock of Trained Microsoft Programmers for Aqua_Geek.
You can strap it to your arm with the included holder
I'm sure someone makes an armband-style case for iPod owners who want one.
No movable parts so no skipping unlike the ipod
The iPod has 32MB of cache. The average song encoded at a 128K bit rate is 4MB. So about 6 to 10 songs should fit into the iPod cache. I suppose skipping could become an issue for the iPod if you strap it to a running paint shaker and listen to it for a while.
The Ipod is overkill in terms of storage (The Iriver can hold 5-50 cds depending on the sampled bitrate but normally I'd say around 6-10)
Says you. I have a 30GB iPod, and I like being able to carry around my entire CD collection in my shirt pocket. No matter where I am, I can listen to any song I want, any time I want.
The Ipod is too big & heavy
The size of a deck of cards and the weight of 2 CDs is too big and heavy? Do you have severely atrophied muscles because you've been in a coma for the last 10 years, or something?
The Ipod battery fails after about 18 months and costs over $100 to replace
Lies, all lies. Some people have had battery problems, not everyone. The majority of people with original 5GB iPods who posted when this was brought up a week or two ago are having ZERO problems. And if $100 is too rich for your blood, you can replace the iPod battery yourself for $50.
The Ipod is just a notebook/laptop hard drive in a clean looking case but just as fragile as any other hard drive
I haven't read of anyone who has had issues because of drive fragility. People who are really concerned about it can buy a case. I prefer to just take good care of my stuff.
I've read nothing but excellent reviews for the Iriver mp3 player and own one and it's the best I've ever had.
I've read nothing but excellent reviews for the iPod, and own one, and it's the best I've ever had. Neener neener neener!
I don't agree with the argument that you get more storage for the same price from an Ipod. What's the use if it's overkill? If it was an external hard drive or something along those lines I'd agree but it's not.
Ummmm, the iPod is an external hard drive. You can store anything on it, you can even install an OS on it and boot from it. For someone who claims to have had an iPod, you sure don't seem to know much about them.
~Philly
A longtime mac bloggish site is linking to amazon, and offering actual discounts on a variety of apple hardware. Including the iPod.
Click on over to MacInTouch for a little bit off. It's linked off towards the bottom of the home page. It's not a huge discount, but the only one I've seen:
iPod 10GB: $284.05
iPod 20GB: $379.05
iPod 40GB: $474.05
Anyone seen my low uid? last seen 10 years ago while panning the #@$# out of Taco's 'web based discussion system'
I just asked Froogle, Google's product search engine, and it offered these results for a 40 GB unit. The best price on a new iPod it found was $464.00, which is about 10% off.
http://www.darrenbarefoot.com
Words. Words. Words.
Please - why the shock and surprise? Apple doesn't have to lower the price, for Christmas or any other reason. The ipod is a hot item - for whatever reason. Apple will get the sales, whether or not the 1/2 dozen of you who think that they should lower the price or you just won't buy one continue to have your little coniptions....
Apple has very strict price points they sell and have their resellers sell their products. Best Buy/Circuit City/whoever contractually cannot lower the price without Apple's say-so.
So suck it up: pay the man or don't...we are from the government - we are here to help...
The day after Thanksgiving Apple retail stores and the Apple online stores had iPods at 10% off for all buyers.
Apple discounted them on the busiest shopping day of the year. What more do you want?
It doesn't improve their tax position.
If the company makes the item for $100, sells it for $350, and then pays out a $75 rebate, they have $175 of net income. They have to pay taxes on that.
If the company makes the item for $100 and sells it for $275 then they pay taxes on $175 of income.
To put it in your terms -- the company has to pay taxes on the "more revenue" they got through having a higher list price. You forgot about that part when you were thinking about the tax benefit of mailing the customer a check. The two things offset.
You are right about the personal information. Who's the best prospect for buying a new model of iPod? Someone who bought an iPod two years ago, of course!
Plus there is some percentage of people who buy the product but don't get the rebate. But nn the other hand, there are customers like you and me who say "ahhh, fuck it" on a $350 product with a $75 rebate, but we would just buy the damn thing for $275, so the rebate does lose them some sales compared to a simple flat price.
It used to be a little known clause in Best Buy's store policies that any item purchased as Open Box was given a free 4 year warranty. A lot of times the sales guys would try not to give it out, but when reminded of the policy, they would.
Bought a tv, vcr, stereo, speakers, car gear of the same and a couple other random things that way from them a few years back. Never got a chance to use the warranties.
Most people will scoff at you for getting the extended warranty. I have found it is a good deal on some very specific items.
The iPod is a great example, do to the cost of replacing the battery.
Full computer systems are also worth it. The only IBM clone I ever bought, I had an extended warrenty 5 years, 50 bucks. after 4 years, the monitor went, they shipped me a new one, the even paid postage. A month later my mobo died, the sent mye a new one, and a substantially beefer proc. and RAM. Basically upgraded my complete system for 50 bucks.
All this assumes a reasonable price one the extended warrenty, naturally.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Celebrating the birth of Christ or giving gifts or whatever this season is supposed to mean, actually means nothing because you can't afford an iPod?
It's got replaceable batteries, and unlike the iPod, you don't have to remortgage your house to buy a replacement battery.
If you have to get a loan for $49, you probably shouldn't buy an iPod.
Or any MP3 player for that matter.
- Tony
I got $40 discount for buying an "Open Box" iPod at Best Buy. Someone had returned it, nothing missing. I had to reformat the drive, but big whoop.
The Apple warrenty and extended Best Buy warrenty covers everything.
Apple only "discounts" hardware after the technology is unsupported/dead. This was my best option.
Consider it, I am very happy.
I just bought myself a 40GB iPod as my big Xmas gift to myself. Yeah, I was bummed that I missed the day after Thanksgiving sale Apple was running -- but then again, that was also a horrendous day to try doing any shopping. All the crowds and hassles with parking, waiting in lines, etc. probably made it worth waiting and paying the extra 10%.
Another little tip I've heard, though, is to find a buddy working at a CompUSA store. Supposedly, their employee discounts on Apple products (of all types) come pretty close to the same thing as Apple's educational discounts. One of them should be able to buy you an iPod for at least $40 off or so.
Also, don't forget, Apple offers a number of discounts similar to the "educational discount". They have a lesser-known military discount, and a discount for govt. employees too. So you should be able to find *someone* who qualifies for one of those.....
In the grand scheme of things though, I figure an iPod is a pretty pricy little toy, any way you look at it - and if I was going to take the plunge and buy it, I'm not going to incur a bunch of extra hassle just to save less than $50 on the thing. I just paid what they were asking, got my instant gratification, and figure I'll make up for it by avoiding the urge many folks seem to have to waste money on useless iPod accessories (leather cases and the like).
Apple can't force them to sign a contract, but they can say "do this and we'll never sell you anything again."
Hey, mod this post up. (I don't see how it's off topic people!!) If apple isn't going to cut prices, another competitor will - and sounds like they did. The Zen isn't made by Apple, and all the Apple "loyalists" will ignore it as a result, but for the average consumer, this product competes very nicely. The iPod is built well, very well that is, but with the battery problems it has, the Zen has that advantage of removeable batteries and a lower cost. The only thing the Zen doesn't do is sync up with iTunes and play a propietary Apple format... which doesn't bother me one bit to be honest. I can't speak for the quality of the Zen, but I'm sure it has a warranty.
That's what I paid several months ago, so it's probably even less, now. If you can live with refurbished, you'll save a bundle. I haven't had any problems. In fact, I almost trust refurbished products more than brand new ones, because they've been checked over a second time, presumably more thoroughly than the first time they passed through the QA department.
I suppose skipping could become an issue
A workmate of mine bought an iPod a couple weeks ago (mainly for Audible support). He tried replacing his iRiver in the gym with the iPod. Gave it his best shot. It skipped too many times and he returned it to Circuit City. There's only so much you can do with a spinning magnetic disk.
Some people have had battery problems
The worst issue with the iPod battery is its small capacity. Apple have trimmed it right down. The PortalPlayer design is incredibly parsimonious with how it does read-ahead into the RAM to limit access, but it's still a huge factor.
I notice that the iPod's cousins, the other handhelds based on PortalPlayer (Samsung and Philips) get around 15 hours on their batteries at the cost of a couple of cc extra volume over the iPod.
Da Blog
I bought a "store demo" unit for $170 from DealExpress.com. Although it took them 6 DAYS!!! to ship it (so much for my overnight shipping fees) it came in the box with all accessories, manuals, CDs, etc.
This was for last years model, the 10 GB version. So I can't use many of the accessories designed for the newer iPods. I don't have the dock for example. But I get better battery life and I paid less then $200!
tbdean
The wife.
SmallDog.com - Good people...great prices and service.
from a former apple retail employee:
apple almost *never* gives discounts. there are 2 exceptions:
1. a major retail holiday: i guess you missed the deals on black friday in the apple reatil stores (everything relating to ipods was on sale).
2. a major release party (ie.the iPod release, an OS release)
historically, anytime there was an instore special event, or special hours, there was a sale involved. you might also want to keep an eye out for the opening anniversary for your local store. for the first 30 or so stores, there were 1st year anniversary promos.
but to get the *best* deal on an iPod or an Apple CPU, you better get chummy with someome who works for Apple. Not only do they get a personal discount (25%) each calendar year, they are allowed to provide a pretty nice deal to 3 lucky people (15%) called "Friends & Family" each calendar year as well. Besides, they can also give you the inside scoop on instore refresh sales as well.
Refresh would be a previously opened product which was neither defective nor repaired. In some cases, it simply means the box was opened- product never used. Right after xmas, you'll see *alot* of that in the store due to buyer's remorse or a nice gift gesture gone bad. So happy hunting and good luck!
Refurbished iPods (with Dock Connector) Units subject to stringent refurbishment process prior to sale. iPod 10GB (Mac & Windows) Dock not included $229.00 iPod 15GB (Mac & Windows) $279.00 iPod 30GB (Mac & Windows) $349.00 Education discount is also available if you qualify... Then again I think this post is ridiculous...go bargain shopping w/ slashdot's help.
Hoping this was how I was gonna get that discount, I set aside time this weekend to drive to Delaware in order to skip out on my local state sales tax too. I turned the coupon over, and in the legal disclaimer was the phrase 'Excludes Apple iPod Players.' Needless to say, a Merry Christmas is still aways off."
It sounds like the trip would take you a couple of hours at the minimum to complete. You'd save 30 bucks and another 10 bucks on shipping by buying online from an out of state dealer. A four hour trip would then come to 10 bucks an hour, not counting the fuel you'd most likely liberate CO2 from. Can I rent you for 12 bucks an hour? I've got some chores which need doing.
If you've got 300 bucks to spend on a portable music player, you can afford 40 more. Cease whining about "not getting a deal" and just drop the cash, you'll be a happier person. Spend the time you would have spent in a car or asking slashdot on a bike ride instead, listening to the iPod, instead of worrying how to get it for a few bucks less than MSRP.
somebody bent my whookey.
"Christmas does not yet seem very merry to me yet" Please put things into perpective, Jeffy. There are billions of people out there who won't even have a meal during Christmas this year, let alone an iPod. There are countless others who have no family, or are terminally ill, etc and may not live to see another Christmas. I certainly hope you find your Ipod cheaply, but I hope you find some holiday perspective first....
I can't believe this made it to the front page, but I'll bite.
1. Ebay. Duh. (Half.com, too)
2. Apple Educational Discounts.
3. Apple Refurbished products (through the Apple Store).
4. Dell's online store has frequent coupons for 10-25% off.
5. Amazon.com maketplace has used stuff.
The sad fact of the matter for you is that you will not find it much cheaper than the list price. That is because lots of people want it at the list price, and it is not worth it for them to lower the price for you. If you want an iPod, which is the best and most popular mp3 player on the market, you have to expect to pay for it. Comparisons have been made between Apple and BMW. Both offer high quality and fashionable products at premium prices. If you want economy, buy an Archos Jukebox or a Creative Nomad. Slow and ugly, but cheaper. If you want the best, be willing to pay the price.
All that being said, the real discounts are not for the holiday season, but after the holiday season, so if you are just buying it for yourself, wait until January. Apple always has a conference then, and they slash prices on many products. If the iPod gets updated, you would definitely get more for your money.
It appears, Dingleberry, that you have a disturbingly common misconception: that because only Apple makes Apple products, that makes them a monopoly. I will first give a relatively standard answer: does Sony have a monopoly because only they sell PlayStations? No. If Sony were the only company that sold gaming consoles, or held a supermajority of the market, and they actively fought to keep it that way, then they would be in a monopoly position. If Apple were the only company that sold MP3 players, or held a supermajority of the market, and actively fought to keep it that way, then they would have a monopoly and your position would be reasonable.
The other difference is that between monopoly pricing and price fixing. The former can only be done by a monopoly that holds a supermajority of the market in a particular commodity (a single company). The latter can only be done by what is commonly known as a cartel, a group of companies in the same industry that get together to decide what the price of the good or service they all sell should be. If they collectively hold enough of the market, they can keep prices as high as they want, because the competition cannot make enough of a dent in their market share to really compete.
You can be sure that even if the market share of the iPod dropped from its current level of (I believe) about 80% down to 40%, Apple would not lower the price by a significant amount. This is because Apple doesn't keep the price high to gouge us or because they're a monopoly, they do it because that's the kind of company they are: they make expensive, high-quality, high-profit-margin items that people buy because they're the best, not because they're the most affordable. In other words, they're not a monopoly, and nor are they trying to compete on the same footing as companies like Dell and HP, which always compete on price. They compete on quality, instead.
They're worth it.
Dan Aris
Fun. Free. Online. RPG. BattleMaster.
Buy at Target and open up a Target card - instant 10% off your entire purchase plus they send you a couple more "10% of an entire day's shopping" coupons in the mail w/ your actual card. On a big ticket item like an iPod it really helps; plus you can load up on other XMas electronic goodies and save a bundle.
I have about 5 of their products, including a
hard drive based MP3 player. What a waste of
money. I am not buy another Creative product.
I have owned an Apple ipod also. Nice mp3 mplayer.
I am loving my new Rio Karma though.
Simple solution to a simple problem. Go to Apple's website and go to their Store page. On the left hand side, it says Government. Click buy for yourself. Agree to their little thingy and the prices drop from $299,$399,$499 to $269,$359,$449. Can't beat that.
CompUSA does this in just about every single ad they circulate. They do it to generate traffic for people who don't know any better. That's pretty much the entire reason CompUSA exists: People don't know any better.
As far as if Apple will discount the iPod? Don't bet on it anytime soon. The only reason iTunes was released free for Windows was because Apple hoped it would help fuel iPod sales.
Well, not really. Had dinner with a friend at apple and he's like, "hey, you want any hardware?" And I said, "sure, how about an iPod?" "Oh, not an iPod, we can't make those fast enough."
Well, maybe I'll get a 15" powerbook instead.
Awesome furniture, accessories and cabinetry in Santa Rosa, CA: http://humanity-home.com/
I think you missed the point. If you got the 14 day price protection, the price would drop on the 15th. Thats how it works.
-blar
What's to keep you from buying, say, a 10GB iPod ($299), and a 40GB 2.5" HDD
Em, because the iPod uses 1.8" drives? You want to easily swap out hard drives, get an Archos with 2.5". A friend of mine upgraded her 15GB to 80GB.
FYI, although the iPod gains a lot of its compactness from its smaller hard drive, it's been surpassed by the Nitrus, MuVo, and others using the new 1" drives from Cornice. Only 1.5GB at the moment, but they will be 5GB by next year. They enable very compact players that make the iPod seem oversized and so, well, last year.
Da Blog
Where were you? This was through their retail chain and online store as well which also included Canada through it's online store.
You can also buy them at discount through edu and gov discounts.
Also if you don't mind a refurb goto www.smalldog.com as they sell new and used models people have traded in for a new model.
Apple is suppose to be releasing a 4th Gen iPod at MacWorld so you might want to buy them after MacWorld Expo because all them will get a price break once the new iPods are introduced.
Apple also sells refurbs through it's website from time to time..but they go very quickly.
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/A ppleStore.woa/71008/wo/dOaNYUHhfbRL2SgrDmK2aPropaP /0.0.7.1.0.5.13.0.3.0.0.0.0.3.1.1.0?84,58
Right now they got the following(refurbs from Apple Direct):
iPod 10GB (Mac & Windows) Dock not included $229.00
iPod 15GB (Mac & Windows) $279.00
iPod 30GB (Mac & Windows) $349.00
Also check Best Buy for open box sales.
Also another reason most reseller won't cut prices on iPods is because they are the hot item for Christmas this yr. I know for a fact at two CompUSA's here they sell between 30-100 iPods a week compare to all the other MP3 players which they may sell 5 if their lucky.
My friend at CompUSA told me they sold 2 Dell DJ's even with a sale on them. Now compare that to the iPod sales which they sold 45 of at reg pricing. So why should Apple or resellers drop the price when they sell that well even when others have discounts on their MP3 Players.
Also Apple has another thing going for it. The iPod is fashionable because it's the "in thing" to have at HS and Colleges. About half of the college girls on campus here have them.
Now if Apple comes out with it's econ. priced iPod and similar video type iPod I think they will pretty much kill the rest of the market.
"A trip to Fry's is two trips to Fry's"
They do have a great return policy, they'll take almost anything back without (major) hassles.
I used to buy almost all of my computer stuff at Fry's and noticed the same situation. Plus the boxes being sold as 'new' would have manuals or cables missing. That would be marked on the sticker and the unit would still be the same price as the unopened units.
I once bought three bare-bone systems in a row from Fry's before one worked. I used to think that it was my fault for being 'technically challenged'.
But life's too short for this nonsense. Fry's should have the world's most detailed web site that covers everything that they sell and have recently sold. All the drivers, all the manuals in PDF, everything. They should insist that the manufacturer supply their super web site with all this documentation before they agree to stock the product.
I now get most of my computer stuff from listings on PriceWatch.com.
Have you ever taken a lok at iPod pricing outside USA. 550 EUR (~670 USD) in Germany or 400 GBP (~690 USD) in UK? That is expensive! And there are no discounts here either ...
yes, it does. I myself listen to a lot of Korean music. It is nice to see hangul and chinese characters on the ipod.
I was contemplating buying an iPod when I got a backdated pay increment a couple of weeks ago. I sat looking at the Apple store page for twenty minutes or so, wondering if I should really go for the 40gb, when a new mail pinged into my inbox. It was a voucher from Apple for 20 off any purchase over 199. I took this to be divine intervention and ordered immediately. Now, I'm not suggesting you should pray for an iPod discount because, you know, that might be seen as slightly selfish. But I do suggest you think as hard as you can about buying one, and wait for Apple's serendipity dept. to pick up on it.
Dell had been selling iPods for a while and pulled them right before the launch of the Dell DJ. They brought them back for a little while (when I nabbed a 40gig for about $400 shipped), but they appear to be gone again. I wouldn't expect them to come back now that Dell is fully behind their own player.
Hello,
I work for a rather large (fortune 1000) computer reseller, that sells Apple products. I am part of a business to business outbound call organization.
I can tell you, even though I deal in corporate sales, a fair amount of my company contacts are interested in IPODs for themselves or families. I usually "wheel and deal" for them, for the holidays. I figure it's a benny I can offer for working with me.
I can tell you that there is barely any money to be made in reselling apple hardware. If you show me a piece of apple hardware, Imac, g5, ipod, etc, that my company makes more than 8 or 9 points of margin on, I'll be impressed.
Most apple hardware is around 6 points of gross margin. About the only thing you can make good money at in the apple world is selling support, be it your own support, or their "applecare" estended warranties.
I can tell you that my company, and my competition, to compete, absolutely will not offer a discount on the ipod. At less than 8 points of margin, what's the point of selling them? We will however, offer an IPOD bundled with say, deluxe headphones, or a "mobility pack", etc, for a little more to compete and offer a deal.
You see the same thing with PlayStation 2's. 179.95 or whatever is set by contract, but you can offer discounted items with it to get a competitive edge.
I know before I was in this business I always thought "A 600 dollar thing, they make a ton of money" or "a $2000 computer, wow, i can find it for 1500 somewhere else!" It's simply not true. Due to a competitive marketprice, you are lucky to make 8 points of margin on a PC Box. And Apple... I only assume they are taking most of the margin. To be honest, I'm not sure why my company sells it.
Easy guys, I put my pants on one leg at a time. The difference is after I put on my pants I make gold records!
> everyone of them is made to have the battery easily replaceable, without jamming something sharp into the case to pry it apart.
...$59...you might as well just ship the stupid thing back to Apple and pay them $99...
Looking at my Palm m505, I don't see any sliding battery cover. I see 4 tiny Torx screws which would probably run you at least $5 for a driver. Throw in a battery for $34.99 plus $10 shipping and tax, and it's over $50 to replace the battery. Where are all the Palm users crying fraud? Palm used to use user-replaceable batteries, so you could put in your own rechargeable of choice, but they probably switched to this kind so they could better guarantee it would charge properly in the cradle (more practical than charging your AAAs a la carte) and also to make it less likely that cheap Chinese import batteries (like in the phone market) could be easily swapped in and cause headaches when they exploded, leaked and such. Apple's choice may have been grounded on similar thinking.
You are entitled to your opinion (that everything should have tool-free battery doors), but in my opinion any self-respecting geek doesn't care whether something is designed to be user-serviceable or not. All that matters is whether it is user-serviceable, and the iPod is. And while we're asking one another where we found things, I'd like to see where you buy your laptop batteries.
> And if you buy the kit,
I don't follow your logic. First you bitch that $10 is too much to ask for the tools to pop the iPod case, then you shrug and say that it's not worth doing it yourself, even though (a) you save $40, (b) you don't have to give it up for a week, and (c) you don't have to swap your iPod for a different one (mine is engraved). Make up your mind--are you cheap or are you lazy and wasteful?
...a lot of stores seem to run zero-discount "sales". I know that Kmart does it a lot, from when I used to work for them...and when I was just in there today, I noticed big "sale" signs, with "sale ending" dates and everything, hung over the TracFone card price tags...that when I lifted them up, revealed the TracFone cards were exactly the same price. Why do they do it? To call attention to the items, I guess, and hope that people will buy them and think they're getting a bargain (and not bother to lift the tag up to see how much they're "saving").
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org