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Apple to Recycle your iPod for Free
rdarden writes "After you get your dough from the recent iPod settlement, why not recycle your old iPod at an Apple retail store (US only). Starting today, that worthless hunk of environmental unfriendliness can be turned into a 10% discount on a new iPod (purchased at the same time)."
It's funny how rewording something can make shit sound good.
"We will recycle your iPod for free!" doesn't sound like half as much a ripoff as "I'll buy your iPod for $30"
and they get free spares?
$20-$30 seems fair... I'm sure they won't resell them. Snort.
You could sell it on eBay for well over $100. Which sounds better to you?
No recyling! My ipod will have it's own shrine when it dies!
...to getting the US to sign up to Kyoto.
That said, it's a pretty good step by a company to reduce the problems with just dumping consumer electronics in tips. It would be nice to see this globally though, and also across all Apple products. But lets be honest - perhaps if the government actually got behind stopping pollution and industrial waste...over here in the UK, the government environmental agency announced yesterday it was asked employees to wear thermal underwear over winter, so they could turn the heating down a few degrees.
No hardware vendor makes money from secondary sales ('used' sales) of their hardware. This is also a good tactic from the DRM angle for Apple. It's a benefit to them to 'lock' each individual iPod to an individual.
Ok, I am not an evil stock analyst. But is this a sign of market saturation? BAsically, a couple days ago there were rumoes that iPOd inventories were building up because of oversupply. This could be a move to get rid of that excess inventory. As in, they figured out basically that most people who want an ipod already got one .. and so now they are trying to sell it to those who have old ones. Plus they want to reduce the number of people selling their second hand ipods to people (this way they make two sales instead of one).
Hey people saw star wars three times didnt they?
>
>that worthless hunk of environmental unfriendliness
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Actually between the screen and battery (I personally have a dead iPod with a perfect battery) there are still many a useable part on those old pods. Hold buttons, dock connectors, all sorts of parts. Even if gutted outright for internal Apple refurbishing the 10% will surely be recouped if not moreso.
And the rest will be responsible recycled.
---- The real Slashdot is still here. You just have to browse at -1 to read the comments.
Apple sold millions of them. Many of them to retarded, wealthy, fashionistas who would think this is a "really good deal" and helps save the Panda from extinction.
"He's lost in a 'floyd hole"
Only one battery replacement and I've still got a useful mp3 player. I do wish they would have taken that battery back, instead of the ipod though. *That* would have been useful. --M
Apple is catching up with everyone advertising free iPods!
Will they refund my 28 day old Ipod Photo 60 that is suddenly a small white brick for no apparent reason? At $16 a day for it's use, buying Apple was not a good financial choice for me...
It might look as if the recycling is free. But as a former middle management executive of an IT company, I can attest that in the real world, "nothing is free!"..."there is no free lunch anywhere." How do you justify that to stock-holders? Apple has made calculations to the effect that the money spent will be re-obtained [from consumers] somehow. Like it or not. This is for PR purposes. Remember M$ giving away US$ 1 billion in software "for free?" Was the software really free of charge? You answer that.
All of the hazardous material is handled domestically! Excellent news. So the engineering is outsourced (or partially), the manufacturing is done else where, but the really dangerous work- the stuff that impacts the environment the most- is done stateside by US workers. Globalism rocks.
...by offering to transfer your whole (old) iPod discotheque to your newly purchased iPod, at no extra charge (assuming the old iPod is still in working order).
You point is completely true - but the money is not reobtained from consumers, but from savings made in the repair shop. Apple (like other electronics companies) state in their warrenties they can replace defective parts with refurbs, which are obviously cheaper than new items (example - my battery replacement they gave me for my iBook was a refurb). Thus, the cost of repair is reduced, and that's where the money is recouped.
No way they are going to make me trade in my iPod for one of those new ones with an intel processor in it!
"Hi, I'd like to return this failed ipod to you to recycle"
"Certainly sir, would you like another at the same time?"
"I'm returning the product because it is dead. Why would I want another..."
There are about a billion ways you can replace the battery for about $50, so I'm not sure what the big deal is here. Even Apple will do it for $99.
Since a new iPod with similar functionality is $250-$299 (depending on how important extra storage space is to you), I'd say battery replacement is normally going to be worthwhile.
Unless you have an iPod broken for some other reason, I think the recycling is a bum deal.
D
I bought an iPod Photo 60GB. Within a month the thing crashed. And I dont mean crashed, where you hit two buttons and it reboots. (that happened the day i got it.) I mean crashed as in it wont reboot, the battery didnt charge, and winblows didnt recognize it. For all intents and purposes it was an expensive brick.
I sent it back and they fixed it for free, got it back to me in just a few days.
The thing still crashes occasionaly but now the two button reset always does the job.
Moral of the story: apples good, but not perfect.
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"You've never heard of slashdot?"
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Microsoft will pay you $500 rebate to exchange your ipod for something with its software on it. Only Microsoft employees will be allowed to use the real ipods.
Since Apple's margin on the iPod is more like 40% they're still making a nice profit, and a certain amount of the sales will be to people who hadn't planned on buying a new iPod but are reminded of the old 1st gen with the cracked screen in their drawer.
And at least some of the returns will be good enough to refurbish and feed back into their support and warranty system.
I don't see this as a cost for Apple at all.
Starting today, that worthless hunk of environmental unfriendliness can be turned into a 10% discount on a new iPod (purchased at the same time)
...
After the Intel announcement all PPC based Apples become worthless hunks
You don't have a warranty on it? At least over here every retailer is obliged by law to give at least a 6 months long warranty (service or replacement) on all consumer electronics they sell regardless of whether the manufacturer gives one.
God bless regulated markets.
...iPods recycle YOU!
See my G5 rig
Probably...
Doesn't sound like a good deal at all. Guess in most cases you could get more money for it if you just sell it to somebody else. And 10% off is never much. If it wouldn't be for the Apple brand, they could be 20%-30% cheaper anyway. Doesn't mean that they aren't selling a good product, but still...
My 2nd-gen iPod battery life had gotten down to 3 hours last month, so I did a Web search for replacements. I found one at OtherWorld Computing http://www.macsales.com/) that was $39.95 and said that it doubled the life of the original battery (i.e. it would run for 16+ hours). It took about half an hour to change and worked every bit as good as they said. This is not an ad for OtherWorld Computing, BTW. They did not make the battery themselves (I didn't keep the packaging, so I don't recall the manufacturer). I suspect that other companies sell the same thing, but I bought mine from them.
Obviously they can mix and match the parts from the dead iPods. So, when can I start buying refurbished iPods from apple for a (likely less than 10%) discounted price?
LOL
The story makes it seem like this is a great deal but in fact it is a terrible ripoff. Search for "broken ipod" on eBay.. For example "ipod 15 gig 3g 3rd gen broken" with what appears to be a broken hard drive is at $82.01 after 8 bids and with 5 and a half hours left.
Yes, they probably don't want these floating around the used market, as some people know how to replace the batteries apple used for planned obsolencense.
Ipod is an ugly, overhyped, expensive, unreliable, disposable piece of junk. I think my Create Muvo FM TX 512MB is far better. And it cost only $84. And now they have a 1gb model available for around $120. It's cheaper, lighter, stronger than an iPOD, and takes a single AAA battery - wow, a replacable battery, what a great idea.
The cracks about "why not just sell it on ebay" aside, this is a very good program.
Manufacturing computers and consumer electronics is a messy process, and the rapid speed of upgrades ensures that many tons of computer equipment are entering landfills regularly. Many of the components in computers are quite toxic. On a smaller scale, I'm sure the same is true of the iPod.
Apple's recycling program is probably worded as broadly as it is so as to avoid confusion, but the important part is that they don't exclude iPods that are utterly broken and irreperably from the program. That means that assuming you can get it to them, they'll put it in the recycling program no matter how badly bashed up it is.
Incidentally, Apple, IBM, and probably a few other manufacturers have recycling programs in place for computers. Many of them require you to pay the company to take your old, beat up jonx.
Actually, one of my good friends works a second job at a large electronics retailer, and he said they had a "large number of returns" of the 60GB model of the iPod photo. None of the other models were affected. He suspects they had a bad production run of the 60GB microdrives in them, and Apple hasn't openly acknowledged it yet (perhaps because it's such a limited issue).
My mom's car ran over my iPod (I left it on her trunk in error... stupid).
In any case, I kept it as a keepsake. It's good to know that I can now get something!
This is great. It's the Right Thing to do. It's also great to see grassroots pressure from consumers have an impact. Check out this campaign page on iPod recycling from the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition.
I wish cell phone manufacturers would offer the same service. Man, I'd be rich with all the obsolete cell phones I have.
Heck, HP takes used toner carts back. Even though they might be worth some money, its good to see HP taking back what would otherwise be landfilled.
Some say this is a rip off, but first, nobody is forcing you to do it.
Second, if you do give it back to able you can be fairly certain that it gets re-used or recycled properly. And that is a good thing, and important to many.
The Internet is full. Go Away!!!
Has everybody lost their minds?? $100 to replace a battery? In which parallel dimension is this not considered predatory price gouging? What an incredible rip off. I can't understand why there are Apple fanatics that eat this stuff up.
but rather what anyone can get from anyone. this is an ancient technique for increasing resale value and making one's product seem more attractive than the competition. car dealers will frequently accept their own cars at a premium trade-in rate. the point is to add a few percent to the resale value of any ipod because hey, if worse comes to worst, it's still worth ten percent at an apple store. can you get 10% off a new zen micro at best buy when you take a twisted hunk of metal in there? prepare to be laughed at. in reality people are probably not going to actually trade in their ipods nearly as often as people will mention it as a selling point when they are unloading their ipods. this is not, as someone else mentioned, an attempt at crushing secondary sales as much as it is an attempt at maintaining the list of reasons the ipod is the better choice despite the price.
This is actually a very good thing. Any computer company that is recycling outside the US probably isn't recycling at all. They just dump the stuff in a Burmese junk heap where children are paid to melt the lead out of circuitboards. Seriously.
In the US, you can't get away with that kind of shit. Sometimes you can get an offical to look the other way, but a fifty ton pile of broken circuitboards on bare earth, chemicals leaching into the ground, is not a reasonable possibility.
So "recycled stateside" means "recycled in an actual recycling plant by trained workers who are following EPA rules and are protected by worker safety laws at each step of the way."
That's good stuff all around, including for the local environment. Dealing with poisonous chemicals properly here is better than getting them back in imported asian livestock.
I went into the downtown San Francisco store last month to recycle an old Powerbook NiCd battery. It took appealing to a manager, who I snagged walking past as the desk clerk was denying they ever recycle these things. She said yes we do and took it.
So I took back two more the next week. Had an even harder time.
So I took back three more a week later and got a flat out denial from two managers that Apple ever accepts their own batteries back for recycling, and was told to throw them in the trash, despite federal and California law and common sense and common decency (both rare).
So I left them on the counter and walked out saying, loudly, that this stuff is goddammed poison and they were cretins to tell me to trash it and it was their frigging responsibility to take this toxic crap back like any other company that sells it.
I love Apple. All you need is a good class action lawsuit, and they behave well, briefly.
I use my iPod because it's easy. I never thought I'd be saving Pandas. WTH? They're in china anyway, what does that have to do with Apple??
I think something is loose in your brain sir. Perhaps you should send that in to God for a 10% discount on the next one.
Just keep in mind there are lots of recycle-freindly stores called "Radio Shack". If you go in for nothing else, they will take old batteries for you.
Also, Staples office supply stores have a big bin for old ink and laser cartridges, no human interaction required, just drop your junk in their box. (Of course the one closest to me always seems to be stuffed to near over-flowing...)
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
say no to biased, bigotted "news" from this sorry site
No hardware vendor makes money from secondary sales ('used' sales) of their hardware.
Used markets make new items worth more because it gives them resale value. Apple charges a premium for everything, and if you rummage through eBay and compare prices for old Macs and PCs you'll see that this model has worked very well for the Mac. (And the entire car market.)
I think this has more to do with recent pressure put on Apple to be more environmentally friendly. Remember Steve's recent tantrum that the greens were picking on poor Apple and giving everybody else a pass? Well, it was bullshit because other hardware companies are making strides - and besides, people expect more from Apple.
So it's good PR, and probably will accomplish something - I'm sure most of the recycled units will be dead or damaged, and thus better off in Apple's hands than in a dump. 10% isn't enough compared to their resale value to keep people from selling or at least handing down working, used iPods to friends and family.
Personally, I plan on running my iPod into the ground - using it until the battery just doesn't hold enough of a charge to make it worthwhile. At that point (probably about a year or two left, could be more but I use it quite often) I plan on upgrading to something better (probably an iPod Photo, which would make my life much easier while I'm on extended trips). By the time it dies, I will probably want the newer model anyways. I personally don't want to hassle with cracking open my iPod and changing the battery. Sure, it can be done relatively cheaply, but I'm not so inclined. I'm also aware that I can get more money for it on eBay, but I'm also aware that selling things on eBay can become a hassle. Sometimes, I don't want to deal with irate or deadbeat buyers, or the occasional PayPal "eCheck" which takes two weeks to clear (just happened to me, delayed me receiving my payment for two weeks!). I think it's an attractive option to be able to walk into a store with your old iPod and walk out with a new one, saving a little bit of money and doing somethint to make sure that your old battery isn't going to cause any environmental problems. It's certainly not for everyone, but I think I'll do it when the time comes rather than mess around with the other options.
Some/many/most (?) ountries have industry programs to recycle old electronics equipment.
E.g. swico (CH), Fost+ (BE)
from swico website :
"The Swico Recycling Guarantee has been in place since 1994. It guarantees that used equipment is taken back comprehensively from the following sectors: informatics; office electronics, consumer electronics, telecommunications; the graphics industry and dental industry.
Used equipment can be handed in free of charge for recycling. The recycling operations are financed by consumers who pay an amount in the form of an advanced recycling fee (ARF) when they purchase new equipment.
In 2003 some 30,000 tonnes of used equipment were professionally recycled. This means more than 75% of the material was returned to the raw materials cycle."
So, if you have stuff no worth ebay, there's free recycling disposal.
#include "coucou.h"
I believe Apple has unveiled new shops in Toronto (Apple.ca)
I had a Dell PDA. My infant kid threw it into the pool one weekend. Called Dell Monday and they said warranty doesnt cover misuse. So i opened up the brat. Motherboard was new but all else inside looked like recycled crap. My pool is very clean by the way, but i saw traces of dirt in the PDA guts.
:-) ?
So Apple just figured, with the speed ipods are selling, why not buy back, repack and resell as new stuff
Just look for the dirt inside.
From what i thought, its just due to bogus battery life..
So spend 50 bucks and buy a new battery... Geesh.
But, if anyone wants to give me theirs, great.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
My regular 4th gen 20gb has NEVER caused me a second of grief..
I bought it the week they were released and have yet to have any troubles in daily use, save one time i caused my own troubles when i reformatted and didnt have the power pack handy.. doh!
But the actual device, works perfect...
However a note to apple: ditch the chrome on the back, it may be cool looking, but that stuff scratches just by looking at it sideways...
---- Booth was a patriot ----
I had a Dell PDA. My infant kid threw it into the pool one weekend. Called Dell Monday and they said warranty doesnt cover misuse. So i opened up the brat. Motherboard was new but all else inside looked like recycled crap.
So, what did you do with the PDA?
Will recycle it for free too. Just bop around a rough area with the ear-pods visible and someone may make you an offer to take it off your hands for no charge*. (* no charge for the iPod. Other charges may apply.)
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
Chances are, once you left the store the employees just threw the batteries in the garbage.
I definitely interpreted "opened up the brat" as you splitting your kid's skull open. Psycho.
I'll take $30 for something that has a dead and irreplaceable battery. Although it would make a pretty snazzy paperweight.
Ignoring the fact that iPod batteries are replacable, when a hard-drive based iPod is no longer viable as a player due to the battery charge it is still quite useful as an external HD.
Why should it be their responsibility to dispose of your waste? Sure, they sold it to you, but after that it's yours. If you have a problem with trashing it, deal with it yourself.
Luke-Jr
No? Well, that's the main selling point for the shuffle for me. iTunes rocks. And if you don't think it rocks, I'd like to know what media management program you think is better, so I can use it.
...which is illegal in most countries. And I don't think Apple would be amused very much, either.
If the battery doesn't hold a charge, you could just spend about $25 for a brand new battery. Or just sell it. I've seen non-functioning iPods sell for up to $70 on ebay.
Kudos to Apple, keep them jumping through the hoop... makes me wanna dance.
(perhaps this is just a rhetorical question)
In the end, nobody really wants to have anything to do with their own waste.
There are numerous cheaper, less flashy iPod alternatives available. I have an old 20GB RCA Lyra (around $170 new) myself. Surely the iPod is a better bit of kit, but then I just want an easy way to listen to music at a minimal cost.
Is it possible that Apple will use recycled iPods as replacements under the recent iPod battery settlement?
http://www.appleipodsettlement.com/
http://www.appleipodsettlement.com/claim.pdf
I had a drive crash (ipod dropped) and it was $30 to replace the full unit, since it was under a year. When 11th month rolls around just drop it until the drive crashes, and get a new one. :-P
I'm doing this as anonymous coward because they just added a 10 post a day limit and so I had to go to Mickey D's just to post.
Anyway.
I'll make the same offer.
Sell me your old iPod and I'll give you $30 cash.
That's a way better deal than Apple is giving. WAAY better. I'm giving cash
Its a bad deal. Plain and simple.
Apple is doing this for a couple reasons:
1) They dont' want used iPods floating around competing with new iPods.
Think of it this way...I have a 30G 3rd gen iPod that I've used for about oh...12-18 months. If a new iPod comes out, maybe I'll buy it, but I'll sell mine first.
Whats it worth? I dunno...$150-200? So if I sell it to somebody, that's only one sale for Apple. To me.
But if I'm a complete and utter moron, I'll give to apple for essentially $30-40 *off* the list price of a new one.
Meanwhile, you can get 10% off iPods over at Target.com about once a month and I keep my iPod.
2. Rapidly buidling inventories of iPods. Once the initial crush was over, the lineup is showing some real holes (the display-less iPods are a terrifically bad idea and only sell to the trendy, the photo iPods are too expensive for a capability that no one wants).
3. Feel-goodism for trendy college kids from upper middle class homes who think they're being rebels when they become vegan or criticize those nasty multinations (the ones their dad makes the money to send to private school with).
Its a stupid deal for stupid people and a great deal for Apple because they'll use them for spares, or crush them and throw them in a landfill and then sell more.
I hate when you fanbois defend this as a good deal. It ain't. stop it. You're just mindlessly defending Apple.
fashionistas who would think this is a "really good deal" and helps save the Panda from extinction.
Odd, when I bought my iPod I was under the assumption that the white case was dyed using the remains of young panda cubs mixed with baby seal extract. Boy is the egg on my face!
So you had at least five batteries - and I imagine you were ready to go back the following week with eight batteries and ask to recycle them!
The real question is, how on earth did you have so many batteries to unload in the first place?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
a little birdie told me that a company named PowerON will be handling Apple's iPod trade ins. http://trade.poweron.com/
I think that's how they'll get around the vendor not being able to resell their merch.
I know this has been said several times already, but I need to say it, myself, out of protest:
Please do not 'recycle' your iPod. Get some cash for it by selling it to someone like me!
"It was hell!" recalls former child.
There's a bin for depositing old phones and batteries at Best Buy stores. The problem is they don't give you any kind of discount for doing it, and I've heard they take the phones in good condition, refirbish, and resell them to consumers with new plans.
There are also programs in existance where you can donate your old cellphone and they are given to battere women so they have an emergency phone to call for help if needed.
You can find these and other ideas what to do with your old cellphone here.
Oh no. No way will I give up my ipod for any reason. I've got a warranty and I've got the extended protection plan. Don't even talk to me about it either being dead or giving it away. It ain't happening. Don't even thing about it. And if it was dead it's going in aa box and getting buried in the back yard. In fact, I think I'm going to start selling iPod caskets. Somebody will buy them. Now if Apple wants to take this old dead 386 where do they want it delivered?
Enjoy your Karma, after all you earned it. Feel your Karma Joe, feel it burn.
If they are economical about recycling them, the some of the still working parts may find their way into new ipods. Some ipods may even be resold almost as-is, but with a replaced battery or hard disk. But at least it's good for the environment, right?
This is brilliant just like the free engraving: both help kill the secondary market for used iPods. Brilliant.
Don't buy an Ipod and get all that recycling crap.... buy a Creative Zen!!!!
GCS/MU d- s: a--- C++ W+++ w+ M-- PS--- PE++ t+ R+ tv b+ DI++ G e- h! !y
Could Apple be trying to take 1st, 2nd and 3rd gen iPod serial numbers out of circulation to reduce their liability under the recently announced iPod class action settlement?
http://www.appleipodsettlement.com/
This is just like the car battery warranty. You get pro-rated, in this case in the ammount of $30, but you still buy from the same company.
-Palal
Just tack a fee on to these things to cover tha cost of processing these things at the dump. Around my parts if I want to dump a freezer it costs $30. Why not make the 1st buyer cough it up? So that when it is dumped it will be "covered" cost wise. Otherwise the cheapskates or ignorant who would rather dump the device on the side of the road or back alley will continue to do so as they can't or won't pay the $30 bucks. Then the city/county has to pick up the tab in the end.
It should not be that hard to fix a cost on how much effort it takes to recycle these things and it should be paid upfront to a federal/state agency that bids out the job.
"We will recycle your iPod for free!" doesn't sound like half as much a ripoff as "I'll buy your iPod for $30"
If they're such a ripoff, why don't you start a competing business that pays to customers more than $30 for dead iPods? I can see your business skyrocket already.
I dont think it was the actual drive on mine, because it still had all my music on it when I got it back.
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"I know it makes websites not work."
I think Apple's arrogance in not allowing end users to change the rechargeable battery will hurt them in the long run.
After all, virtually all digital still cameras use rechargeable batteries that can be replaced by the end user; why can't Apple go this route on future iPod models?
Sooooo. I guess making an aquarium out of them is out of the question?
You know what?
Reading through these comments, it seems like people just like the word "iPod". Anything else would be referred to as a "unit" after the second mention per thread.
Way to support brand saturation, mindless geeks.
How is it racist? The poster obviously just opposes all the tech jobs leaving his country leaving him and the rest of the market of workers with little to choose from in terms of jobs.
If you know anything about Indo-European ancestry, it would not be accurate to call Indians of a different race.
I love it when people use the race card inaccurately.