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Apple to Recycle your iPod for Free

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the reduce-reuse-rerock dept.

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)."

36 of 290 comments (clear)

  1. This sounds funny. by Saven+Marek · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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"

    1. Re:This sounds funny. by numark · · Score: 2, Insightful

      There are a couple other reasons you're missing for why people might choose the iPod. For one, it's the only one that plays iTunes Music Store files. Regardless of anyone's personal feelings against the store, it's still the most popular and largest music store online, and people might want to use it and then get an iPod to listen to the songs.

      Also, on the Mac, the iPod is still the best choice in many respects. Virtually every Mac user uses iTunes, and between that and prevalent Firewire ports, it's just a lot easier to use an iPod that's almost guaranteed to work rather than another solution which is designed largely from a Windows standpoint (there may be other ways of loading music, like direct disk access, but most non-iPod devices are still designed for Windows first).

      So, there are a number of valid reasons why people may choose the iPod over the competition, regardless of whether they think it's "cool" or not. The average consumer doesn't want a litany of features that they may never use. Most of them are focused on simplicity, and especially if they own a Mac, the iPod usually comes out on top for them.

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    2. Re:This sounds funny. by Meagermanx · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Extremely good pricing, huh?
      Okay, do whatever you want with your money, but I think I'll stick with a $20 walkman and a spindle of 50 blank CDs.

    3. Re:This sounds funny. by galfridus73 · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Well, looking on eBay, if the iPod is dead then a $9 (assuming you can buy a shuffle as part of this deal) to $45 discount isn't a bad idea. If you are a student or work for an educational institution, your discount, coupled with the trade-in, would bring the price of a 60GB iPod down by $75 or so...

      However, if the iPod is still working - sell it on eBay! Do a search of completed auctions for the original 5GB iPod and you'll find them still going for $130 or so. Dead iPods, on the other hand, are going for like $40 or $50 - basically what you would get if you bought a new iPod with the trade-in.

      So, it's a good deal - if the iPod is dead (or if the bottom falls out of eBay's iPod sales any time soon).

  2. Seems fair by JoshMKiV · · Score: 2, Funny

    $20-$30 seems fair... I'm sure they won't resell them. Snort.

  3. Or... by Tyrdium · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You could sell it on eBay for well over $100. Which sounds better to you?

    1. Re:Or... by Johnboi+Waltune · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If it's broken, or the battery won't charge anymore, trading it in sounds pretty sweet. eBay is too difficult for some people, and it is sometimes a hassle for me as well, even though I've sold over a hundred items there. If you are well-off and just want a new iPod, trading it in may be the way to go.

      --
      "The advanced societies of the future will be driven by competing systems of psychopathology." -JG Ballard
  4. crush those secondary sales. by SA+Stevens · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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.

  5. Worthless? Not so fast by ihatewinXP · · Score: 4, Insightful

    >
    >that worthless hunk of environmental unfriendliness
    >

    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.

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    1. Re:Worthless? Not so fast by Reaperducer · · Score: 2, Insightful

      A lot of large multinational companies do a lot more recycling than you do. Just because they're large or operate across borders doesn't make them evil. That's just your personal bias showing through.

      --
      -- I'm old enough to have lived through six different meanings of the word "hacker."
  6. Gabba Hey! by Sporkinum · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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"
    1. Re:Gabba Hey! by cowscows · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Most of them were actually sold to people who like to have an easy way to listen to music, but good job making up your own stereotype.

      Apple making it easier to recycle ipods is not going to save the rainforests, and noone expects it to, but that doesn't make it a bad idea, or a worthless one.

      Your cynicism does not make you look smarter than the any ipod owner, sorry.

      --

      One time I threw a brick at a duck.

  7. Finally by m85476585 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Apple is catching up with everyone advertising free iPods!

  8. Great... by wpiman · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:Great... by stevejsmith · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The "really dangerous work"? Huh?

      Oh, I get it -- you're talking about the deplete uranium reserves in iPods.

      Yeah, terrible. Poor US workers.

  9. ...not from "consumers" by lxt · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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.

  10. No way by LittleGuernica · · Score: 4, Funny

    No way they are going to make me trade in my iPod for one of those new ones with an intel processor in it!

  11. This doesn't make a lot of sense. by daviddennis · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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

    1. Re:This doesn't make a lot of sense. by crawling_chaos · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Unless you have an iPod broken for some other reason, I think the recycling is a bum deal.

      Or if you were planning to buy a new one anyway and your old one was going to end up in a landfill. It looks like Apple is begining to get ahead of the curve as there are several states that are forcing computer manufacturers to either recycle old equipment at the time of purchase or pay a hefty tax to pay for the state's recycling program. I can easily see these laws spreading to any rechargeable battery powered device, as battery disposal and recycling is a major headache for local governments. With this program in place, Apple is ready if such laws become widespread.

      My Dad worked for the EPA for twenty years and I remember I had a conversation with him in the eighties where he predicted that sometime in my lifetime, all purchases would have to include the cost of disposal in addition to the cost of production. There's a finite amount of space to store trash. Perhaps he was right.

      --
      You can only drink 30 or 40 glasses of beer a day, no matter how rich you are.
      -- Colonel Adolphus Busch
  12. I used to never like apple by brickballs · · Score: 5, Informative
    I used to never like apple, but my opinion of them is starting to change. I dont see their products as superior, but I do consider them acceptable nowdays.

    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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  13. This is a ripoff! Sell on eBay instead. by enosys · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.

    1. Re:This is a ripoff! Sell on eBay instead. by murr · · Score: 2, Informative

      In fact, if you do that eBay search, you find that 1st generation broken iPods go for about $20. Now, you could trade them in for a $45 discount on the highest end iPod photo. Sounds like a pretty decent deal to me.

      Right now, not too many people will want to recycle their iPods yet, but every year, there are going to be more iPods that have outlived their useful lives. This year, Apple got picketed over the iPod recycling issue, so offering this program seems like a good idea.

      It's not a deal anybody is FORCED to take, but if you can't find a sucker to pay $80 for your broken iPod, you now have an official fallback.

  14. Missing the point by sammy+baby · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

  15. RE: iPod Photo 60GB problems by King_TJ · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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).

  16. Re:Will they by standards · · Score: 2, Informative

    Definitely return it! Depending on what country you live in, your warranty may be two years, one year, or 90 days. And in some US states there are "fitness of merchantability" laws - if it fails after the warranty expires but well before it should, you may still have the right for free repair, replacement, or refund. (I used these laws when my cell phone failed out of warranty, due to an obvious manufacturing defect.)

    Of course if you dropped it from your tree house, you're up the creek without an iPod.

  17. Re:10 fricking percent? by pintomp3 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    more importantly, they get to sell more new ones. 1. make mp3 player 2. market heavily so most ppl don't know other exist 3. drop quality so they break down faster 4. offer to buy back and sell new one 5. profit! 6. repeat

  18. Re:Competitive move by Gates by argux · · Score: 2, Funny

    Microsoft will pay you $2 bucks rebate to exchange your ipod for some crippled piece of junk with a tenth the capacity, corrosive materials and its software on it and offer to kick you in the mouth.

    and it will be successful.

  19. Re:yet more apple suck by ChePibe · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Well, obviously your replaceable batteries are wonderful, and I'm sure you dispose of them safely and properly every single time. No environmental damage from your MP3 player, no-siree-bob.

  20. Re:$100 to replace the battery? by hunterx11 · · Score: 3, Funny
    In which parallel dimension is this not considered predatory price gouging?

    You do realize the predatory pricing is anti-competitive because you charging "too little?" And that price gouging is charging "too much?" So to answer your question, in this dimension there is no predatory price gouging. However, there may be in other less logically consistent dimensions.

    --
    English is easier said than done.
  21. Re:Seems unfair by toddestan · · Score: 2, Funny

    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?

  22. The boyz in the 'hood by AndroidCat · · Score: 2, Funny

    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.)

    --
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  23. Re:yet more apple suck by toddestan · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Planned obsolesence? Is this instead of using the magic batteries everyone else has that last forever?

    Sure, it would be nicer to get inside the case without having to use some sort of industrial clamping device, but I don't think Apple did that as a timed self-destruct mechanism.

    Then, why do you suppose that Apple designed the iPod that way?

  24. Re:yet more apple suck by MoneyT · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Good asthetic design? Prevention of pieces going everywhere if you drop it? Saving space? So that they don't have users opening up an iPod and zapping the HDD because they aren't grounded and then bitching to Apple?

    --
    T Money
    World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
  25. 2nd life: iPod is still an external HD by AHumbleOpinion · · Score: 2, Informative

    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.

  26. This is just pathetic by bumptehjambox · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Are consumers so repressed to where it is socially acceptable to sell a well-known poorly made product, and then offer us a coupon towards another one when it breaks?
    Kudos to Apple, keep them jumping through the hoop... makes me wanna dance.

    (perhaps this is just a rhetorical question)

  27. iPods as replacements under battery settlement by Go_Ask_Alex · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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