Apple no more rotten, iPods sales soar

San Francisco: The popular iPod Nano and the just-released video iPod are expected to lead a surge of sales for Apple.

Research firm Fulcrum Global Partners predicts Apple will sell 10 million iPods in the fourth quarter, a strong follow-up to the 7 million sold in the previous quarter.

But not all of these sales will be to new iPod owners.

Piper Jaffray analysts say about 30 per cent of the iPod purchasers are now repeat buyers who are either replacing an existing, earlier-generation iPod or adding to their range of styles (such as an iPod Shuffle and a video iPod).

If the average lifespan of an iPod is about 1.5 years, what happens to the older models?

Analysts say that most users hand down their iPods to friends or family once they purchase a new one. Some simply throw them away.

Increasingly, however, consumers are capitalising on the growing iPod phenomenon by selling their used iPods for cash or as a trade-in toward a new device.

Cottage Industry

Internet auction site eBay has literally thousands of iPod and iPod-related products for sale.

The site is considered a leading resource for those seeking an inexpensive way to join the iPod

revolution. So is website Craigslist.

With 28 million iPods sold worldwide, the potential for iPod refurbishment and sales has created a cottage industry of sorts.

Small Dog Electronics, for instance, is an established Apple reseller that has for years sold refurbished Macintosh computers and other accessories.

The company now sells around 500 used and refurbished iPods per month from its web-based store at significant discounts.

A refurbished third-generation, 30GB iPod that cost $400 in 2003 now runs for about $210, for example.

The company offers up to $100 off the price of a new iPod to anyone trading in a used one.

Another company, PodSwap, takes it a step further by not only offering cash for used iPods but also shipping players loaded with music that has been authorised for such distribution by artists who own the necessary rights.

Both companies collect the used devices, determine and classify their condition, make whatever repairs are necessary and then clear the memory of any music files before shipping.