1st gen ipod

[mhuk01]

does anyone know the best place to get a cheap (doens't have to be in that good condition) 1st gen ipod?

I'm wanting to get a bargain one for like £20, but ebay doesn't have many. Is there anywhere else I should look apart from eBay?

Cheers

[Luca]

You're not going to be able to find one. I'm guessing a good portion of really old iPods are dead by now, from either a drained battery or a failed hard drive. And any iPod in good working order (that is, any iPod that you would be able to use daily) is going to command a higher price than £20, even a first generation model. That price is more fitting for a dead or broken iPod, not a fully working one. Even one that works and has terrible battery life is probably going to cost more than that, and what's the point of an iPod if it has to be plugged in all the time?

For your budget, you should be looking at basic flash players. You can get little devices from SanDisk, Lexar and probably others that you attach to a USB flash drive in order to play MP3 files, and those are very inexpensive. You can also get just a stand-alone flash MP3 player for under $50 (about £30, I think). I'm not sure what's available where you are but there's one here called the Creative Zen Nano (I know, really original name) that's even cheaper than the iPod Shuffle.

[Fahrenheit]

The first generation iPods, historical kudos aside, were terrible players. They would appear massive when compared with the iPods today, storage space wasn't great, and the battery life wasn't great in the first place, so what it is going to be like now I dread to think.

I would go for something like what Luca suggested, a flash player.

[Luca]

No, they were awesome. They may be pretty thick today, but they're still small enough to fit in your pocket. They hold 5 GB, which is more than any iPod nano, and the battery life was conservatively rated at 10 hours when they first came out. I heard of people getting 11-14 hours from the battery. It's not often that a battery outperforms the company's claim!

So yeah, first gen iPods are still excellent MP3 players. I'm just concerned that you won't be able to find one in good working condition today, especially for the price you've stated. You can also get replacement batteries that can nearly double the original battery life, but the battery itself costs the same as what you're willing to spend and you have to install it on your own.

[kretara]

The 1st generation iPods were awsome.
Mine died about 2 months ago. It was used on average 30 hours a week since new and I got it when they first came out. Its battery would last more than 7 hours. Unfortunately, the hard drive failed. I am looking for a replacement HD for it now.
This thing was rock solid.

Now, you want to talk about a piece of shite iPod? Look no further than the 1st generate 20GB iPod.

I have a click-wheel 20GB iPod and I am not as happy with it as I was with my 5GB iPod.

[Is it 1981?]

My old 1G iPod would still be in okay working order, with the battery lasting about 4-5 hours (on a good day). The problem is the FireWire port is knackered (I read somewhere this was a design fault) after 4 years of use; so it's practically impossible to charge the thing, let alone transfer songs onto it.

I still stand by my assertion that the 1G was the best looking iPod; followed closely by the current iPod/ nano.

Assuming you're able to find someone willing to sell one, you'd be lucky to find it for £20.

[torifile]

My wife chose to keep her first gen 5 gig iPod over taking the nano that I got when I bought my macbook. She cited the "too small" size of the nano (both physical dimensions and the capacity) and the fact that her iPod is working just fine. I've lost track of how old it is. We're probably going to keep it even after it dies because we'll be using it to show our kids how tech *used* to be. :lol:

[amoda]

Check out:
http://cgi.ebay.ca/RARE-VG-Cond-iPod-1st-Gen-5GB-NO-RESERVE-TRUSTED_W0QQitemZ190019429333QQihZ009QQcategoryZ94 930QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Currently at 25$, but with no cables. There are also a couple with cables but they are going for 150$+. I understand that apple stuff keep their value quite well but 150+ for a 1st gen ipod? That's ridiculous!

[mhuk01]

You're not going to be able to find one. I'm guessing a good portion of really old iPods are dead by now, from either a drained battery or a failed hard drive. And any iPod in good working order (that is, any iPod that you would be able to use daily) is going to command a higher price than ?20, even a first generation model. That price is more fitting for a dead or broken iPod, not a fully working one. Even one that works and has terrible battery life is probably going to cost more than that, and what's the point of an iPod if it has to be plugged in all the time?


When I say it needs to work, this isn't completely necessary. i have a 4g 20gig ipod so wouldn't use it on a daily basis. I just really wanted one as, well, it's a piece of history after all. I could always buy a faulty one and get a hard drive/battery for it at a later stage. Is that possible?

[initialsBB]

you could try and find several broken ones and use them to reassemble a working one...

[mhuk01]

are there any other sites apart from eBay that sell this kind of thing?

[torifile]

You could have a look at the various Mac forums in their buy/sell sections. I doubt you'll have much luck considering the iPods are probably pretty rare and you're not in the US.