Apple begins iPod recycling program
By Barb Dybwad 
posted June 4th 2005 4:08PM
posted June 4th 2005 4:08PM
Following months of pressure from those damn hippies environmental activists, Apple is instituting
a free iPod recycling program. Plus, it comes with an extra marketing ploy bonus discount — if you
bring your old iPod to any of Apple's retail stores, you'll get a 10 percent discount on a new iPod purchased that day.
All the received iPods will be processed domestically, so don't worry, kids, all of those toxic metals will stay safely
on our shores instead of being shipped off to pollute the developing world.
You know, I'm all for the environment, but I really wish environmentalists would attack more broader issues rather than focusing in on one product. It's obvious they attack the "big dog" because the iPod gets a ton of press, so it brings more awareness. They should really go after all those other players no one uses and ends up selling or throwing it in the trash because they'd rather have an iPod.
Fishes,
narco.
I thought apple cores didn't biodegrade....
...seriously though
...or you could sell it on eBay for slightly more than the $45 you'd save on a new one.
It's all well and good that Apple is recycling them, but I want to know how I can get a free 1st or 2nd gen that someone else is throwing away...
Wow... I only found out about this 4 days ago! :D
This is for real, I just received a letter in the mail today asking me to fill out which iPod I have and if I want the credit or my iPod replaced! Talk about fast! Apparently they got my information through the school, considering it says my school name under my name. I'll post some photos of the documents on my website (if thats legal...not sure) click here to view them, will post soon. To tell if you've received the letter, it will be a thick white envelope with AIP in big bold black type in the lower-left hand corner and on the upper-left hand corner state: "Apple iPod Claims Administrator, P.O. Box 6175, Novato, CA 94948-6175. Comes with legal information inside and a guide to get this done. Hope this helps!
narco.. ahm.. utter dominance of the mp3 player market helps too, not just "press" virtually all HD players are iPods. And the shuffle has about a 60% marketshare..
you don't expect them to give Samsung any free press now do you?
What Max said. Used 20GB iPods go for $100 or more easily on eBay. Even a banged-up 10 GB iPod will fetch at least $60. Haven't those damn hippies gotten into the 21st century yet?
LOL! That's where all those free iPods come from!
Send your broken iPods to me! So I can finish/start building my empire of self aware ipods that will be bent on world domination and stangulation with little white earbuds
10% off on Apples 50% profit margin. lol what a great deal. People are dumb too buy an Ipod in the firstplace, but too trade it in for 10% off an over priced item, when the hardrive alone is worth more than $45.
I dont know where Apple gets off selling a proprietary device that is just a hardrive in a case with a crappy screen for so much money.
Proprietary Battery. Proprietary software.
They didnt invent Mp3's or Hard drives. Apple just takes other companies technology and makes it look nice. The only people who buy Apple crap are Yuppies and Morons. If your smart and your Anti Windows then go Linux, because Apple is no better other than design.
Amazing, "WiLL."
You don't know the difference between "too" and "to," "you're" and "your," have no idea how to use an apostrophe, and capitalize your words like a German... yet you're trying to comment on someone else's intelligence?
I was in Best Buy today and heard a salesman telling a customer the only difference between an iPod and the other MP3 players was superficial, that they were all about design and nothing else. I had to interrupt the conversation to point out the differences; interface design, quality of construction, sound quality, audiobook bookmarking and variable speed playback, the beauty of iTunes, and above all, the fact that iPods "just work."
Ever tried to get your Linux OS and RCA Lyra to "just work?"
No one ever claimed Apple invented hard drives, or MP3s. But if you remember the hard drive MP3 players that existed before the iPod (Creative Jukebox, Han Go Personal Jukebox, Archon, etc.), you know the huge leap forward that Apple made with the iPod.
If you think iPods are "overpriced," you're welcome to show me a comparable player that undercuts it without sacrificing quality, usability, or reliability.
By the way, "first place" is two words.
@#12(jayson): 'cause we all know how great best buy emplyees are... http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000463044956/
also, I've said it before and I'll say it again, arguing on the internet about spelling and/or grammar is a losing battle and just makes you look like an ass. (no offense)
Oy vey. I got the claims letter today also, but I have to have the RECEIPT for an Ipod I bought years ago.
I give up. Just tossed the stupid letter.
ok guys the strikeout font is about 50 posts past 'old'. It was clever the first few times, but that was about a thousand posts ago. Lets try to find a new way to inject humour into the posts please
Hey Jayson... Have you ever used a rio product? I accept the fact that the construction quality of the karma wasnt the best, but it totally whoops this shit out of the ipod in every other area (looks area always an opinion) - gapless playback, crossfading, superior navigation (yes, me and a bunch of friends [who were fools for ipods, like you] got together one day wit their ipods and my karma, and we ended up decidin it wa smuch faster and accurate to use the my scroll wheel over the annoying touch wheel), audio quality, output power, interface..... the list goes on..
Its unfortunate that Rio got a bad batch of hitachi drives and that really tarnished its name...
but then you can compare the carbon and the ipod mini... looks wise there is no comparison.. the carbon makes the mini look like some cheap toy.. and then it has full drag and drop compatibility and it creates the database so damn fast... dont need the "beauty" of itunes (which by the way hogs your friggin memory)... and for those of you who go on about how crap the software for other players is, how many of you have actually TRIED the software? or even WMP10? (i switched to wmp10 form itunes)... rio music manager is so damn easy to use.. and the rio carbons quality, usability and reliability are easily on par, or surpass that of the ipod mini/ipod...
then you also get the creative zen micro (although it also uses an annoying touchpad system like the ipod) which whoops the mini in terms of ergonomics features etc.
and full size players... you get the iaudio x5, which is almost like a successor to the karma... amazing device, got all of karmas features and more! I'm gonna try get my hands on that..
and for those of you that DO worry so muhch about software, what the hell, how long do you actually spend transferrin songs after the first time when you load everything? sure you get songs often, and except for the stupid old sony transcoding process, i'd say software is almost insignificant.
and i believe ipods used to be overpriced, but since the price cuts i believe that the prices are better (stevie must have understood [unlike you guys] that the competition was getting a lot better so he couldnt let them have the price advantage anymore)
and hey i'm not a mac hater, I in fact love mac hardware, and am plannin to buy a mac next timei get a pc, cos i'm sick of this damn wintel box.. and mac osx, yeah baby... but the ipod is a past pehnomenon... it was great when it came out cos it was a revolutionary product... not so anymore.. the ipod is a pure fashion item now, technically its fallen way way way behind.. rather unfortunate cos apple kicks ass in every other sector in my opinion..
and pls apple, 5th gen, pls do somethin more than makin it 1mm thinner, moving the shuffle feature to the main menu and usin a clickwheel... i mean what the heck was that??? add some FEATURES
So, does anyone sell MP3 players that DON'T die after a couple of years? Or is this par for the course? If I spend a few hundred bucks on an MP3 player, I want it to be a quality piece of equipment that lasts for more than a couple of years. I don't want to recylcle it. It's not a freaking beer can. It should last at least as long as my portable CD player did. Heck, my old Walkman still works.
Hey Jayson... Have you ever used a rio product? I accept the fact that the construction quality of the karma wasnt the best, but it totally whoops this shit out of the ipod in every other area (looks area always an opinion) - gapless playback, crossfading, superior navigation (yes, me and a bunch of friends [who were fools for ipods, like you] got together one day wit their ipods and my karma, and we ended up decidin it wa smuch faster and accurate to use the my scroll wheel over the annoying touch wheel), audio quality, output power, interface..... the list goes on..
Its unfortunate that Rio got a bad batch of hitachi drives and that really tarnished its name...
but then you can compare the carbon and the ipod mini... looks wise there is no comparison.. the carbon makes the mini look like some cheap toy.. and then it has full drag and drop compatibility and it creates the database so damn fast... dont need the "beauty" of itunes (which by the way hogs your friggin memory)... and for those of you who go on about how crap the software for other players is, how many of you have actually TRIED the software? or even WMP10? (i switched to wmp10 form itunes)... rio music manager is so damn easy to use.. and the rio carbons quality, usability and reliability are easily on par, or surpass that of the ipod mini/ipod...
then you also get the creative zen micro (although it also uses an annoying touchpad system like the ipod) which whoops the mini in terms of ergonomics features etc.
and full size players... you get the iaudio x5, which is almost like a successor to the karma... amazing device, got all of karmas features and more! I'm gonna try get my hands on that..
and for those of you that DO worry so muhch about software, what the hell, how long do you actually spend transferrin songs after the first time when you load everything? sure you get songs often, and except for the stupid old sony transcoding process, i'd say software is almost insignificant.
and i believe ipods used to be overpriced, but since the price cuts i believe that the prices are better (stevie must have understood [unlike you guys] that the competition was getting a lot better so he couldnt let them have the price advantage anymore)
and hey i'm not a mac hater, I in fact love mac hardware, and am plannin to buy a mac next timei get a pc, cos i'm sick of this damn wintel box.. and mac osx, yeah baby... but the ipod is a past pehnomenon... it was great when it came out cos it was a revolutionary product... not so anymore.. the ipod is a pure fashion item now, technically its fallen way way way behind.. rather unfortunate cos apple kicks ass in every other sector in my opinion..
and pls apple, 5th gen, pls do somethin more than makin it 1mm thinner, moving the shuffle feature to the main menu and usin a clickwheel... i mean what the heck was that??? add some FEATURES
I've said it before and I'll say it again, arguing on the internet without spelling and/or grammar skills just makes you look like an ass (no offense).
The iPod's good at what it does, which is why it's popular. People hate on it, but the vast majority of their complaints stem from some 14 year old boy's need to be super 1337 and use unpopular, difficult hard/software that costs $10 less than the comparable Apple product. How else do you explain desktop linux?
It's also like the honda civic of DAPs: there's a whole world of aftermarket accessories and parts for them. Can I control an RCA Lyra or Creative jukebox from my car's head unit? Can I choose from hundreds of different Rio Carbon cases? Are there 2 Louis Vuitton cases for the Sony jukebox?
And while I'm talking about the iPod, stop bitching about the battery. Apple did not plan for it to fail. If they had, they wouldn't offer the replacement service. Also, how many AA batteries would you run through in 18 months if that thing didn't have a rechargable one built in? I bet it's a helluva lot more than $50 worth.
Obviously a great marketing ploy by Apple... You have to give it to them, they sure know how to market themself.
Max, saying "Apple did not plan for it to fail" is a poor arguement for Justice's claim that the battery fails after a couple of years. I'm not sure that would even qualify as a proper arguement. You're completely ignoring his statement that a device valuing in the hundreds of dollars should last longer than a few years. And a replacement plan is only an extraneous detail, it should NOT be a requirement to enjoy what you bought for reasonable amount of time. One to two years is not reasonable, but then again that's only an opinion isn't it.
Jayson Elliot you iDiot. Why didn't you explain in that BestBuy conversation that iPoo can't play even AAC tracks (not just mp3) gaplessly and has a distorting crap EQ with a couple of presets instead of a working parametric equaliser? Because you're a n iMoron.
I really dont see whats wrong with ipod. my 140 got a good, reliable, mp3 player (that DOES play AAC's). not only that, but there is so many accesories for them. most players only get a leather case, and thats it. not ipod.
I never use the equaliser, i dont see the point.
The only thing wrong with my ipod mini is that click wheel gets so damn dirty...
great solution, now i can stop throwing away my used ipods.
#12, youre an idiot if you think the sound quality on the ipod is anything but sub-par, and i HAVE a damn ipod, so dont immediately start accusing me of being anti-apple. its too bad unfortunately, iaudio and iriver both offer FAR SUPERIOR products to an ipod, yet were stuck with ipod still being renowned as the "best mp3 player ever created and is practically a godsend."
How can anybody justify such a short lifespan for a product that costs $200 - $300 dollars ?????
Apple charging to replace the defective batteries is even more laughable. The answer to, "...how many batteries would need be purchased to run an Mp3 player during 18 months....?" ONE (1) SET of rechargeables ! (in reply to Max #19)
Also, how does Linux software cost $10 less than the comparable Apple software ? Most, if not all Linux software is free. I don't know of any Apple software that costs $10.00. Do you ? The iPod is a consumer product ( sold to you to make a profit), Max, not a family tree. Don't fight any wars over it ok? That, not punctuation makes you look like an ass.
I just can't accept people shrugging off defective batteries in such a high price range.
Uh, iTunes is free dude.
Tom, is Itunes the only Apple software? It would help if you read and tried to think about the post before you try to retort.
Although iTunes is free, for most people it is only useful if they buy equipment in the hundreds of dollars. I don't know any non-mac user who use iTunes without an iPod or the intension to get one in the future: no need as there are other better products that doesn't try to tie you to any EXPENSIVE hardware.
#28 "Although iTunes is free, for most people it is only useful if they buy equipment in the hundreds of dollars. I don't know any non-mac user who use iTunes without an iPod or the intension to get one in the future: no need as there are other better products that doesn't try to tie you to any EXPENSIVE hardware."
I Do. It Beats Media Player!
BTW, The Recycling Program Is For BROKEN iPods, Not Good-To-Go iPods (Try Selling ThoseOn eBay!)
I don't know any non-mac user who use iTunes without an iPod or the intension to get one in the future
----
I'm a mac user, but at work they have a version of iTunes on WinXp... man that thing sucks ass... it's slow, unreliable, and clunky...
Come to think of it..
Hey.. perfect Mac-> Win port if ever there was one!
Seriiously though.. Apple.. get to work.. that iTunes for Windows sucks ass compared to the Mac version.. The Mac versions is smooth, slick and responsive..
Here's an idea:
If you want an iPod, buy one; conversely, if you don't like the iPod, don't buy one.
Seems pretty simple. No need to argue about it on the internet, but I guess that's just human nature as relates to branding...
Ford/Chevy, Windows/Mac, Nintendo/Sony...
BTW, my 10G 1st gen. is still running great with the original battery.
Sort of like they say in the Christian Fund commercials it's only 55 cents a day (if you spend $400 on an iPod and it lasts two years).
Or, in my case, 46 cents a day and falling :)
On this whole mp3 player life debate.
I loved the feature set of the Rio Karma. Great product feature set that beats the iPod IMO. However when I was ready to buy, I learned the warranty is 90 days! After reading about all the hard drive problems, ther was no way I was going to spend $225 for a device with a 90 day warranty. iPod is a year and you can extend it to 2 years. Apple offers the best warrenty plan for mp3 players period.
I also like the iRiver players, but they aren't cheaper than an iPod at buy.com, and you don't get access to the accessories market.
I ended up buying an iPod, even though it isn't the be all and end all of mp3 players. However, iPod STILL IS THE BEST OVERALL PLAYER OUT THERE. I want gapless, the firmware could be more stable, and the limited iPof to PC syncing piss me off. But what are other options for a mp3 player with a decent warranty?
All you Apple haters calling iPod owners morons are really exposing what freaking jackasses you are and how you don't know S$%* about the current mp3 player market. Just shut the hell up until you can buy a clue.
So, if I give my Apple store 10 broken iPods, I can get a free one?