When Apple launched the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and Apple Watch in September, it also announced that the iPod Classic would no longer be sold. The iconic portable player first appeared in October 2001, helping to kickstart the digital music revolution with its huge capacity and its iconic clickwheel interface that made browsing through large libraries of tunes a breeze. It’s since been superseded by iPods and iPhones with touchscreen interfaces and flash storage, and Apple CEO Tim Cook says the parts are now very hard to source, too.
One of this year’s hottest Christmas presents is no longer available in the shops. Two months after Apple announced the demise of its iPod Classic MP3 player, the model is selling secondhand for up to four times its original price as aficionados clamour to get their hands on one. With a storage capacity double the size of any current iPods still being made, versions of the 160GB Classic – which can hold around 40,000 songs – are being sold as new via Amazon for up to £670. More than 3,000 of the models – the seventh, final version came out in 2010 – have been sold on eBay since the Classic was retired in October, most for between £350 and £500.Even refurbished older models now cost far more than the £229 for which the later generations retailed. After Apple quietly pulled the Classic from its website, chief executive Tim Cook said the company no longer had access to the components and a redesign would have been too demanding.
