The
iPod is a range of portable MP3 players from Apple that defined a generation and changed the way we listen to (and
buy) music forever. Ranging from £40 to over £300 there is an iPod to suit every pocket, and as you'd expect
at that price the top-end models do far more than just play music with the iPod Touch featuring an HD video camera,
web browsing and email as well as exciting gaming and over 350,000 Apps available from the Apple App Store. At the
other end of the scale the tiny iPod Shuffle clips to your clothes and gives you up to 15 hours of music on the move.
See the different iPod models:
iPod shuffle | iPod nano | iPod classic | iPod touch
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When buying an iPod, be aware that Apple periodically bring out new versions of all of the iPod models, often with similar capacities and colours to the previous model. It can be difficult to tell from the name or description of the iPod alone, whether it is the latest model or the older version. There's nothing wrong with buying the older version, there are often bargains to be had when a new model is released - as long as you are sure you know which version you are buying. The way to tell the different versions apart is by their generation so always establish which generation of iPod you're buying. For example, the latest iPod touch is the iPod touch 4th Generation which came out in September 2010. Current generations of the other models are: iPod shuffle - 4th generation, iPod nano - 6th generation, iPod mini (discontinued) - 2nd generation, iPod classic - 6th generation. For more information see our Guide to the iPod range and How to choose the right iPod.
There are many places you can buy an iPod - the leading internet retailers such as Amazon and eBay are often hard to beat but also an ever increasing number of high street retailers such as John Lewis, Sainsburys, Dixons and Best Buy also sell the iPod. We have put together an iPod price comparison page checking prices from all these sources to find the best deals for you.
Secondhand can be an attractive option, saving you the initial depreciation that happens as soon as you open the box, and if you buy a fairly new secondhand one, all the manufacturer's warranty will still be in place so you will be fully covered in the event of any faults. If you're prepared to go slightly older, you can often pick up some real bargains with last year's model going for a fraction of it's original price. eBay is of course one of the best places to find secondhand iPod bargains and we have created a page that searches eBay for you to find the best deals. Our unique filtering system trawls through the eBay database selecting only the most relevant offers and best deals to save you time.
The price of goods at auctions is not fixed - it depends upon how much people are prepared to bid and that's why you can pick up some great deals on both new and used iPods at auction. To give you an idea of what you might pay, here are some completed items so you can see what price they went for:
For more information see our guides: Guide to the iPod range and How to choose the right iPod or this great article about iPods on wikipedia. Good luck and happy buying!