The Apple device you can’t have, but really want

IT’S the Apple product that’s no longer for sale — and desperate fans are paying a fortune to get their hands on one. It’s not the iPhone.

IT’S the Apple product that is no longer for sale — and that’s exactly why it’s becoming so sought-after, not to mention expensive.

With rarity comes value and the price of the iPod classic has soared as music fans clamour to get their hands on the last remaining versions.

In the midst of dwindling sales, in September Apple quietly discontinued its most iconic product, the iPod classic.

The decision has meant that those tech fans still wanting to experience the smooth scrolling of the iPod classic’s famous click-wheel design will find themselves paying more than ever to source the product.

Since Apple removed the iPod from stores in October, more than 3000 of the models have been sold on eBay and buyers are paying up to four times more than the original price.

Yesterday, UK newspaper The Times reported that a used first-generation iPod classic with “a few light surface marks on the rear” was being offered for £5000 on eBay. That’s almost 20 times the retail price when they were released in 2001.

While most offers on Australian eBay hover around $400 for 6th generation versions, one ambitious seller in Sutherland, New South Wales is hoping to fetch AU$1499.53 for their 7th generation iPod classic.

The iPod Classic is in demand. Picture: Ryu1chi Miwa

And collector’s editions are going for even more. A set of boxed U2 iPods sold for $85,000 on eBay in October, and another rare edition sold for $13,600. An old prototype also sold for $1090.

In addition to good old fashioned nostalgia, the high storage capacity of the older iPod — allowing users to store more than 40,000 songs — may be another reason that music lovers are so keen to hold on to the device.

The iPod classic had the highest storage capacity of any of Apple’s MP3 players, ranging up to 160GB — which far exceeds that of the touch screen iPods currently on the market that have a maximum capacity of 64 GB.

At the time of the discontinuation, Apple CEO Tim cook cited an inability to keep getting the right parts to continue manufacturing the iPod classic at a cost effective rate. As such, there is almost no chance that Apple will bring back the original version of the music player.

So if the trend continues, those with the foresight to hoard a mint condition version could stand to make a killing.