Refurbished iPod?

[Yudha]

Hi, I'm new here at MacRumors... I had previously been frequenting the site in the hopes of hearing about PB updates which, unfortunately, came too late. So, here I am on a Windows laptop. Anyhoo, to the topic at hand...

I'm strongly interested in purchasing an iPod... but they are rather pricey. But, I see from the site that the 20GB Refurbished is the same price as the 10GB Brand New (w/ student discount). A few questions:

-Can one have a refurbished iPod engraved?

-Why do they distinguish btwn. a MAC iPod and a Windows iPod? I was under the impression that all iPods are cross-platform.

-Why does the Refurbished item state "prior version w/touch pad, remote & carrying case"? I thought the 20GB model was a recent release. What does it mean by "prior version"?

-This sounds completely foolsih, but... what makes the Dock so special? And should I be concerned that the Refurbished iPod doesn't come with one? Is this the only difference btwn. a Brand New and Refurbished iPod?

-Has anyone had any experiences with Refurbished iPods that they would like to share?

I would appreciate all the help I can get. Thanks.

EDIT: Also, is there any difference between the 20GB and 30GB iPods? They are both considered 3G, and yet the 20GB version is newer. Would I be missing out on anything if I went w/ the 30GB iPod?

EDIT 2: I just realized that the Refurbished 20GB has no Dock Connector... not merely lacking a Dock. Does this mean I can't use the remote? What other issues might arise from this... deficiency?

[aphexist]

This is the iPod with the touchpad and the four buttons encircling the pad...no dock, firewire only

- No engraving

- Previous versions of iPods were either Windows or Mac but can be formatted for each

- this generation had 5,10,20 Gb versions...the 20 gig of that run is a bit thicker that the others

- none of these came with a dock...

The current run is 10,20,40...before that was 10,15,30...and before that was 5,10,20 (this is the model that we are discussing). It doesn't have a dock connector because the dock hadn't been invented yet, it's not deformed or anything, um, unnatural...

It comes with a wired remote that plugs into the headphone jack...there is also an infrared remote you can purchase for this model

[Yudha]

So, how many different versions of the 20GB exist? Is the Refurbished 20GB of a different generation than the one offered new? Sorry, I'm still not quite clear.

[Yudha]

Oh wait, I get it now. The 20GB version offered is 2G. Thanks.

[stylum]

for a very comprehensive faq page about ipod, go to

http://www.ipodlounge.com/faqs.php


good luck

[Yudha]

Is there any difference btwn the 3G 30GB and the 3G 20GB other than the HD capacity?

[IJ Reilly]

FWIW, I bought a refurb iPod from Apple in August, and have been using it happily since then with no issues. I realize other people have experienced problems with Apple refurbs, but this is the fourth Apple product I've purchased as a refurb, and I've never had any difficulties myself. Some Apple refurbs come in a brown box, but the iPod came in the Apple retail box which makes me wonder if it was a refurbished product at all.

If you're buying at 3g iPod, the bottom-end model does not come with the dock, a case, or a remote. None of them are necessary, but they're worth the extra bucks, if you ask me.