Apple's 16-Year-Old SuperDrive Now Out of Stock Worldwide, Likely Discontinued

[MacRumors]

A few months ago, the SuperDrive went out of stock on Apple's online store in the U.S., and it is now listed as sold out or unavailable in all countries. Given it has yet to return, it seems likely that Apple has discontinued the 16-year-old accessory.

Introduced in 2008, the SuperDrive is an external CD/DVD drive that was released alongside the original MacBook Air, which lacked a built-in CD/DVD drive. Despite having an outdated USB-A cable attached to it, the SuperDrive remained available on Apple's online store until just recently, becoming one of the company's longest-sold products.

CD/DVD drives have become a niche market, so it's not surprising that Apple has finally stopped selling the SuperDrive. There are plenty of other CD/DVD drives for customers who really need one, and they don't require a USB-C adapter for use with modern Macs. Nevertheless, it's the end of an era for a legacy technology at Apple.

Article Link: Apple's 16-Year-Old SuperDrive Now Out of Stock Worldwide, Likely Discontinued

 

[Heindijs]

I bought one 2 years ago, it was obvious that it was old stock and the whole packaging was very "Apple 10 years ago"

Still works great on an Apple Silicon Mac!

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Its fine..Every single external drive on Amazon works just as well, or better, on modern macOS than the SuperDrive.

 

[alexandr]

I still have mine in storage somewhere, should find it — it'll be worth big bucks soon!

 

[wanha]

SuperDrive 2 refresh incoming in 3… 2…

 

[MrENGLISH]

As an 80s kid and 90s teen, there is just something about disc based media that will always hold a special place in my heart.

 

[alexandr]

As an 80s kid and 90s teen, there is just something about disc based media that will always hold a special place in my heart.

EXACTLY. Which is why I collect vinyl

 

[alexandr]

SuperDrive 2 refresh incoming in 3… 2…

Do you think it will be USB-C???

 

[Sottilde]

You don't need a Superdrive. These work just great and are cheaper than a Chipotle burrito with guac: https://www.amazon.com/Rioddas-External-Portable-Rewriter-Superdrive/dp/B07DLRG9VH/

 

[joshuaiz]

I still have mine and use it to rip CDs. Works when directly plugged in to my M1 16" with a USB-A to USB-C adapter.

 

[Remy149]

SuperDrive 2 refresh incoming in 3… 2…

I doubt it at this point they are extremely niche and any 3rd party external drive from Amazon works fine. I recently bought a 4k Blu-ray drive to rip my physical library to use in plex.outside of ripping my physical media I have no other use for it

 

[Robin Bonathan]

Actually the superdrive is in stock at my local apple store, €89. hmmm

The murcia one in spain.

 

[tubular]

Last time I ripped some new CDs for use in iTunes? About five days ago. For some of us, ownership of our collection matters.

 

[Sottilde]

Actually the superdrive is in stock at my local apple store, €89. hmmm

Great way to overpay for commodity tech.

 

[alexandr]

Last time I ripped some new CDs for use in iTunes? About five days ago. For some of us, ownership of our collection matters.

And ownership of iTunes...

 

[jz0309]

There are alternatives, so…
Have had the need to put a CD/DVD into action in like 4-5 years, so for me, don’t care but others still need them

 

[Kar98]

You can use any external CD/DVD drive. I’ve got an old HP branded one made by Panasonic but I used it like three times in ten years, to rip CDs to iTunes.

 

[FoxyKaye]

I still have mine and use it to rip CDs. Works when directly plugged in to my M1 16" with a USB-A to USB-C adapter.

The very same! I had close to 1000 CDs by the 2010s, so I'm honestly still ripping them into Apple Music (iTunes RIP). It also comes in handy for the occasional DVD movie I want to watch in my office while the family is doing something else on the living room TV. The end of an era, for sure, but my SuperDrive is still going strong.

 

[Tyler O'Bannon]

I bought one in 2017, 2 years in to having a 2015 launch day 12” Retina MacBook which obviously did not have a disc drive. Previous machine was 2008 Aluminum unibody MacBook which did have one. I bought it “just in case”. There has been no case. I used it once but it was NOT mission critical. lol.

It’s still kinda crazy to think about this just straight up not being available though.

 

[meadowsr]

Just hunted mine down and used it last week. I had trouble finding it and was thinking I might have to order another one; glad I found it!

 

[marcushe]

You can still use most and random USB CD / DVD Drive from Amazon for under $20

Like this one https://a.co/d/iMFQZky

 

[jforsander]

I expect a bunch of old Apple accessories to be discontinued by the end of the year. Apple promised to remove the outer plastic wrap from all their product packagingby the end of 2024, and they’re not gonna go to the trouble of redesigning the packaging for ancient accessories.

 

[sflagel]

As an 80s kid and 90s teen, there is just something about disc based media that will always hold a special place in my heart.

Yep. There is a hierarchy for post-apocalyptic civilisation reboot:

Analogue physical media (books and records).
Digital physical media (tapes, CD).
Hard drives.
Cloud (near useless).

 

[frozencarbonite]

Sort of on this note, can anyone recommend a Blu-ray writer that works with Apple Silicon?

I have a Samsung External Blu-ray DVD (SE-506BB). It's from 2013. I think it's going bad. It reads Blu-rays & DVDs, and *sometimes* burns them. I can't seem to find one to replace it to use to burn data Blu-ray discs that will work on Apple Silicon.

This Samsung drive was great. It was powered by a USB-A cable and that's it. All the ones I'm seeing now either need a power supply or have to use two USB ports for power.

Anyone have any recommendations for someone who still needs to burn Blu-ray data discs and is on an M-series Mac?

 

[Morod]

Got mine years ago, and i still works fine. Looks good too!