iPod Casualties Offer New-In-Box Bargains

An anonymous reader writes "For the last few years makers from Creative to Virgin have proclaimed their latest digital audio player to be an iPod Killer, only to watch those portables flame-out in the marketplace. This doesn't mean there was anything wrong with them, in fact some were pretty decent. They just couldn't compete under all the iPod hype. It turns out that this pattern has created a huge sub-market of new-in-the-box stock, sold for pennies on the dollar to overstock vendors who then pawn them off cheap to the public. For the price of a basic iPod Shuffle you can now acquire some well-equipped units from a few years back. Examples include the 40GB Toshiba Gigabeat F40 and AlienWare's CE-IV with external speaker system."

Re:It's all marketing...

[Smight]

Not as cool as a one point twenty-one giggabeat!

Re:It's all marketing...

[Anonymous Coward]

Difference between an "iPod" and "40GB Toshiba Gigabeat F40"? One is cool and the other is geek speak. Go figure.

Difference between too much money & not enough sense? Priceless.

Still not an iPod

[djcatnip]

No matter how you slice it, a gigabeat ain't an iPod.

Yeah...Well...

[Anonymous Coward]

Just like the Zune, any non-iPod device is something you only show to your very closest friends, amongst nervous laughter, as you explain to them the embarrassing chain of events that led you to buying it.

Re:It's all marketing...

[martin-boundary]

Ipods? Where we're going, we don't *need* ipods!

Re:It's all marketing...

[h2g2bob]

iSwamp? I was looking for something bigger, like iDaho

Re:It's all marketing...

[Wookietim]

313.92 pounds of it, if acquired before the age of 35. After the age of 35, the average person is required to buy only 100.19 pounds of crap.

Re:It's all marketing...

[Rob the Bold]

Difference between an "iPod" and "40GB Toshiba Gigabeat F40"? One is cool and the other is geek speak. Go figure.

That's why I call my Toshiba Gigabeat the "t-Bag".

Geezer?

[Anonymous Coward]

Cranky Old Man Rant about electronics design and "WTF are they thinking?":

Well, maybe you are actually old.... but using netspeak terms like "WTF" casts a shadow of doubt.

OMFG, it looks like a Partidge Family lunch box...

Again, the "OMFG" might be evidence you're faking being old, but if you know who the Partridge Family [wikipedia.org] was, then that's certainly compelling evidence.

Get off my lawn, you kids.

Confirmed.