Urban Outfitters Selling Vintage iPods Is Making Us Feel Old

Urban Outfitters is not any stranger to promoting historic tech. The clothes and furnishings model went from pushing vinyl again into the mainstream to promoting $350 refurbished iPods on behalf of the tech’s twenty second anniversary.

The retailer had a number of totally different generations of the iPod obtainable for buy over the weekend, as first noticed by The Philadelphia Inquirer 0n Monday. The description for the iPods in inventory refers back to the music gadget as “vintage” and “retro,” and that the devices have been saved in restricted inventory on-line solely. These iPods include new batteries and 128GB storage, based on 9to5Mac. The iPods have since sold out, as confirmed to Gizmodo by an Urban Outfitter’s spokesperson.

“First introduced in 2001, the iPod is the quintessential MP3 player, and this 5th generation device (2007) is the perfect blend of new millennium design with modern features,” Urban Outfitters wrote within the product’s description, based on 9to5Mac. “Each iPod is kitted with an original deadstock Apple sync cable and headphones.”

Urban Outfitters additionally advised Gizmodo that the shop joined forces with the Milwukee-based Retrospekt to search out and refurbish the iPods as a part of the UO MRKT program. Retrospekt is a web-based retailer that carries old-school-inspired and refurbished {hardware} together with Polaroid cameras, Game Boys, alarm clocks, and VHS tapes. The totally different listings on Urban Outfitters’ web site went wherever from $350 for a fourth-generation iPod to $199 for an iPod mini. For reference, 9to5Mac says that an iPod Mini went for $99 when launched in 2005—that’s roughly $158 adjusted for inflation.

Urban Outfitters’ curiosity in promoting these revolutionary items of know-how speaks to customers’ curiosity in revisiting analog units. Gen Z has discovered comfort in technology of the past like disposable cameras, thrifting, and vinyl, which throws a wrench in Big Tech’s incessant must innovate. Vinyl, which has at all times been Urban Outfitters’ bread and butter, has seen a very noteworthy renaissance—particularly in the previous few years. Last March, the Recording Industry Association of America revealed that vinyl made up $1.2 billion of the $1.7 billion in bodily media gross sales in 2022, which was dubbed because the format’s sixteenth consecutive 12 months of progress.