Current Events > Urban Outfitters is now selling 'retro vintage' iPods for upwards of $350 USD

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https://www.inquirer.com/news/nation-world/urban-outfitters-ipod-apple-selling-mp3-retro-vintage-20231023.html

Check on your millennial friends today. Urban Outfitters is calling their old MP3 players vintage.

Recently, the trendy fashion retailer for teens and young adults started selling discontinued models of Apple iPods for steep markups.

The companys website is featuring a variety of iPods, from classic to mini, from the early aughts listed for hundreds of dollars each. And those of us who used these bad boys when they first dropped are feeling a little sensitive about it all.

On X (formerly Twitter), users described feeling distraught by the retailers latest vintage designation.

One listing for a fourth-generation iPod Classic from 2004 calls the device a genuine piece of vintage retro tech and says its the perfect blend of new millennium design with modern features.

A blue, first-generation iPod mini from 2004 appears to have sold listed for $199.

This is not the first time URBN which opened its first store in West Philadelphia in 1970 and is based at South Phillys Navy Yard has dipped a toe in selling secondhand goods. The companys Urban Renewal brand sells an assortment of self-proclaimed vintage clothing, furniture, and accessories through Urban Outfitters.

Earlier this year, the company opened Reclectic, aiming to reach Gen Zers interested in secondhand shopping by offering clothes from URBN brands at hefty discounts.

In this case, the iPods as well as other tech listed on Urban Outfitters website are sourced by Retrospekt, a Milwaukee-based business that restores and sells Polaroid instant cameras and other vintage electronics.

Some critics online say the companies resale values for the iPods are too high. Other resale websites like eBay and Etsy are selling similar iPods starting at around $35.

But Retrospekt says its goods are refurbished and restored with new batteries and additional memory capacity.

Younger generations pivoting to analog or less technologically advanced devices like iPods is not a new phenomenon.

As they embrace Y2K trends, falling in line with fashions cyclical nature, many in Generation Z those born between 1997 and 2012 are also turning to wired headphones, CDs, and film cameras.

And while iPods, which were introduced in 2001 and officially discontinued in 2022, are digital, they only hold the songs that have been uploaded to them, compared to todays phones with access to endless streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music. Fans of the older devices say they are a more intentional way to consume music.

Gen Z has grown up in the digital age, theyve been surrounded by smartphones, computers, social media, and technology, Arun Babu, who manages Fujifilm Indias optical devices and Instax division, told Elle. While millennials had to adapt to technology over a period of time, Gen Z has had exposure from the start of their lives. Therefore, while millennials are enamored by new technology, Gen Z is driven to experience something more real.

Babu also suggested flip phones could return in popularity, a trend analysts have been anticipating for years.

But Urban, this millennial begs of you, when you inevitably start selling my Blackberry Pearl from 2006, please dont mark it up for hundreds of dollars.

I'd do it. My mp3 player was my best friend through high school and college.

This is the second time today I heard someone call the 2000s the aughts

How do we reverse this trend?

I still have a Gen 1 ipad. I am going to be rich one day.

Jerry_Hellyeah posted...

I'd do it. My mp3 player was my best friend through high school and college.

You can do it yourself for like, less than a third of the cost lol

The old sellers of most collectibles always gatekeep what is considered vintage and what is not. 20 years is well long enough to be considered vintage.

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Because their customers will buy them. Wow

rynobot posted...

Because their customers will buy them. Wow

Yeah that's pretty much UO's M.O.

Also they're sort of acting like a "middle man" here since they're essentially buying them off another company to re-sell to you. So this "Retrospekt" company needs to make money selling them to UO, and then UO needs to make money selling them to customers, so they get marked up twice.