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iPods for peanuts

You can score an iPod for cheap if you know where to look. The big surprise: the best deals come straight from Apple.

Rick Broida Senior Editor
Rick Broida is the author of numerous books and thousands of reviews, features and blog posts. He writes CNET's popular Cheapskate blog and co-hosts Protocol 1: A Travelers Podcast (about the TV show Travelers). He lives in Michigan, where he previously owned two escape rooms (chronicled in the ebook "I Was a Middle-Aged Zombie").
Rick Broida

Troll the Web all you want--you'll almost never find price breaks on iPods. Unless you go straight to the source, that is: Apple's own outlet store sells refurbished players for pennies on the iPod dollar.

For example, you can snap up a 4GB nano (last year's perfectly cromulent model) for a mere $99--half the original selling price. Other current bargains include a 1GB Shuffle for $49 and a 30GB video iPod for $199 $179. I say "current" because the deals and availability change on a fairly regular basis. So if you see something you like, don't wait to pull the trigger.

Apple

To Apple's considerable credit, refurb iPods carry a one-year warranty. If you don't mind last year's models, the deals are impossible to beat.