Should I sell my 20GB 3G and buy a 4G one?

Mainyehc · Sep 13, 2004

Hey!!
I have a 20GB 3G iPod, which I bought in February and is in good condition, and I'm wondering if it would be worthy to sell it and buy a 20GB 4G instead...

Here in Portugal, the 3G was sold for ?€450, w/ dock, carrying case and remote, each of the accessories costing €39 when bought separately. The new 4G is €339, w/o accessories. If you add them, that'll be €456, so, it isn't a big difference.
I want to keep the remote; as for the dock, it'll be incompatible with the 4g, and I intend to buy an exo2 iSkin, so I'm getting rid of the case too.
€339 + 2 * €39 = €417
If we don't consider the battery life (only lasting slightly less than eight hours), and some minor scratches, that pack, thrown in the original packaging, together with that soft carrying bag, dock connector cover, and spare spongy earbuds (sealed), and the obvious power brick and FW cable, is worth €417 (US$511)

I intend to sell it for €300-315 ($368-386), which is €102-117 ($125-143) cheaper that an equally accessorized 4G iPod.
And if you consider that pack to be worth only ?€300 ($368) (b/c of the scratches and battery life), it still is €39 ($48) cheaper than a 4G iPod WITHOUT accessories. Now, that seems to be a sweet deal to me, as I can get my hands on a new 20GB 4G iPod, plus the new dock, for as much as €63-78 ($77-96)!! That's yet another sweet deal, which is great.

And now, the reason for my dilemma:
I've hold a 40GB 4G iPod and an iPod mini already, and that clickwheel seems preety sweet. And its position is much more ergonomic that that of the old one, IMHO. And as for the backlit buttons, I love'em and I'll certainly miss that feature sometimes, but as I will be able to figure out where they are without pressing them, even in the dark, those red LED's are no longer necessary; Less is More, so I don't give a ****

. And I'd looooove to have those 12h of battery life

Now, I'm a bit skeptical about the clik wheel's durability... Will it break easily with the wear and tear?? Mini users out there, are your clickwheels working fine? (it's no use asking the 4G users, as their iPod's aren't old enough

)
Since I didn't want to wait for the 5G, because by that time, my 3G may very well be too much outdated (i.e., not worth €300 ($368)

), I'm very much inclined to make this deal, but I'm a bit concerned about what I've started reading here from naysayers about the clickwheel being much worse than the 3G's touchwheel (which is beatiful and I absolutely love, btw)... Is that your personal opinion on the touchwheel's aesthetics, functionality, etc, or do you have positive evidence of it not being worth the update?
Thanks!!

Gamer · Sep 13, 2004

Mainyehc said:
Hey!!
I have a 20GB 3G iPod, which I bought in February and is in good condition, and I'm wondering if it would be worthy to sell it and buy a 20GB 4G instead...

Here in Portugal, the 3G was sold for ?€450, w/ dock, carrying case and remote, each of the accessories costing €39 when bought separately. The new 4G is €339, w/o accessories. If you add them, that'll be €456, so, it isn't a big difference.
I want to keep the remote; as for the dock, it'll be incompatible with the 4g, and I intend to buy an exo2 iSkin, so I'm getting rid of the case too.
€339 + 2 * €39 = €417
If we don't consider the battery life (only lasting slightly less than eight hours), and some minor scratches, that pack, thrown in the original packaging, together with that soft carrying bag, dock connector cover, and spare spongy earbuds (sealed), and the obvious power brick and FW cable, is worth €417 (?US$511)

I intend to sell it for €300-315 ($368-386), which is €102-117 ($125-143) cheaper that an equally accessorized 4G iPod.
And if you consider that pack to be worth only ?€300 ($368) (b/c of the scratches and battery life), it still is €39 ($48) cheaper than a 4G iPod WITHOUT accessories. Now, that seems to be a sweet deal to me, as I can get my hands on a new 20GB 4G iPod, plus the new dock, for as much as €63-78 ($77-96)!! That's yet another sweet deal, which is great.

And now, the reason for my dilemma:
I've hold a 40GB 4G iPod and an iPod mini already, and that clickwheel seems preety sweet. And its position is much more ergonomic that that of the old one, IMHO. And as for the backlit buttons, I love'em and I'll certainly miss that feature sometimes, but as I will be able to figure out where they are without pressing them, even in the dark, those red LED's are no longer necessary; Less is More, so I don't give a **** . And I'd looooove to have those 12h of battery life

Now, I'm a bit skeptical about the clik wheel's durability... Will it break easily with the wear and tear?? Mini users out there, are your clickwheels working fine? (it's no use asking the 4G users, as their iPod's aren't old enough )
Since I didn't want to wait for the 5G, because by that time, my 3G may very well be too much outdated (i.e., not worth €300 ($368) ), I'm very much inclined to make this deal, but I'm a bit concerned about what I've started reading here from naysayers about the clickwheel being much worse than the 3G's touchwheel (which is beatiful and I absolutely love, btw)... Is that your personal opinion on the touchwheel's aesthetics, functionality, etc, or do you have positive evidence of it not being worth the update?
Thanks!!

Don't weiry man, the iPod refresh cycle is just 5-6 mounths meaning new ones will be here in January and a new generation are LESS than a year apart so just hang on little longer and you will get your 5th Generation. That is what Im doing. sorry don't know about anythingelse.

Mainyehc · Sep 14, 2004

Gamer said:
Don't weiry man, the iPod refresh cycle is just 5-6 mounths meaning new ones will be here in January and a new generation are LESS than a year apart so just hang on little longer and you will get your 5th Generation. That is what Im doing. sorry don't know about anythingelse.

On the other hand... Will I be able to sell my old 3G iPod for €300 then??
Oh, and another thing: yes, the refresh cycle is "just" 5-6 months, but it isn't counting from now, yet, because the 4G iPod isn't even avaible in stores here. It is, in the revamped portuguese online Apple Store (and some online resellers), but I don't know anything about shipping times (as for shipping costs, I don't have to worry, I'm a 10min drive away from their HQ so I can just go there and pick my stuff - yes, that applies to my future Mac, the iMac G5

)
Another thing, I really like the 4G iPod, and haven't seen any rumours on the 5th generation, so I can't imagine such compelling new features other than better battery life, or... the much rumoured colour screen. I like the iPod as it is with it's B&W screen and the Chicago font, it's very "old skool", and I think that 12h of battery life is perfect (not as much as the Zen's, but anyway, I wouldn't buy one of those...)
Or maybe those stupid software improvements that annoy everyone because they would work just fine in their old iPods? (Shuffle Library, on-the-go playlist management anyone??) I suppose they'll come up with something like that, but I think I'll just have to cope with it...
Thanks anyway!

pitythefool · Sep 14, 2004

I just did a very similar thing. I was going to buy an iBook anyway, and with the cram&jam deal it seemed silly not to get a new iPod.

I prefer the all-white look of the 3G, but aesthetics don't really make up for the 50% extra battery life (quoted). I never really used any of the accessories anyway, so those weren't too much of a loss. The dock is the only thing I'll replace. (and I think the 3G & 4G docks are the same - so you can use it

)

As for 5G, well, my motivation for getting the 4G was the Cram & Jam, so I guess I had more incentive. But I'm not sure how well 3Gs will sell, especially after something like Christmas where things are likely to go a bit strange.

Basically, I got a new iPod for free (Cram & Jam + selling my old one), and have had a year's 'free' iPodding (ie. now I have the new one, I'm back to square one in the depreciation stakes.)

Mainyehc · Sep 14, 2004

pitythefool said:
I prefer the all-white look of the 3G, but aesthetics don't really make up for the 50% extra battery life (quoted). I never really used any of the accessories anyway, so those weren't too much of a loss. The dock is the only thing I'll replace. (and I think the 3G & 4G docks are the same - so you can use it )

Nope, I'm afraid I can't... In fact, that was one of the first things people whined about, "oooohhhh, those Apple *******s, my 3G dock won't be compatible with my 4G iPod". Well, there's an easy solution for that: sell it, then!

It's not like the dock is something that loses it's value, it doesn't scratch much, it doesn't have a battery or... You know what I mean

Anyway, that's what makes the deal sweet... And the only accessory I really care about is the remote; I don't like to put dirt all over my iPod during my drawing lessons

pitythefool said:
But I'm not sure how well 3Gs will sell, especially after something like Christmas where things are likely to go a bit strange

Neither am I... The only thing I know is that I already know someone interested in buying my iPod

Avalon · Sep 14, 2004

Well, here in Luxemburg , they are actually selling the 20GB 3g iPod (with all accessories) at exactly the same price than the 20GB 4g iPod (no accessories)...one of the reasons why I bought a 3g. The other being I prefer the 3g's looks, and don't really like the click-wheel because of it's mechanical parts (and I hate that dull grey color of it!). And as I don't have the time to listen more than 3-4hours with my iPod, the battery life of the 3g is ok for me.

So, if they do the same thing in Portugal (wanted to go there visit my grandma this year

), I doubt that you will sell it at 300,-€ allthough you can still try...

Mainyehc · Sep 14, 2004

Avalon said:
So, if they do the same thing in Portugal (wanted to go there visit my grandma this year ), I doubt that you will sell it at 300,-€ allthough you can still try...

Hmmm... I think I can pull it off... It's a good deal because I think there aren't any 3G's left anymore...

We don't usually get big stocks of iPods at a time (or of any other Apple product for that matter), and they disappear very quicly... ehehe

Oh, and by the way, out of curiosity, some off-topic questions; do you happen to be portuguese?

I know a portuguese guy that lives there, he says Luxembourg is very cool (and tiny), people are filthy rich (well, not ALL people, of course, perhaps it's just him, and maybe he borrowed the Reality Distortion Field from Steve-O

) and there are a lot of portuguese people there, so it wouldn't be too farfetched... ehe... (It's a pity I couldn't stop there to pay him a visit on my way to the Netherlands this summer; maybe the next time...) And it seems that the iTMS European servers are housed there, am I right??

Avalon · Sep 15, 2004

Mainyehc said:
Oh, and by the way, out of curiosity, some off-topic questions; do you happen to be portuguese? I know a portuguese guy that lives there, he says Luxembourg is very cool (and tiny), people are filthy rich (well, not ALL people, of course, perhaps it's just him, and maybe he borrowed the Reality Distortion Field from Steve-O ) and there are a lot of portuguese people there, so it wouldn't be too farfetched... ehe... (It's a pity I couldn't stop there to pay him a visit on my way to the Netherlands this summer; maybe the next time...) And it seems that the iTMS European servers are housed there, am I right??

Well, I'm half portuguese, from my father's side

Yes, lots of Portuguese and Italian people living here, and it is generally a rich (and expensive!) country. But as you said, not everybody's rich here, neither am I...

Yes, the iTMS Europe service is here in Luxemburg, but unfortunately, we can't order songs yet...it's only for GB, France and Germany...which is totally stupid!!

Anyway, if you have the opportunity to visit Luxemburg someday, do it, it's really nice and beautyful...

Mainyehc · Sep 23, 2004

Avalon said:
Well, I'm half portuguese, from my father's side
Yes, lots of Portuguese and Italian people living here, and it is generally a rich (and expensive!) country. But as you said, not everybody's rich here, neither am I...
Yes, the iTMS Europe service is here in Luxemburg, but unfortunately, we can't order songs yet...it's only for GB, France and Germany...which is totally stupid!!

Anyway, if you have the opportunity to visit Luxemburg someday, do it, it's really nice and beautyful...

Oh, I think I might manage to get there some time

And now, for something completely different... It is time to ressurect this thread!!

Awful news from a respectable source (iPod Lounge):
http://www.ipodlounge.com/articles_more.php?id=4776_0_8_0_M

Apparently there is a strange audio defect that affects A LOT of 4G iPods out there... Probably someone has already mentioned it in these forums, but I haven't checked that out. So... This raises yet another question: Is it worth to take the risk, especially in a country where stocks aren't usually that great and iPods are sold very fast??

Should I sell my 20GB 3G and buy a 4G one?

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