When were refurbished 4-gen iPods sold?

April 28, 2006 10:40 PM

I'd like to know when Apple began selling 4-gen iPod with color. If it's any help, the model number for this iPod is FA079LL/A . Unfortunately, I don't even know how to start looking for this answer. Any help is appreciated.
posted by Bizurke to Computers & Internet (10 answers total)

Response by poster: I actually left out a word in the post itself that's in the title of the post. Specifically, I'd like to know when REFURBISHED 4-gen iPod with color were first sold.
posted by Bizurke at 11:00 PM on April 28, 2006

Best answer: Right after the product was released. If any of them came back for whatever reason, they went through the refurbishment process and appeared on Apple's refurb list.
At least that's how it works with the rest of the products.
posted by drstein at 11:06 PM on April 28, 2006

Also, through an interaction with my local Apple store, I found out they have a database that has info on many units sold, even if at another (non-apple)store. Seemed to require an upper level "genius" to access it. They didn't have mine, but it was purchased through some discount I have no knowledge of. Still might have yours logged, though.
posted by a_green_man at 11:57 PM on April 28, 2006

If you enter your serial number to this website here, it will tell you when/where your iPod was made.

When I typed my refurb 4th gen 60gig Color iPod's serial # it gave me this:

Name: Apple iPod Photo
Model: Mxxxx iPod Photo 60GB
Factory: 2Z (Refurbished)
URL: Technical specifications by apple-history.com code_to_number: 1HB -

Model introduced: 2004
Production year: 2005
Production week: 51 (December)
Production number: 1745 (within this week)
posted by phyrewerx at 12:31 AM on April 29, 2006

Er, not where.

And this information won't help much if you are looking at the general product line. But will give you specific info about your pod.
posted by phyrewerx at 12:33 AM on April 29, 2006

The article Identifying different iPod models in the Apple support knowledge base is useful not only for identifying your iPod, but also for finding out what month each model was introduced.
posted by chrismear at 4:46 AM on April 29, 2006

Maybe take a look at mactimeline. It has original release dates for all Apple products.
posted by bwilms at 5:12 AM on April 29, 2006

A Google search for your model number shows that your iPod is a 20 GB 4th gen with color display. The page chrismear linked to shows that this model was released in June of 2005. It usually takes 4-6 weeks for refurb models to show up, so I'd guess that this model hit the refurb market around July or August of 2005. Pinning down a specific date probably can't be done without insider info from Apple.
posted by jjg at 10:38 AM on April 29, 2006

The iPod 4G color was introduced 26 October 2004. The lineup was revised twice (23rd Feb 2005 & 28th June 2005). Your model was from the third lineup and retired when the video models came out on 12th Oct 2005.

(The website I've linked to is a work in progress of mine that's meant to answer exactly these questions)
posted by cillit bang at 10:40 AM on April 29, 2006

Best answer: The refurbished version of a model could conceivably have been sold at any point from a few days after the original first came out to any time after it retired. There's no way to really know that.
posted by cillit bang at 10:45 AM on April 29, 2006