Secondhand Apple Tech Is Booming on Its 25th Anniversary

Streaming is front and center for a lot of consumers right now. Whether that’s Netflix and Disney+ for film and TV, or Spotify for music streaming. And there’s a monthly cost attached to instantly stream media; we all know this. But it’s a cost that continues to tick upward, without offering any greater value to the consumer.

For a generation, like my own (I was born in 1997), that grew up curating MP3 libraries in iTunes—or a younger generation that’s, hopefully, becoming ever more weary of digital impermanence—we may have reached a relative tipping point.

The convenience of a Spotify, or Apple Music, or [insert any other music streaming service here] subscription no longer outweighs the price of the service. It used to be cheap and convenient, but now riddled with overbearing AI features, advertisements, and algorithms that heavily dictate listening habits; alongside increasing anxiety that I could lose access to something I love at the drop of a hat. And that’s increasingly applicable across all digital libraries, and not just streaming, where tracks, films, even entire video games vanishing from libraries are now regular occurrences.

Using an iPod to listen to music, rather than streaming on your phone, does start to feel a whole lot more appealing in 2026 and beyond. According to eBay, at least in the UK, you can pick up a Classic iPod for, on average, £45, an iPod Touch for about £30, and an iPod Nano for about £20. That’s not bad at all. Hopefully, at least by what eBay’s data is suggesting, people are beginning to wake up to the fact that access doesn’t equal ownership, and trends in the secondhand market continue to rise for the average consumer.

Robert Anderson is a Senior Commerce Editor for IGN. Based in London, UK, he is a qualified journalist with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism (First Class Degree) and over seven years of professional writing and editing experience.

You can usually find Robert lost in open-world RPG games like Elden Ring and Cyberpunk 2077. Outside of gaming, his passions include reading comics (especially Superman, Batman, and Spider-Man), taking photos, and keeping up with the latest in film and TV.

His primary coverage focuses on tracking down the best gaming deals and diving into the fast-paced world of Trading Card Games (TCGs). He regularly covers everything from the latest releases in Pokémon TCG and the most expensive cards to comprehensive Magic: The Gathering buying guides.