Save Money, Buy Obsolete

Well, not really obsolete, but obsolete to the lay person. For example, on Sunday I stopped by Staples and found a pack of iPod accessories at half price and an iPAQ cradle for $6.50. The cradle is legitimately outdated since the spare battery dock is for an out-of-production model, but the device connector fits and works just fine. Good deal.

The iPod kit was even better since all the accessories work and fit just fine. $30 got me a USB dock connector, Firewire connector, cassette adapter, car lighter adapter, headphones, headphone splitter, and zipper case. And all the wired items have retractable cords.

Since I was looking for headphones with a retractable cord and a FireWire connector for my wife's iPod, this turned out great for me. As far as I can tell, it was on clearance because it was labeled for 4G iPods, giving it the appearance of obsolescence, even though the phone and dock connections are the same on the new iPods. Perfectly good product + old packaging = half price.