Elliott C. Back: Technology FTW!

Fake iPod Shuffle

Posted in Apple, Counterfeit, Law, MP3, Music, iPod, iPod Shuffle by Elliott Back on April 20th, 2006.

When I see the following well-produced Apple iPod Shuffle knockoffs, I wonder why anyone cares? If they’re half as expensive and do the same thing, it’s just an example of foreign innovation:

fake-ipod-shuffle-02.jpg

This stack of iPod shuffles was sold on ebay to a poor Frenchman. He complains, “while browsing eBay, I spotted a seller proposing iPod shuffle (with a 40 units stock). He was reporting to have them bought in China, so I assumed he must have had a good deal.” Appleinsider reports that Apple has released a guide highlighting some noteable differences between faked iPods and real genuine ones:

fake-ipod-shuffle-01.jpg

For example, here are things to check:

  • Nonstandard headphone jacks
  • No dock connector
  • The serial number 6U545TK2TJT
  • No included USB cable
  • Slightly longer screen than the real nano
  • Play/Pause symbol on the middle button
  • No repeat option on the on/off switch
  • No battery or status light

If you’ve experience trouble with fake Apple products, leave your story in the comments. I’d love to hear what’s really going on out there.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 20th, 2006 at 9:40 am and is tagged with apple ipod shuffle, headphone jacks, apple products, middle button, play pause, ebay, apple ipod, shuffles, ipods, frenchman, usb cable, nano, serial number, stack, innovation, china, stock, love. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback.

Viewing 50 Comments

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    I bought one apple ipod from india yesterday. 1 GB for 65$. when i try to transfer songs from itunes. It doesnt show my ipod on its menu. then i realized it was fake or some thing else. atm i try to find is there any fake ipods. i saw this site.
    thanks you gys
    can you gys pls tell me what to do next.
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    I bought an iPod shuffle from Australia eBay from a local seller (same city) with over 550 +ve and no -ve feedback. A lot of his previous sales were iPods. I bought it for $130AU which is not much of a savings from Apple direct. It was a good fake, but the font on the packaging looked very un-Apple. The unit itself is a good copy - took me a minute or two to see that it didn't have a battery LED status or shuffle/repeat function on the back. My Mac didn't recognise it as an iPod and wouldn't let it sync with iTunes. An expensive thumb drive!
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    Bought the fake ipod shuffle a few days ago from an Australian ebay seller - "fone_ezy" in perth. Paid $127 delivered, compared to $149 at my local computer store. Discovered that the "ipod shuffle" is a fake. It isn't recognised in iTunes, and doesn't have the shuffle/repeat switch option on the back. Expensive when you consider that I could have bought an actual advertised "fake" for about $70 on the same day!
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    I just bought a fake iPod from eBay too :( At first, I couldn't tell...the box it came in appears to be a genuine iPod box BUT the box is from a 512kB iPod and this is supposed to be a 1GB iPod. Admittedly the seller said it didn't "shuffle" as expected, but I figured that it was just broken, which didn't worry me! I was paying $80 for a 1GB iPod shuffle after all.
    At first I wasn't suspicious, even though the user's guide was kinda crappy (I expected better!) But I plugged it into the computer and it didn't register with iTunes, and when I looked up Apple support I noticed that it didn't have a function for checking the battery. The CD I got with it too seemed weird, because it didn't have the obvious software (ie iTunes) and didn't auto load or anything. I can't even figure out how to use it! If I can get it to work then it's all and good... If I can't then I'll be hugely pissed!
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    These things do work? right?
    I mean, nowdays you see alot of ipod's on the net. especially ebay.
    but everytime i read the description, there dousn't seem to be much wrong with those.

    except they aren't "ipods" and iTunes dousn't support it. Other then those 2 is There anything else wich makes it a really bad buy?
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    My husband got duped into a fake ipod as well.

    Granted the title only stated that it is a New 2G MP3/MP4 player. But top this - in order for the entry to come up when you type in ipod nano, they threw in a ipod nano SKIN.

    In the text that was about A4 packed with writing, there was 1 sentence (in same font as everything else) that stated "This is not a ipod nano". All over the page there were ipod nano photos, including the signature thinness with pencil comparison graphics.

    We wanted to use it with the new Nike+ sports kit, but it looks like it is not going to happen. A lesson learnt, a $100 lost....
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    Well i also got caught with a fake Ipod. i was in Tenerife and bought it as it was an apple product and felt happy with a brand that i know. 2 days after returning from my holiday, the thing died on me. i contacted apple to find it a copy. i am a little pissed off, but the retailer made the mistake of giving me a reciept.
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    I bought an ipod shuffle from a shop in blackpool - have had it 6 months
    - it is recognised by itunes- and works well. But now i want to use the
    repeat function i realise that it has'nt got one, or a bettery led .
    I feel a propper mug . but i can make it right !
    tomorrow i am going back to blackpool..
    i will find the shop i got it from...
    i will speak to the owner.....
    then after i have unleashed a volly of abuse at the cheating little shit
    i will report him to the police!!!!
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    I got a fake ipod nano, it works great , it was only 100 RMB instead of the original price 2300 . So its cool works perfect, 5% of the price.


    If u find a cheap ipod fake take it its a opportunity
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    I bought one of these fake ipods from China as listed on eBay a few months back. Fake yes but it did kindof work. However the stupidest thing was that I reformatted it in my Mac OSX. Now it is just a usb memory stick. I know there was software on it before I formatted it because I saw the directories and some files that had a dll extension. Does anyone have one that I can get the software drivers from so I can go back to using it like a music player?
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    I bought a Shuffle on eBay, received it today, but it seamed to be a fake one :s
    It has no battery button on the back, the apple logo is printed in black on the back, when I connect it to the computer it is recogniced as a SigmaTel mp3 player. And on the cd there is software from SigmaTel...
    The button on the back is only ON/OFF and not Shuffle,...
    I reported it to eBay that this guy is abusing the name of Apple iPod Shuffle, and that the object I received is not what he said it would be. I hope i will get some money back,..
    I contacted the seller, but he said he doesn't knew it were fake ones.
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    I was given an iPod today as a gift (it was bought off ebay). I recognised it as a fake straight away. And my strong suspicions were confirmed when i put the install disk in... no auto-run and sigmatel driver software and player... common, that's not apples style. And i recognised the name sigmatel from a cheap Dick Smith mp3 player i still use as a USB drive. This fake is identified by itunes as a sigmatel. And the iPod connection status is BAD (ie a red light). And No, these fakes do not always work. This one didn't play the first lost of mp3's I loaded onto it. I'm yet to work out what codec it uses, if it can play music at all. And this one has the 3 position power switch with shuffle and repeat. And it has the power indicator. So don't be fooled by the closer to the real thing appearance. They are no-where near the real thing. Don't wast your money. If it looks like a horse and runs like a cow, it's a cow.
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    i bought a an ipod mp3 shuffle off of ebay to be given as a x-mas gift. i decided to check it out and see if i could download some songs on it before i wrapped it, as it's to be given to a 10 y.o. who will need help downloading to begin with and i wanted him to be able to at least listen to 'something' when he opened it. well.........the seller described it as an authentic.......but it's most definitely a fake. how do i get my money back?? ebay won't let me start a dispute because it's too early they say. anyone else have any problems like this??
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    Yep..... bought a fake 512 "shuffle" off ebay. The disc would not auto-run, only offered up a sigmatel picture. Get this; connected it to the usb port, and up pops a virus scan warning that a virus was detected and cleaned. It had 2 tunes pre-loaded when I received it. Windows would not recognize the ".inx" suffix on the setup file, I go and look it up online, and am informed it's a common data mining file suffix. Be careful out there.....
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    Just bought 20, 8gb ipod nanos of an internet wholesale site. When i recieved them, they look great but PC only recognizes them as USB mass storage device. Also i attempt to copy several songs to it but it will not accept them all. For example if i copy and paste 100 songs only 30 will copy over, there are different numbers all the time. I still wanna use them, and since the buyer bailed out, does not answer emails and money is not traceable, i am attempting to still use them as generics. Simply cannot figure out how to get more songs on them. Do i need some type of driver??
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    I am actually looking for good fake ipods , me and my buddys want to buy family some becuase it is christmas and we are low on cash
    does any one have any idea where i can buy them and they are good quality with the same menu
    becuase i think every one knows what an ipod is
    thanks
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    Well, what can I say? I have a great hubby who wanted to get me a MP3 player for xmas. So, he bought an "iPod Shuffle" from a pet supply vendor he works with who said he sells them on eBay.

    Well, here it is, 5:52am on Christmas morning (He gave me my gift on xmas eve), and I've been trying to get my "iPod" to work with iTunes all night. Finally, i decided to do a google image search on my nice little "iPod 2GB (yes, it's 2gb) Shuffle"... realized the back of mine, where the switch is, didn't look quite like it should. Then I searched for fake iPods and found this site. The mp3 player you see above is the one I have.

    One thing I will say... it actually works, kinda. No need to use itunes, just drag & drop your files right into the player. BUT... it does NOT shuffle. So, I have this mp3 player that won't shuffle mp3's, which kind of sucks because I want the shuffle feature.

    I have to say, this knock off does look an AWFUL lot like the real thing. The box & everything! The box, manual, everything... has Apple written all over it. The manual, however, has some odd phrasings in it. I thought the English looked a bit like Engrish, but I didn't put 2 & 2 together because I was excited to have my new toy.

    But yes, I am not happy. I have no idea what he payed for these. He bought himself one too. I'm going to tell him as soon as he wakes up and tell him to get his money back from this vendor at his work. (Just to clarify: this guy is a vendor for a pet related product, NOT AN APPLE EMPLOYEE). I would like the shuffle feature at the very least. And as I said, I want to know what he payed for this knock-off because I'm betting he could have gotten the real thing for not much more.

    I don't know if he had this guy give him a receipt or what. But I hope to hell he can get his money back.

    I'd also like to contact Apple regarding this, but what good can that do? If only to make them aware? But I'm sure they must know all ready.

    *sigh* Merry knock-off Christmas.
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    Ahaha, I, too, recieved a knockoff iPod as a gift. My dad knew full well what he was buying, though, and paid maybe 50 bucks for it; he made sure that it was in working order before he paid for it, and the guy selling it admitted that it was absoloutely fake. The "iPod" logo is peeling off, but it came with a USB cable, a charger, a slick little rubber cover and a (useless) CD with some black paint all over it ("iPod" was written in marker).

    Since the thing worked well enough, I put in some of my mp3s and used it extensively--that is, until one of the earbuds decided to stop working.

    Three words for you:
    "Nonstandard headphone jacks."
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    This is the problem with the world today. People cannot get enough of the FAD and brand name items. The fact is, that I, as well as others, would rather buy an item for cheaper to save money. I myself cannot understand what the big deal is to an extent. Don't get me wrong, if you were told that these were authentic and got Duped, that is bull and should be handled. But if you have the opportunity to buy a 512MB or more flash drive for $25+ depending on size, why would you bother with spending over $80 for a brand name product. I have one of the fakes and I love the thing. Have had it for almost a year now and have hasd no problems. For a cheap alternative and to get a device that I can beat up running and working out for cheaper, you can't pass up the deal. How upset would you be if you took an Apple shuffle 512MB to the gym and it broke? Pretty pissed. Now for the same price you can get 2-3 units of the same size. Use one for the gym, one for at home, and one for other. And actually still have money left over! AGAIN, if you got duped, that is wrong, but if you have the opportunity and know about it, then do it. Plus, these devices come with warranty's too so even if they break, you are still covered. iPod has only the lmited warranty as well.

    As an addition, other than me and my friends, does anyone here hate iTunes? I like the click and drag flash drive method these come with. Sure, it may not auto load, but the world is so wrapped up in the ease of things and expectation that a few clicks would kill them. God forbid you must open a folder to drag the items onto it.

    Also, FYI. For all of you who use iTunes, how much does it suck to not have the items on your hard drive? when you pay for this music, it only stores it in iTunes, so the only processing you can do with it is through the program. Sucks when iTunes has problems or you want to put them on a flash drive to take elsewhere. Apple has everyone brainwashed that their product is the best.

    Lets take a look at this: one of the original style Shuffles go for around $75+ for the 512MB and you use iTunes to download the music at $.99 a pop. ----OR-----
    Buy 1-3 Flash drive MP3 players similar for $66.00 (they sell wholesale for $22 each) have one for each different reason as stated before or buy 1 for $22. Then download the music for free online. As long as you don't violate copyright laws it is fine. Lets take a look at you situation with iTunes.

    iTunes
    ----------
    Good things: Syncs with iPods

    Bad: Pay for music--cannot store on hard drive/flash drive or anything like that, just cds-- Can only be put on device official from iPod, NOT PHILIPS CREATIVE OR ANYTHING ELSE so must redownload or purchase is a new device is bought or used-- cannot be used to store documents like a regualr flash drive, again must be done in itunes---must update itunes---limited file usage so not all songs can be transferred---has limited waranty through apple---does not work with all computers, must be up to date to be able to use

    Think about it. Be smart, save money and please, don't get me wrong if you were duped into the wrong item being purchased.
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    bill, you pay for music? you can extract music from youtube no viruses using codes ect quickly and easy, get it somewhere.. prob got virus, you do not have to buy on itunes, and its legal to do free method, just don;t download it! i got 60gb on my 80 gb ipod of music i got free without viruses and bad quailty, i used youtube, not videos, the music in it, extract, no videos, and... many more, and 21gb videos
    (podcasts) ipods are best, apart from ipod shuffel mabey, it is free to get music and videos ect, use it wisely, and you can hack them ect, they are cool, not enough people know much about tech, i mean can they even hack? or know simple codes... this is why people think ones not best when it is :( poor people, need more education in this world, and sorry for typing, i ' am 13 and very fast typer... and you do not need to use itunes, use my computer, find the ipod and sync ect... gosh easy
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    I agree with Bill on this one but I would like to add to it as well. I sell these items on eBay and would like to caution people. I list them as iPod shuffles hwover in my listing i clearly state these are from china and they do not work with itunes. However, buyers have complained on Paypal for the listing and stuff and claimed against authenticity. Buyers READ THE LISTINGS. if there is doubt, do NOT BUY. I have had about 10 people complain of the hundred or so who bought from me and none of them won because they were notified before buying in the listing of the differences. I sell them so people can get MP3 players cheaper than market and save money and this is an example of one of them. People like bill up there and myself. Buyers, that is the problem with itmes like these, people are out to screw you but you must read and check into it carefully, because some sales may be final.

    Also, FYI, people whjo sell them and do not notify people of the difference or claim them this way, get fined and arrested so rest assured, the government and apple is on top of it.
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