7th Generation Ipod Nano new is more expensive than the Generation 5???

Factual Questions
1

So I bought my son a media player (a coby something) for christmas and was utterly amazed at the crappiness of it. Now he is 9 and this thing only cost like $70. I wasn’t expecting anything wonderful but wow, don’t get one of these. Well it turns out that the battery in the thing is defective anyway and it has to go back to the store. I thought, maybe I’ll see about getting an Ipod nano 5th gen because it also could do video and pics, which my son really liked. Well I go on ebay and amazon and these things are like $200. WTF?? Brand new 7th gen ones from Apple are $150. I am looking to keep this under $100 or I would have gotten the nano to begin with. So, my question:

There are some refurbished ones that are about $80ish. Are these a waste of time? Is it more of a gamble than buying used?

And why the heck are these still so expensive! There have been 2 models released since then. I understand this is the only one that does video, but still, that crappy Coby did video (sad, sad video but it did it).

2

The fifth generation one had a bigger screen, which may have something to do with it.

3

The Apple Refurbished ones are great. They come with a nearly full length, if not full, warranty. But yes, there is a very fast drop off in features and quality in video/music players- with screen size and overall robustness.

4

An official Apple Refurbished device is in every way as good as a new one. Possibly better, since it goes through more testing than the new ones. Comes with exactly the same warranty.

This is true of most device sellers. Few companies are going to pawn off lemons as “refurbished” and let their brand suffer.

Third party refurbishers are going to be more hit and miss.

5

Some are $200 but others are cheap.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Apple-iPod-Nanos-5th-Gen-Blue-16GB-4th-Gen-Black-8GB-Shuffle-4th-Gen-2-GB-/321053264184?pt=Other_MP3_Players&hash=item4ac0440938

is selling 3ipods at one buy-it-now at $125.

6

I was surprised too… I have a 3rd generation Nano and I naively thought I could find an older Nano for my wife at cheap price. Nope, all the used/refurb models I found were selling for more than they cost when they were brand new. Apparently Apple products almost immediately become prized antiques.