Prince's pricey purple iPods: yours for $US2100 a pop

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 14 April 2009 09:40

Business IT - Technology

They say things are worth whatever someone will pay for them, but $US2100 for an iPod touch? That's what Prince is asking for a limited-edition purple iPod with a very modest amount of pre-loaded content.

Apple's been known to produce special-edition iPods in association with performers. U2 comes to mind.

But Prince appears to be going it alone, as the Limited Edition Prince Opus iPod isn't available from Apple.

What do you get for $US2100? The Prince Opus iPod has a purple front panel in place of the usual black, and the Prince logo appears on the back. So you are getting something visually distinctive without the crassness of glued-on crystals or genuine gems.

Loaded onto the iPod are the 15 tracks from the Indigo Nights soundtrack, plus a 40 minute movie of Prince's 21 Nights at the O2 Arena.

So let's say $US25 for a DVD, $US20 for a CD, and $US300 for the iPod (there's no mention of which model it is).

I can't see that the hardware customisation could cost more than $US100, so that leaves $US1655 for the 'exclusivity' involved in owning one of the 950 units being produced.

What was that line from The Castle? "Tell him he's dreamin'."

But since the price does include delivery to anywhere in the world and 12 months interest-free terms are offered, Prince will probably be able to find 950 mug punters out of 6.8 billion people.