Trade unwanted discs for an iPod

With the holidays coming up, it might be a good time to check out iPodMeister to get a gift for yourself or someone on your list. I first wrote about the New York-based company a year ago, and I still get reader inquiries about it. iPodMeister takes your unwanted CDs and DVDs in trade for new iPods, iPhones and high-capacity external hard drives. For as few as 150 discs, you can get an 8GB iPhone 3G or a 1.5-terabyte hard drive; 250 discs will get you a 16GB iPod Nano, 350 discs a 32GB iPhone 3GS and 500 discs (the max) a 64GB iPod Touch.

If that sounds too good to be true, it really isn't. That's less than $1 per disc you're getting. You'd see a better return if you sold the discs individually on eBay or Half.com. But then you'd have to list each one, package them up and do all the other things required to sell the collection -- if you sold them all. A used-CD store? You'd be lucky to unload a 10th of your discs if you brought in 500, because such retailers are highly selective -- and then you'd get a relative pittance in return. The tradeoff for the low valuation on iPodMeister's deal is convenience. The cool folks at iPodMeister (pictured) will take everything you have (under generous conditions), even that Vanilla Ice CD or Strawberry Shortcake DVD. And they will pay for shipping both ways -- sending your discs to them and sending the device to you. iPodMeister's service is top-notch, and I'm not the first person to say that. (In case you're wondering, the company has a thriving business in sending your unwanted discs in bulk to countries where the formats still sell.)

iPodMeister recently joined Twitter and Facebook. Old and new customers can learn about deals by following them. But anyone can get an iPod in return for a bunch of discs that are just lying around.