Consumers will boast of the hundreds or even thousands of songs they have access to. They listen throughout the day and never hear a repeated song. They listen while conjuring up emotional connections to the music and the places they remember hearing the music for the first time.

It's personal, it's immediate and it really is ? cool. But it can also be a real burden on some budgets.

Apple is one of many electronic manufacturers that have jumped feet first into the refurbished market. Where once returned goods were either thrown away or given away, today there is a multi billion dollar a year industry is quality refurbished electronics.

Many stores like to deal only in new models, but there are a growing number of retailers that are making way for refurbished printers, computers and gaming systems.

It is quite possible that this is a reality because refurbished units can readily be found in an online environment.

The good news for consumers is these electronics manufacturers can't sell refurbished at the same price as new. In some case you can save 50% or more on refurbished models.

Answers.com described the word refurbished as "To make clean, bright, or fresh again; renovate." When an iPod is returned for whatever reason (i.e. scratch, wrong color, electronic malfunctioning) that unit is provided a new case and a thorough review of its electronics before being placed in new packaging and resold as refurbished. In virtually every way it is a new model and may even carry the same warranty as new, but is offered at a significant savings.

You can buy refurbished iPods from companies other than Apple, but many choose to go to Apple because they feel reassured that the product they receive really is up to the standards of the company. There can be consumer doubt when purchased from third parties. What is equally interesting is that when conducting some price research I found that most of the time Apple sold their refurbished units at the same or lower price than other online retailers. This could be because of a mandatory minimum price for retailers, but it does make buying from the manufacturer an easier option.

Consumers can browse the refurbished section and view Shuffles, Nano's and Classic models. These are listed based on total space, color and other feature variations.

Based on demand some iPod colors may not be available depending on your visit, but it seems inventory changes every day so if you're patient you can probably snag your color choice. The only iPod color that does not come in refurbished is red. This is because of the link to a charitable cause when ordering the color red, which is also only available through the Apple store.

Buy it for the cool factor, the name recognition or it's portable size if you like, but you might just find a bargain if you're willing to consider a refurbished iPod.