Apple's Enduring Legacy: The Impending Retirement of a Top Seller

Apple’s Enduring Legacy: The Impending Retirement of a Top Seller

One of Apple’s longest-selling products, the 2008 USB SuperDrive disc reader, appears to have been discontinued. It’s no longer available on Apple’s web store and is slowly selling out at third-party retailers.

This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. The USB SuperDrive is an outdated, overpriced optical disc reader—a $79 beauty that’s been unchanged since 2008. It can’t play Blu-ray discs, its permanently-attached USB-A cable doesn’t fit into modern Macs, and most USB dongles are unable to power the SuperDrive.

Still, the USB SuperDrive shall be remembered fondly. It’s an incredibly modern-looking device that marked the transition away from optical media. And, more notably, the USB SuperDrive is one of Apple’s longest-selling devices. It’s in the same league as the Apple II computer, which also sold for 16 years, and the 30-pin to USB Cable , which recently celebrated its 21st birthday and still sells for a ridiculous $20.

Apple

Also, SuperDrive isn’t just a standalone product—it’s a 35-year-old product brand that originated in the floppy disk era. You could argue that SuperDrive is the longest-lasting product brand in Apple’s history, as the Macintosh brand (which predates SuperDrive by four years) actually hasn’t been used since 1999. To be fair, Macintosh and Mac are technically the same product brand, so it’s really a matter of semantics.

Apple collectors can pick from the remaining stock of SuperDrives at Amazon or Best Buy . I also suggest checking bargain retailers, as I saw SuperDrives on sale at Woot for about $30 a few weeks ago.

If you’re in the market for a modern USB optical disc drive, I suggest an LG Blu-ray drive or a Dell DVD drive (yes, the Blu-ray drive can handle DVDs and CDs). And if you specifically want to rip the contents of Blu-ray discs for a Plex server or some other home media project, get an LG WH16NS40 drive and an appropriate USB enclosure .