iPod Accessories

Before Apple dressed iPhones in silicone and leather, it dressed iPods — in armbands, lanyards, tubes, and, famously, socks. Between 2003 and 2013, Apple shipped a small wardrobe's worth of first-party iPod accessories, most of which have long since been forgotten.

This page is a working inventory of every Apple-made iPod accessory catalogued so far. For now it's just a list, not proper catalogue entries — no photos, no regional variants yet. Prices are the original US MSRP where one could be sourced; a — means no defensible number has been found yet.

A work in progress: this list is almost certainly incomplete. Confirmed gaps are noted in their sections below, and there's surely more out there — if it has an Apple part number and clipped, wrapped, or docked an iPod, it belongs here.

The one that started it all? I wonder how many times these words appear throughout this wiki.

On November 4, 2004, Apple released the M9720G/B — a set of six iPod socks that became an instant sensation. What's particularly nice about them is that you could get the entire set for just $29, so you didn't have to worry about choosing which ones to buy — you could just use whichever sock you liked.

For a pleasing video on the subject, check out this clip by Stephen Hackett

For an excellent read on iPod Socks, be sure to check out this piece by Based Apple Guy; it tells the story better than I could ever do.

In addition to the standard six-pack, there was also an exclusive red iPod sock that was never made available for purchase. This limited-edition sock did not have a part number and was gifted to customers during the opening of the Boylston Apple Store on May 15, 2008. Here's a nice story about the red sock, again by Stephen: The Forgotten iPod Sock.

The dock-connector originals: iPod (3rd and 4th generation), iPod photo, and iPod with video. This is where Apple's accessory habit took root — belt clips, carrying cases, and the socks above.

The mini got its own dock, a lanyard, and armbands — the beginning of Apple's long-running conviction that people jog with their iPods.

On February 23, 2005, alongside the second-generation mini, Apple rolled out a whole set of neoprene armbands in bold colours at $29 each — press coverage from the time names orange, yellow, blue, and pink joining the earlier grey. Only the grey (M9838) and yellow (M9864) part numbers are confirmed so far; the orange, blue, and pink SKUs from that launch are still being tracked down and are omitted rather than guessed.

The nano inherited the socks formula with its Tubes (a five-pack, naturally) and started a quiet tradition: every generation from the 1st through the 5th got a grey armband, five years running. Not everyone was sold on the Tubes — see iPod nano Tubes — Like iPod Socks, but Worse.

The 1st-generation armband came in five colours at $29 each. Grey (MA663), green (MA185), and red (MA186) are firmly documented, and the blue's part number (MA183) is confirmed by period retailer listings. The pink is listed here as MA184 — the only unassigned number in that run, with pink the only unassigned colour — but that one is inferred from the sequence rather than directly sourced, so treat it as provisional.

The original "wear it" iPod. The shuffle plugged straight into a USB port, so Apple built a matching set of things to hang it off your body — a lanyard in the box, plus a neoprene armband and a water-resistant sport case sold separately.

The Sport Case (M9758G/A) was clear plastic sealed with an orange rubber gasket and a built-in neck lanyard — water-resistant, and designed so you could work the controls without opening it. The Armband (M9760G/A) was the same light-grey neoprene as the mini's, cradling the shuffle by its USB plug.

The iPod touch (5th generation) came with the Loop — a wrist strap in Apple's signature over-engineered style, which has its own page here. Sold separately, a pack of two (one white, one coloured) cost $9.

Apple and Nike's shoe-sensor collaboration — the sensor talked to a receiver plugged into (or, later, built into) your iPod and tracked your run.

Beyond the iconic white earbuds in every box, Apple sold upgrades separately.

The Universal Dock and its endless procession of $9 adapter three-packs — one for nearly every device that ever had a 30-pin connector.

And then there's the big one. Announced in February 2006 at $349, the iPod Hi-Fi (M9867) was Apple's attempt at a living-room speaker dock — killed off barely eighteen months later. It also shipped in a Japan-specific variant (M9867J). One day it'll deserve a page of its own.