Apple's Old-School SuperDrive Is Out of Stock and Unlikely to Return

Earlier this year, Apple added the last MacBook Pro with a CD/DVD drive to its obsolete products list, and now it looks like Apple's aging external USB SuperDrive might not be all that far behind.

8 Old SuperDrives
As noted by 9to5Mac, it's no longer possible to buy a USB SuperDrive online via the official Apple Store in the US. The product listing for the $79 device says that it's "Sold Out," rather than "Currently Unavailable." Apple's Canada online store also lists the device as sold out, and given that it was introduced alongside the original MacBook Air in 2008, Apple is unlikely to make additional units to play what many Mac users would consider to be legacy optical media.

Stock remains available on some of Apple's regional stores, such as the UK, and the USB SuperDrive can still be found elsewhere online at merchants like Amazon, but bear in mind that you'll need a USB-A to USB-C adapter to use it with a modern MacBook. Also, it doesn't play Blu-ray discs. Here's how Apple describes the product:

Whether you're at the office or on the road, you can play and burn both CDs and DVDs with the Apple USB SuperDrive. It's perfect when you want to watch a DVD, install software, create backup discs and more.

Only slightly bigger than a CD case, the Apple USB SuperDrive slips easily into your travel bag when you hit the road, and takes up little space on your desk or tray table when you’re working.

While the majority of Apple's product lineup has been updated over the past few years, there are still a handful of devices and accessories that are quite old and still available on the Apple store.

Popular Stories

New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18

20 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.2

Monday December 16, 2024 8:55 am PST by
Apple released iOS 18.2 in the second week of December, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. Apple has added a handful of new non-AI related feature controls as...
iphone 16 apple intelligence

Apple Drops Plans for iPhone Hardware Subscription Service

Wednesday December 18, 2024 11:39 am PST by
Apple is no longer planning to launch a hardware subscription service that would let customers "subscribe" to get a new iPhone each year, reports Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman first shared rumors about Apple's work on a hardware subscription service back in 2022, and at the time, he said that Apple wanted to develop a simple system that would allow customers to pay a monthly fee to gain...
iPhone 17 Pro Dual Tone Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Rumored to Stick With 'Triangular' Camera Design

Wednesday December 18, 2024 2:36 am PST by
Contrary to recent reports, the iPhone 17 Pro will not feature a horizontal camera layout, according to the leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post on Weibo, the leaker said that a source has confirmed that while the appearance of the back of the iPhone 17 Pro has indeed changed, the layout of the three cameras is "still triangular," rather than the "horizontal bar spread on the...
elevation lab airtag battery

Your AirTag's Battery Will Last for Up to 10 Years With Elevation Lab's New TimeCapsule Enclosure

Wednesday December 18, 2024 10:05 am PST by
Elevation Lab today announced the launch of TimeCapsule, an innovative and simple solution for increasing the battery life of Apple's AirTag. Priced at $20, TimeCapsule is an AirTag enclosure that houses two AA batteries that offer 14x more battery capacity than the CR2032 battery that the AirTag runs on. It works by attaching the AirTag's upper housing to the built-in custom contact in the...
apple tv 4k yellow bg feature

New Apple TV Rumored to Launch Next Year With These Features

Tuesday December 17, 2024 9:02 am PST by
The current Apple TV 4K was released more than two years ago, so the streaming device is becoming due for a hardware upgrade soon. Fortunately, it was recently rumored that a new Apple TV will launch at some point next year. Below, we recap rumors about the next-generation Apple TV. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman last week reported that Apple has been working on its own combined Wi-Fi and...
blackmagic vision pro

Blackmagic Debuts $30K 3D Camera for Capturing Video for Vision Pro

Monday December 16, 2024 4:17 pm PST by
Blackmagic today announced that its URSA Cine Immersive camera is now available for pre-order, with deliveries set to start late in the first quarter of 2025. Blackmagic says that this is the world's first commercial camera system designed to capture 3D content for the Vision Pro. The URSA Cine Immersive camera was first introduced in June, but it has not been available for purchase until...
mac pro creativity

Apple Launched the Controversial 'Trashcan' Mac Pro 11 Years Ago Today

Thursday December 19, 2024 7:00 pm PST by
Apple launched the controversial "trashcan" Mac Pro eleven years ago today, introducing one of its most criticized designs that persisted through a period of widespread discontentment with the Mac lineup. The redesign took the Mac Pro in an entirely new direction, spearheaded by a polished aluminum cylindrical design that became unofficially dubbed the "trashcan" in the Mac community. All of ...
iPhone 17 Slim Feature

'iPhone 17 Air' With 'Major' Design Changes and 19-Inch MacBook Detailed in New Report

Sunday December 15, 2024 9:47 am PST by
Apple is planning a series of "major design" and "format changes" for iPhones over the next few years, according to The Wall Street Journal's Aaron Tilley and Yang Jie. The paywalled report published today corroborated the widely-rumored "iPhone 17 Air" with an "ultrathin" design that is thinner than current iPhone models. The report did not mention a specific measurement, but previous...

Top Rated Comments

WarmWinterHat Avatar
20 weeks ago

Good. Just a warning for anyone who wanted one of these, you can’t even use them with an Apple Silicon Mac.
They just don’t work.
Yes they do.
Score: 28 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iMac The Knife Avatar
20 weeks ago
I still use my SuperDrive to this day, from time to time. While I've purchased maybe 75 digital movies, the vast majority of my collection is on DVD/4K Blu-Ray. I've abandoned buying digital media because the companies selling it can and will take these movies and TV shows from you whenever they please, or if they go bankrupt. I have enough movies and TV shows on DVD/4K Blu-Ray to last a lifetime. I rip them to Plex and then I can stream them from anywhere I have an internet connection.
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
B4U Avatar
20 weeks ago
Legacy media?
Perhaps because it does not support Blu-ray?
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Populus Avatar
20 weeks ago
Oh, SuperDrive, you trusty old mate,
Spinning those discs at a steady rate.
You were the hero of the digital age,
Now you’re retired, out of the tech stage.

Remember the days of burning CDs?
Mixing up tracks with such ease?
You were the DJ, the maestro of tunes,
Now we’ve got playlists and streaming boons.

Installing software? You had our back,
We’d feed you a disc, you’d get right on track.
No Wi-Fi? No problem! You saved the day,
Like a techy knight, in your silver display.

Your hum was a comfort, a nerdy delight,
Though your speed was slower than dial-up at night.
We’d sit and we’d wait, and sometimes curse,
But in the end, you always came through.

You held our memories, backups galore,
With a whir and a click, you’d open the door.
Sure, you were bulky, and let’s not forget,
You’d chomp on our discs like a hungry pet.

Now you’re a relic, a bygone dream,
Replaced by the cloud and the endless stream.
But let’s not forget the fun we had,
Even if sometimes you drove us mad.

Farewell, SuperDrive, you did us proud,
In the hall of fame, you stand tall and loud.
Here’s to the laughs, the spins, and the burns,
Your legacy lives as the tech world turns.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
WarmWinterHat Avatar
20 weeks ago
It's fine...There is really no reason to have a superdrive specifically anymore. I still do some burning (mainly m-disc)/reading occasionally, and just use a 3rd party external blu-ray drive. It even has USB-C without needing an adapter.

Any brand drive you buy will work fine with any Mac, including Apple Silicon.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Bustycat Avatar
20 weeks ago
Third-party external SuperDrive-like devices are much cheaper.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)