trade-in

Avid, maker of the music industry’s leading digital audio workstation software called Pro Tools, has officially announced its first Thunderbolt interface for Pro Tools with the new Pro Tools|HD Native Thunderbolt interface and PCIe card. Thanks to Thunderbolt, Avid says the new Pro Tools|HD Native provides the “highest performance and lowest latency of any native DAW” yet. As usual, Avid bundles your choice of either the Thunderbolt interface or PCIe card with its Pro Tools HD software, and you will also get a choice of a Pro Tools HD Series audio interface including either the HD OMNI or HD I/O.

In addition to an “audiophile-grade headphone output” powerful enough to drive high impedance headphones, a few of the benefits of the new Thunderbolt interface according to Avid:

Unlike USB- or FireWire-based DAWs, which are inherently prone to latency, Pro Tools|HD Native employs either a high-speed Thunderbolt interface or PCIe core card to connect Pro Tools HD Series interfaces with your laptop or desktop computer. By eliminating distracting monitor latency while recording, increasing your I/O capabilities, and providing 64-bit floating-point processing for more headroom and a higher mix resolution, you get a professional native solution that meets the highest audio standards.

Pricing for the two packages ranges from $4,999 to $5,999, but Avid is also offering Digi 002, Digi 003, and Mbox Pro owners a hardware trade-in worth $1000:

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If you plan to trade-in your iPad 2 and pick up a third-generation iPad when it launches on Friday morning, Apple is now giving you another option by offering up to $320 in trade-in value (Apple Store gift cards) for an iPad 2 depending on the condition and model. To get the full $320 from Apple’s Reuse and Recycle program, you will need a 64GB Wi-Fi + 3G model in near perfect condition. On the entry-level 16GB Wi-Fi model, Apple is offering $205. Before the new iPad unveiling, we told you our Top 10 places to trade an iPad for cash or credit, and a few of those options are still providing slightly more than Apple in many cases.

A quick look at a couple of the other popular options—Gazelle and Amazon—will get you just over $400 for an AT&T 64GB Wi-Fi + 3G iPad in “flawless” condition, which is quite a bit more than Apple is offering. Of course, for your iPad to qualify for that much, it will have to “look like it has never been used,” according to Gazelle. Some listings on Amazon are as high as $450. Those options also give you alternative payout methods. In the case of Gazelle, you will be able to get your trade-in value by check, PayPal, or an Amazon gift card. Trade-in values will likely start to fall after the new iPad’s rollout, but Gazelle told us it has seen a 700-percent increase in trade-ins since the new iPad announcement with over 150,000 iPad offers in total so far. Apple’s announcement that the iPad 2’s new $399 price tag was great for education and it certainly did not hurt demand for the iPad 2.

Before you sell your iPad, you will want to get it prepared, cleaned, and packed to get the maximum trade-in value. After the break, you will find step-by-step tips for doing exactly that, courtesy of Gazelle:

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