IPod demand white-hot

CAMBRIDGE -- Many holiday shoppers are struggling to find one of the most explosively popular gifts in years: Apple's iPod digital music player that stores 5,000 songs in a device no bigger than a deck of cards.

But despite Apple's efforts to market the iPod as the must-have aural accoutrement for the young and trendy, demand for the device among the old and boring also seems to be a key reason stores are selling out of the units.

"It's the only thing he wants for Christmas," said Shana Cahill of Jamaica Plain, who stopped by the Cambridgeside Galleria Apple Store yesterday to get an iPod for her 56-year-old father, Patrick Cahill. "Usually, I don't spend $260 on a present, but he asked for it, and I have to suck it up and get it for him," she added.

During a lunch-hour crush when it appeared that every other shopper was there for an iPod, getting a gift for a 59-year-old father was the goal for a Norwell man who asked to be identified only as Mike, so the surprise won't be ruined on Christmas morning.

"It's the one electronic gadget that he's expressed interest in, in a long time," he said, adding that his mother will love replacing his father's piles of jazz and oldies cassette tapes.

In a situation similar to what has been reported in many markets across the country, Apple's company store was doing a brisk business in iPods while another Galleria retailer that carries iPods, Best Buy, was struggling with shortages.

"I walked in at noon, and I've sold, like, 20 since then," a Best Buy clerk who asked to be identified only as Luis V. said in an interview shortly before 2 p.m. Even as he was speaking with a Globe reporter, a shopper came up asking for the 5,000-song iPod, the version Apple has been having the hardest time keeping in stock. "I'm sold out," Luis told him. "Try the Fenway store. They've got 12 left."

Apple sold 2 million iPods in the three months ended Sept. 25. Analysts predict it will easily double that in the current quarter. The device is so popular and profitable it accounted for nearly one-quarter of the computer maker's most recent quarterly profits.

The iPod is also proving to be as synonymous with music players as Band-Aid with bandages or Kleenex for tissues, accounting for 90 percent of all sales of portable hard-drive digital music devices.

Users can load iPods with songs either by transferring music from their own compact discs to their computer memory to the iPod, or by downloading songs for 99 cents each from Apple's own iTunes online music store. Owners can listen on headsets or attach the device to a home or car stereo.

Bridget Ryan Berman, a vice president with Apple's stores unit, said the Cambridge store has been able to keep up with demand.

"They're coming, but they're going as quickly as they're coming," Ryan Berman said. "It's a wonderful problem to have."

A sign at the Apple store warns: "Don't wait to make your choice. Some models may be gone before the holidays arrive."

Other retailers besides Best Buy say they, too, are struggling to keep enough of certain models of iPods in stock. "The 20's I think everybody's experiencing shortages with," said Kate MacKinnon, a spokeswoman for Tweeter Home Entertainment Group, referring to the 20-gigabyte unit that normally sells for around $300 and holds up to 5,000 songs. "They just didn't anticipate the demand." Tweeter operates 177 stores under various brand names.

"The only hint of a problem at this point, and it's just a hint, is with the 20-gigabyte model," said Brian Lucas, a spokesman for the 661-store Best Buy chain. That's the same 5,000-song version that was unavailable at its Cambridge location yesterday.

After a widespread shortage this summer, Apple's 1,000-song, $250 iPod called the Mini is proving to be reliably available now, Lucas and other industry executives said. "Obviously, it's an incredibly popular product, but there are seven other versions" besides the 20-gigabyte iPod, Lucas said. "We're able to meet the needs of customers for the most part."

And despite indications that grandparent-generation fans are helping fuel demand for the devices, the target young-and-hip demographic is also continuing to grab iPods.

Stacey Salkin, a Boston University freshman from New Jersey, came to the Galleria to splurge on a new iPod for herself after getting one for her boyfriend as a gift. "I had one before, but I put it through the wash, and now I need a new one," Salkin said.

Asked why she loves her iPod so much, Salkin said: "It's a lot easier than having CDs. And they're tiny, and they're cute."

Peter J. Howe can be reached at howe@globe.com.