I picked up two 4 Gb Clips at Sears for gifts recently and noticed on the packaging it says 2007, but on the 4 GB Clip I got at Best Buy on black friday says 2008 on the packaging.
The packaging also looks newer on the Best Buy Clip (different design - more modern looking) . So I agree that Sears is probably trying to get rid of older stock. Not sure if every Sears store is the same though.
I haven’t been able to test any batteries on the Sears units because they are gifts though, so I can’t comment on that issue.
