Here is my personal ranking list of tech stores:
Fry’s Electronics - This store is like a Circuit City, Radio Shack and Best Buys all under one roof. The two features that pushes this store to the top of my list is A: Competitive prices and B: They carry good name brands that you would not typically find in most electronics stores.
Micro Center – To me, this is just a smaller version of Frys. Unless Frys’ is closed, I usually will not go out of my way to go here.
CompUSA – Unless they are running a good sale on something I am looking for and I happen to be near this store, I will stop in for a few.
Circuit City – For non-computer stuff (video and some audio needs), I will go out of my way to go here.
Best Buys – My “other” option when my wife and kids are in another store (TJ Maxx, Target, or some clothes store. Unless they are having a great sale, naaaah.
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My search for the ultimate mp3 player
While I really like Apple’s iPhone, there is just no way I am going to pay $600 for something like that. Probably the main feature that stuck out to me with the iPhone is the ability to connect to any WiFi network (not just Internet surfing, but the ability to connect to a LAN). The 30g option is also perfect for what I am looking for.
If you recall, I was giving Microsoft’s Zune player some serious consideration the other day. Unfortunately, after coming across the following, I think I am going to give it the boot. What I have in bold below are critical for my needs.
From Wikipedia:
* Though Zune is a Microsoft product, it is not compatible with players and online music stores using Microsoft’s PlaysForSure technology. This includes music purchased from Microsoft’s recently retired MSN Music store.
* Numerous industry pundits have criticized the Zune for its features and functions (see below) based on a side-by-side comparison with the iPod[29]. Meanwhile, others have criticized its DRM and the market’s potential responses, especially given that it will compete with Microsoft’s own early-adopters of the PlaysForSure DRM scheme. Technology reviewer Leo Laporte (of G4techTV (Canada)) said in his November 11, 2006 radio show that Zune may be the “beginning of the end” for DRM as a business tactic.
* While Zune has built-in Wi-Fi capabilities, it can only connect to other Zune devices; it can’t wirelessly sync with its host PC, nor can it wirelessly connect to the internet and download new music via a Wi-Fi hotspot.
* Songs wirelessly transferred from one Zune to another can only be played three times. While this is understandable for a protected song for which the recipient has not paid, this limitation is applied even if the song was purchased through the Zune store and the recipient has paid for a Zune Pass.[36] It is also applied even for material that is self-recorded, or copyright-free and unprotected by DRM. After three days, the song expires regardless of whether or not it has been played. Just playing half the song (or one minute, whichever comes first) counts as one “play.” A song cannot be resent to the same device, nor can a song received from someone else be passed on to a third person.[37][38][39][40] In addition, not all songs purchased from the Zune Marketplace can be shared via Wi-Fi with other Zunes (see note 1).
* Unlike many hard drive-based music players, Zune cannot be used as an external hard drive with an unmodified version of Windows.
* Microsoft provides no way to transfer TV shows recorded using Microsoft’s own Windows Media Center digital video recorder software (which is included in Windows Vista and Windows XP Media Center Edition) to the Zune.
I think I am going to start investigating Sony’s mylo. The only downside I see so far is that it does not have an internal hard drive.
