Thinking The Sounds

My wife chides me for this plenty, but I’m the kind of guy geek who does loads of research before buying any type of electronics or appliance.  Consumer Reports, Amazon reviews, CNET, blogs, the works.  I do my research.

Part of the problem is that I often overdo it, getting to a point where I’m too frozen to buy something because of all the competing reviews and arguments swimming around in my brain.  Since there never is a perfect choice (especially when you’re limited in funds), there will never be the perfect choice.  But my mind tricks me into thinking I can do and find just what I’m looking for.  (Yes, I’m an idiot.  Tell me something I don’t already know.)

Except this time it worked….

The phone

It all started when I bought a new phone a while back.  I decided that the bulky Windows Media Smartphone that I had was just overkill.  As much as I wanted this to be the tool that kept me organized and on top of things, it wasn’t.  And I hated (hated!) the touch screen for the phone.  It would turn off in the middle of a call and I had to switch back and forth between seeing the keypad and using other functions.  And the screen would get oily from sitting against my face (you know it happens to your phone too…).  And the thing was just big and bulky.

So I went looking for a new phone—a perfect one.  Of course I didn’t find one.  I basically wanted a phone with real buttons, relatively small, and I would like it to play music so I didn’t need two devices—a phone and an MP3 player.  So I got this pretty decent little Motorola Renew (made from recycled water bottles) that pretty much fit the bill.  And it was only like $25.  Points for me.

Except the MP3 player is crap!  The sound is tinny and bad and I couldn’t get any other earbuds to work with it except for the ones it came with.  Still, it’s a decent little phone that does what I want—lets me make and take phone calls.

Music, music, music

I suffered along with it, figuring I could deal with it.  Then me and the missus signed up for Napster and all the world’s music was ours for the listening for $5 a month.  So I wanted a new MP3 player to download all that great music to have at my beck and call and I started looking.

Now I foolishly assumed this included Napster-To-Go which lets you transfer the tracks to compatible MP3 players.  I found out after some checking that our $5 plan, wonderful as it is, didn’t include the ability to transfer music.  However, at this point I was already stoked by shopping for players.  And Father’s Day was coming up….

So, I had pretty much settled on one of the Sony Walkman models.  Now I know in the age of iPods that the Walkman name brings chuckles from those of us who remember strapping what now seems like a huge cassette player to our waists.  But Sony never killed the Walkman brand.  They used to sell portable CD players (remember those?) and now their MP3 player line also carries the name.

Now, I have to say that I think iPods are beautiful devices.  But I think they are terribly overpriced and I hate the iTunes software/store with a passion.  So I really had no interest in an iPod.  I went for the Sony because it seemed they offered good devices for the price.  One feature that stood out especially for me was sound quality.  Everywhere I looked, the Sony players were given high marks for sound quality.  As a former sound engineer with picky ears, this was a big enticement for me.

Now there were several other features about the Sony that spoke to me.  One was that the models I wanted allowed you to browse your albums by album cover rather than by name.  I’m really visual and like to browse my music this way.  I’m better at identifying the covers of some albums than I am at naming the artists (I do have several thousand albums…).  I also liked that some of the Sonys had built-in noise canceling.  One place I use an MP3 player is to make mowing the lawn more tolerable and noise-canceling is a must.

Choices

Okay, so now I began the hunt for the right player at the right price.  This was not an easy task.  The new models (the E series) were well priced but didn’t have the album browsing or noise canceling features.  The A series had album browsing but no noise canceling.  The S series had the noise canceling but some of the prices were out of my league—unless I wanted to compromise on capacity and go for 4GB instead of 8.  And then there was color.  Was I prepared to save $20 for a pink player?  (The answer, by the way, is yes, though I didn’t end up going that way.

I combed Overstock, Amazon and Ebay.  I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go for just 4GB to get the noise canceling.  Of course, part of me thinks 4GB of music in my pocket is pretty obscene.  How could I be dissatisfied with such abundance?  Especially when remembering the old cassette Walkman and carrying around a pouch of tapes.  I went back and forth on all of these and still didn’t have a definitive answer.

Another issue is that I was looking at discontinued models.  This meant that I couldn’t pop down to Best Buy, take a look, then walk home with some audio instant gratification.  I had pretty much resigned myself to having to wait for something to be shipped to me.

Our hero sets out

So, here we are at Father’s Day.  We had a nice breakfast at a great little local diner—The Coffee Pot.  Josie asks what I want to do and I tell her that I’d actually like to go out shopping, even though I’m not going to find what I’m looking for.  She suggests I go out alone, take a break from having the kids full time.  So I do.  I figure I’ll head down toward Gurnee, Il and see what I can find.  Go to the mall.  Check out BestBuy and see what else is around.  I have low expectations since I’m looking for discontinued models, but figure maybe there might be some backstock or whatever.

As I’m heading down Rt. 94, coming close to Pleasant Prairie, I remember that Prime Outlets used to have a Sony outlet.  I hadn’t been to the outlet in years but figure it’s worth a try.  Of course as I get to the exit I see that it’s closed.  I’ll have to drive another 3 miles and circle back, but I figure it’s worth the time.  I’m out for the day with nowhere to be so why not.

I drive around the outlet mall and don’t see it anywhere.  I realize that they added a new section a while back and figure I should look there.  Sure enough, there it is, the Sony outlet!

The goal

I go in and make my way toward the MP3 players.  I look around and see they have the old models.  There’s a 4GB with noise reduction for $80 (about what they’re going for online) AND I can take it home!  But wait!  There next to it is an 8GB for $99, way less than online!  Then I also see a sign that says all MP3 players are %20 off.  The one I want has an orange sticker with $99 and decide to buy it.

I take it to the counter, put it down and say to the clerk, “I guess that $99 is the sale price.”  The clerk responds, “No.  You get 20% off that price.”

I can’t believe it.  I found exactly what I was looking for.  I get to take it home and play with it right away.  AND it cost me less than the ones I was willing to settle for.

Situations like this don’t happen often.  Not to me.

I took it home, opened it, and it sounds great.  So I’ll be living with the earbuds in for a while and just blissing out.