Gadgets deck wish lists

Best Buy sales associate Antonio Jackson helps James Lee, 55, of Macomb Township select a MP3 player for a present. Digital music players are the most-wanted gadget this holiday season, according to a survey.

via detnews.com
As prices keep falling, more holiday revelers will likely receive high-tech toys such as iPod, Xbox.

If an iPod is on your Christmas wish list, you might be in luck.

Digital music players are the most-wanted gadget this holiday season, and more Americans plan to give them as gifts than any other high-tech device, according to a survey by the Consumer Electronics Association.

"iPods have to be the best thing that ever happened to people who love music," said James Lee of Macomb Township as he browsed the selection at Best Buy in search of a gift for his daughter. "They're so much better than those portable CD players, which are pretty much obsolete now."

Even though iPods and other brands of devices that play MP3 music files have been around for a few years, they've grown so popular this holiday season that some are running in short supply. Best Buy in Dearborn was sold out of the 4-gigabyte pencil-thin iPod Nano and the 30-gigabyte video iPod last week.

Another hot item that's even harder to find is Microsoft Corp.'s new Xbox 360, which went on sale less than two weeks ago. Hardly any stores across Metro Detroit have the video-game system in stock, and new shipments have been flying off the shelves as soon as they arrive.

That's probably just as well for Michael Brown of Ypsilanti, who stopped at Best Buy to look at laptop computers for his wife but couldn't help admire the Xbox 360 on display. If there were any available, he would have been tempted to grab one as a gift for himself.

"I was thinking about it but my wife said no. She said, 'You don't even play with the PlayStation,' " said Brown, 34.

One of the most-wanted items this year is likely to find its way under only a few Christmas trees. Plasma TVs are high on many people's wish lists but -- even though prices have been falling steadily -- still far too expensive to be practical for most families. A 42-inch model can be had for about $1,700, thousands less than when the technology was first introduced.

Bill Janssen, a Ford Motor Credit Co. employee who wandered through Best Buy, said he'd love to take one of the super-thin widescreen models home but he figures it's best to hold off for a while.

"It's probably going to be $1,000 next year for the low-end ones," Janssen said.

MP3 players, video-game systems, big-screen TVs and other consumer electronics have become wildly popular in recent years as manufacturers have made their products easier to use and prices have become more affordable. Electronics retailers that once catered largely to younger men now see their products being ogled by people of all ages and both genders.

The average American household spends $1,250 each year on consumer electronics and owns 25 different devices, the Consumer Electronics Association reports. Holiday shoppers are expected to spend 21 percent of their gift budgets -- about $150 -- on electronics.

"It's what everybody wants," said Gary Shapiro, president of the association. "This year it seems like everything's hot. There's no one hot product that's standing out, although MP3 players have gone to the top of the list."

The endless array of new high-tech gadgets and worries about whether certain devices are compatible with each other can leave many shoppers confused.

About a third of those surveyed by the Consumer Electronics Association said they plan to solve that dilemma by buying gift cards. Gift cards are available not only for most electronics retailers' stores but also for services, such as Best Buy's Geek Squad computer help team and for Web sites that sell music files.

Shoppers can get some assistance from Core3 Solutions, a Birmingham information-technology company that's offering a free "Gift Selection Support" line. Call (248) 275-5563 to use the service or check out some tips at www.core3solutions.com/holidayhelp.

Paul Chambers, one of the 8-year-old firm's co-owners, said employees will help callers decide what products to get friends and relatives and which features to look for. They can also suggest unique products that gadget lovers might like, such as a $10 computer-powered mini lava lamp or glowing snowman that workers could put in their cubicles.

Jeannie Ewing of Franklin had no trouble figuring out what to give her 28-year-old son, a student in medical school. She went to the Apple Store at Novi's Twelve Oaks Mall where she settled on a $249 black iPod Nano.

"I know he would like this," she said. "Who knows, I might even learn how to use it and buy one for myself."

- Jennifer Chappell, Associate Writer, (NC, US)