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Get Your iPod Fix From a Vending Machine
burnteternal writes "iPod Hacks reports that new iPod Vending Machines are popping up all over the U.S.; it includes links to pictures and a video of it in action."
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If you watch the video...not only is the iPod NOT being dropped like a standard vending machine it's also not just iPods in the vending machine. The video features your average geek buying a power adapter. It's hard to tell from the video but it also looks like there are some cables and other things in there along with the iPods. I'm much more likely to buy accessories from a vending machine than an actual iPod.
This space for rent...
For a site where people think they are of 'above average intelligence' everyone here has completely missed the point: 1) These things are primarily advertisements. Hey, it worked, we're all talking about iPod... clever eh? 2) You can buy accessories there too, which are high profit items and more likely to be purchased on impulse 3) Half of all people flying will be arriving from the first flight of a round trip. They buy the iPod for their next flight because right now, the only thing they are thinking is "gee, that was miserable, I wish something could have made it better" There, happy?
What about receipts or warranties? I'd rather purchase the iPod from a store, just in case something does go wrong or I want to purchase an extended warranty.
I take it you haven't seen one of these actually work. They use a system very much like the one used to dispense glass bottles (eg no dropping involved). At the one near me, there is a robotic arm that grabs the product from and then places it in the dispensing door. There is no dropping involved, heck it's probably safer than how most iPods are stored in stores. Also, I believe the machines only take credit cards (maybe debit cards) so if something does go wrong, you have a means of recourse. This isn't the first vending machine to dispense fragile electronics, either. A few years ago when I was flying through Boston's Logan Int. there was a Staple's vending machine that had various different "flight accessories," including a few flash MP3 players (more shock resistant, yes, but not quite a candy bar).
Actually I was considering this problem, they need iPod-filling kiosks. This won't work well until they have a wireless interface on them though. Bluetooth would be just fine, in spite of the slow speed; it's QUITE acceptable for loading a song or three in a short period of time, and if iTunes is smart enough to remove a song to make space, then load a song, rinse, lather, repeat, then just any time you're in range of your iTunes it can be flipping songs around to keep your library fresh, so the low speed isn't such an issue because it will do it without intervention if you so desire.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Risky? That's why credit cards have a thing called "charge backs". It's not like you're stuffing hundreds of pounds (literally) of coins into that thing...
Charge back is great, if it works. You don't always win the dispute. If they say your ipod was dispensed, and there's nothing they can do, you'll probably lose.
"Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking