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Stores Help Consumers Figure Out New Electronic Gifts

Posted on: Saturday, 31 December 2005, 00:00 CST

By Michael Zitz, The Free Lance-Star, Fredericksburg, Va.

Dec. 31--The consumer electronics industry is white-hot, and devices like the video iPod were more popular than ever as gifts this Christmas.

But some lucky recipients are intimidated by all things tech.

And those people are calling and showing up at stores like Circuit City, Best Buy, Tweeter and local computer shops in droves, seeking advice and tutorials.

Stephen Goodwyn, president of EL33T Computing Inc. in Spotsylvania County, said this Christmas saw the iPod phenomenon expand beyond tech-savvy early-adopters to include many tech novices.

The consumer electronics explosion is encompassing a "much, much wider base of people than ever before," he said.

"Most of the requests we're getting are for instruction on downloading music from your computer to your iPod--general how-to's," said Goodwyn, who lives in Spotsylvania County.

Goodwyn said some people are bringing their iPods into his repair shop.

But the real tech novices are are asking for house calls to "explain in-depth how you do everything" with the Apple media-player devices renowned for elegant simplicity.

Goodwyn, who worked setting up customers' tech gear at Best Buy before starting his own business in January, also said EL33T Computing Inc. has gotten a lot of requests to route wireless networks for new PCs and desktops.

"Usually, the time just around Christmas is slow at a repair shop because we don't sell anything," Goodwyn said. "But with all these people who have new computers, we were busy. It's very unusual." The Circuit City store at Central Park has had a demo station set up since Christmas that shows customers how to hook up their new iPods and other MP3 players and download music from the Internet.

Steve Caputo, sales manager, said associates will be showing people how to use their MP3 players from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. today, and the service could be extended.

Some people are so perplexed they're paying Circuit City for varying degrees of help in importing their music CDs to MP3 format, a relatively simple process. Circuit City is charging 99 cents a CD.

"Some people even pay us to come to their house and download software," Caputo said of a simple process that involves inserting a CD ROM and hitting a key.

In-home service calls start at $150 and can go much higher.

But, Caputo said, even those who are tech-savvy can find complicated setups like home wireless networks tedious.

Circuit City contracts with outside companies that do in-home service, including basic PC setup and wireless networking.

Patrick Lescarbeau, an assistant manager at Best Buy at Central Park, said store associates there are happy to tutor customers in person.

"You can learn how to set up your new iPod and download music from iTunes; how set to up a wireless network; learn how to download home video from your new camcorder to DVD," said Lescarbeau.

"The Geek Squad," Best Buy's tech assistant group, "will come to your home if you want to be taught how to use your new iPod," he said.

Kate MacKinnan, a spokeswoman for the Tweeter store at Central Park, said the chain's training program for associates involves long hours on teaching customers.

Tweeter, an audio and video electronics chain that specializes in stereos, TVs and home theater packages, also sells iPods, satellite radios and cell phones.

Representatives of all the stores said they'd rather invest time and money in helping people learn to use their new gear than have them get frustrated and return it.

"We feel an informed consumer is more likely to keep the product, and that will cut down on returns. So it's to our benefit to explain things thoroughly," MacKinnan said. "We routinely go to our customers' homes. It' s part of our business--we prefer to sell you your solution in your home as opposed to selling it in the store. We're not only gonna custom-program the remote, we're also gonna come to your house and show you how to use it."

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Source: The Free Lance-Star

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