How to Avoid the
Minefield of A/V Gift Buying (Pass This On)
Like all technology enthusiasts, audio and video buffs are
pretty choosy about what they'll include in their systems, and so they can be very hard to
buy for. Their preferences for certain technologies or brands can easily turn what you
expect to be "Wow! What a great gift!" to the (hopefully unspoken) "What
the heck am I going to do with that?"
So to help you avoid these admittedly irrational pitfalls,
we offer the MastersOnAudio.com/MastersOnVideo.com guide to buying presents for your
favorite techie. Ignore them at your peril.
- DO ask him what he wants. It's all very well to
surprise him on the morning, but the surprise may not always be pleasant. You could wait
around for hints, but it's probably better to tip your hand a bit by finding out exactly
what he's looking for than buy something blindly. Be specific as well: find out about
brands and model numbers.
- DO some surreptitious snooping to find out what he
already has, if the above sort of interrogation is not in the cards. Do this in some
detail, as it can affect what you end up buying. There's no point in buying a box of 8mm
camcorder tapes, for example, if his machine is a VHS-C model.
- DO find a reputable dealer who will be able to tell
you whether or not what you are planning to buy will go with what he has. Even better, if
you can find out which dealer he usually buys from, go there. The staff may already know
what's in his system, and they may also have heard him say what he wants.
- DO make sure that if what you buy is unsuitable he
can take it back, especially if it's expensive. Some shops offer return cards that don't
show the price, for just such occasions, but if he doesn't know what stuff costs, he's not
much of a technical obsessive.
- DO buy accessories or other peripheral items if you
can't determine whether or not a particular piece of hardware is what he wants. Blank
tapes and discs are always welcome (as long as they're the right ones). Cleaners and cables
come in handy as well (although in the latter case, it's possible to go nuts on the cost
-- usually a bad move). With low-ticket items, it doesn't matter so much if they're not
quite the right thing and are rarely or never used -- it's the thought that counts anyway.
Isn't it?
- DON'T guess, part 1. For small items, the
notion that "he might like this" could work, but with more expensive components,
the chances of your hitting on something he's been yearning to add to his system are slim
unless you have pretty firm advance knowledge. As you check out that snazzy new VCR that
could replace the old clunker that's been eating tapes for a year, bear in mind that your
loved one may be lusting after a DVD player.
- DON'T guess, part 2. Buying things to play on
the system, such as CDs or DVDs, is risky unless you are intimate enough that you know
without a doubt what his taste is or what he has been looking for. Wrong guesses here will
end up permanently on the shelf or taking a fast trip to the used-disc store. Better to
buy a gift certificate than the wrong disc, although it does seem to lack a certain
warmth.
- DON'T substitute. If you know he wants a certain
machine, and the dealer says an alternative unit is "just as good," steer clear.
In fact, the salesman may well be right, but that doesn't take into account the fact that
people can be very loyal to specific brands and can aspire to owning a very particular
model. In such cases, "just as good" ain't.
- DON'T commit your giftee to ongoing payments. The
satellite dish may be cool, and it will probably come with some introductory free
programming, but after that he will have to come up with the subscription fee every month.
That's fine if he's expecting it, not so fine if he's not.
- DON'T be surprised if your loved one abandons you
right after opening the gift and proceeds to set it up and use it. It may mean he's
ignoring you, but it also means you have scored a hit.
All in all, some electronic gizmo is always a welcome item
under the tech fan's tree. It just has to be the right one.
...Ian G. Masters
ian@mastersonaudio.com
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