Vending Machines Sell iPods

Aldark · Post by **Aldark** » April 7th, 2006, 11:35 am

http://www.local6.com/technology/8510882/detail.html

Vending Machines Sell iPods

POSTED: 2:23 pm EDT April 6, 2006
UPDATED: 3:06 pm EDT April 6, 2006

Vending machines that sell iPod digital music players are heading to public places in the United States, including airports, grocery stores and even hotels.

The large Zoom Systems vending machines allow people who want one of Apple Computer Inc.'s iPods to swipe a credit card and then choose the device. The iPod is then delivered like a can of soda or bag of chips, according to the Local 6 News report.

One of the machines went on display Wednesday in San Diego. However, others have reportedly been spotted popping up in airports and a Las Vegas hotel.

The items in the vending machine range from $20 to $300, according to a KGTV report.

The report said Zoom Systems can monitor the sales from the machines online.

Zoom Systems was founded in Australia in 1997 and the company migrated its headquarters and operations to San Francisco in January 2000, according to the company's Web site.

marlodianne · Post by **marlodianne** » April 7th, 2006, 12:24 pm

You know, somehow, I don't think I'd buy an enormously expensive electronic item from a gadget that:

1. Routinely does not drop anything at all

2. When it does drop an item, often breaks this item into its source molecules

Plus, I just thought, there are people who will smash a machine to get a free pop. Can you imagine what those twits would do for an ipod? Of course, sometimes the machine topples on them in revenge, but still...

Aldark · Post by **Aldark** » April 7th, 2006, 12:27 pm

I'm with you, somehow I don't think those machines would last long.

kayray · Post by **kayray** » April 7th, 2006, 1:20 pm

marlodianne wrote:
2. When it does drop an item, often breaks this item into its source molecules

Marlo, every day you make me laugh out loud :)

JickBahTech · Post by **JickBahTech** » April 7th, 2006, 1:33 pm

Uhhhh...
Neat and all I guess, but how would you put music or something on it? I guess you could carry a laptop, but then why not just use that?
Meh, I think it's lame (which means it'll be wildly successful

).

ChipDoc · Post by **ChipDoc** » April 7th, 2006, 11:49 pm

JickBahTech wrote:Meh, I think it's lame (which means it'll be wildly successful ).

I suspect that "Wildly Successful" doesn't even begin to cover it.

Think about this: Most MP3 players are NOT $300 iPods, they're $50 ILOs. Stock the machine with mostly the low-end ones and they'll fly outta there in the right location. An airport would be perfect. Folks would happily spend a few bucks to have a few hours of pre-recorded audio to help pass the time while travelling.

Plus the reletive security of an airport location for the machine would help extend it's MTBBI (Mean Time Between Break Ins) factor.

Now imagine if each of those cheap MP3 players was loaded with a LibriVox book...

thistlechick · Post by **thistlechick** » April 8th, 2006, 6:47 am

ChipDoc wrote: Now imagine if each of those cheap MP3 players was loaded with a LibriVox book...

Now, it makes more sense to me... who do we need to contact?