Technology - Changing Times - Blockbuster files for Bankruptcy

So that's why there is heaven and hell...!
anyways...

i saw a water tank something like with water
forming the letters and characters in some images that was a good technothing..

romy134 said:

I don't get how Circuit City can go bankrupt but not Best buys?

Well, where I live the best buys are always packed out and circuit city was typically desolate. At Christmas time, there was a line around 1/2 the store at Best Buy...but there was hardly more than 1-2 people in any line at Circuit City.

I'm actually surprised that CC lasted as long as what they did after their intentional misleading of consumers during the DIVX debacle. Perhaps some of you remember that $3.99 format that you could watch as many times as you wanted with 48 hours, but they you would pay rental rewatch fees for playback after that.

Blockbuster's failure was due to their long-held virtual monopoly. By the time I stopped using them several years ago, their quality was horrible, I don't think I ever got a clean DVD from them, nor did I ever get a DVD that played all the way through. Lack of any real competition on the national level caused them to really slip in terms of price/quality.

One can also see the effects Best Buy's customers are suffering from that company having a virtual monopoly. Nowadays, the last place I would ever go for tech is Best Buy, because I know they will rob me blind, charging me at least double what my favorite Internet retailers charge.

BCXtreme said:

Blockbuster's failure was due to their long-held virtual monopoly. By the time I stopped using them several years ago, their quality was horrible, I don't think I ever got a clean DVD from them, nor did I ever get a DVD that played all the way through.

Geez, consumers must be really hard on stuff in your area. I've only had a few dvd's ever that wouldn't play all the way through...it certainly isn't every single one of them.

BCXtreme said:

One can also see the effects Best Buy's customers are suffering from that company having a virtual monopoly. Nowadays, the last place I would ever go for tech is Best Buy, because I know they will rob me blind, charging me at least double what my favorite Internet retailers charge.

It's sad through that there isn't much choice these days in a retail shop. I mean once in a while, i want a part and I want it today (I don't want to wait for it to ship from an Internet retailer)...but sadly almost all of my choices are now gone. Nearly all of the small mom&pop computer shops are gone, CC is gone, CompUSA is gone, etc. I do have a MicroCenter, but it's about 45 minutes away and traffic is a real headache.

And if you know what you want, BestBuy is not always 2x more expensive than some online retailers. For example, the 1TB Western Digital Caviar Block is $89.99 from Best Buy for the retail packaging, while NewEgg is $87.99 for the OEM, Amazon is $86.99 and Tiger Direct is $87.99. So, I fail to see where the huge rip-off is.

pparks1 said:

BCXtreme said:

Blockbuster's failure was due to their long-held virtual monopoly. By the time I stopped using them several years ago, their quality was horrible, I don't think I ever got a clean DVD from them, nor did I ever get a DVD that played all the way through.

Geez, consumers must be really hard on stuff in your area. I've only had a few dvd's ever that wouldn't play all the way through...it certainly isn't every single one of them.

Maybe so. Although at the point I'm referring to, Blockbuster was still mostly on VHS, they didn't even have a whole lot of DVDs yet.

BCXtreme said:

One can also see the effects Best Buy's customers are suffering from that company having a virtual monopoly. Nowadays, the last place I would ever go for tech is Best Buy, because I know they will rob me blind, charging me at least double what my favorite Internet retailers charge.

It's sad through that there isn't much choice these days in a retail shop. I mean once in a while, i want a part and I want it today (I don't want to wait for it to ship from an Internet retailer)...but sadly almost all of my choices are now gone. Nearly all of the small mom&pop computer shops are gone, CC is gone, CompUSA is gone, etc. I do have a MicroCenter, but it's about 45 minutes away and traffic is a real headache.

And if you know what you want, BestBuy is not always 2x more expensive than some online retailers. For example, the 1TB Western Digital Caviar Block is $89.99 from Best Buy for the retail packaging, while NewEgg is $87.99 for the OEM, Amazon is $86.99 and Tiger Direct is $87.99. So, I fail to see where the huge rip-off is.[/QUOTE]

I'm more referring to "everyday" tech like cables and such. The stuff where 2x-3x increases are not hundreds of dollars. For example, just recently I needed an HDMI cable, and Best Buy and RadioShack's best price was $30 for 6ft. I was able to get a 3ft cable from TigerDirect for $8 (I only needed a 3ft, but the 6ft was still only like $10 from them). I agree that when it comes to "bigger" tech like HDDs or even TVs and such, you could still get a good price from Best Buy. But for smaller stuff, I have found that I will generally pay more at Best Buy.

Oh yeah, without a doubt, cables and such are the huge money makers for these retail stores. Same thing applies for Office Max, Office Depot and all of the other places. With these things, they sell because people come in and buy a $1,000 TV and figure what's $40 more for everything that I need to use the TV tonight. You just have to know what you need and decide if you really need it.