• by Paul Gough , December 22, 2003

I've returned to the relative safety of my office following a three-day stint of almost constant holiday shopping, spent mostly in the big-box electronic retailers in two states and three DMAs. Here's what I've learned:

No one seems to be buying computers in stores anymore. Dell and Gateway, among others, encourage you to go online, figure out what you want, then order it. Even my 72-year-old mother-in-law did that when she was in the market for a notebook computer a few months ago.

Software doesn't seem to be moving, at least at the big-box stores. Neither does computer equipment. The big movers, judging from what I've seen move out of several retailers this year, are plasma TV screens, CDs, Playstation 2/Xbox/GameCube stuff and portable audio players.

Portable audio is huge. I'm a recent convert to it myself, having ditched my trusty CD player for a mini disc player months ago when the prices fell. When you commute in New York City, portability is a priority. So is battery power: My audio player has awesome battery power (50-something hours on one AA battery) and great sound. And each mini disc can carry 40 or more songs. It's small enough to fit in your pocket and doesn't pose a problem when I'm running, either. Portable audio - both mini disc and mp3 players - flew out of the stores over the weekend. I didn't see one CD player sold.

And, most importantly, I'm going to start Christmas shopping earlier in the year. And buy completely online.

--Paul J. Gough