Things They Want You To Buy

The article on "10 Things Not to Buy in 2010" is actually an article about things that you should buy, only in disguise.

Instead of buying DVDs, I should rent from Netflix or watch on demand. Fair enough, but DVDs aren't going away anytime soon, and if you buy a movie on DVD, at least you have something in your hand at the end that you can watch again. It's kind of like, do you buy or lease your next car?

Instead of a landline service, you should buy something called a magicJack. Which, from what I can gather in the article, is something useless. I have a cell phone; I don't need to plug my home phone into a USB port. Further, $39.95 a year for a "license" to call in the U.S. and Canada is plain silly, since Google Voice allows you to make calls for free in the U.S. and Canada, and for quite cheap to places elsewhere.

Instead of an external hard drive, you should pay an annual fee to upload your stuff on some backup services online.
An online service has two advantages: First, the data can be accessed from anywhere around the world. Second, if your house burns down, your data is still safe. However, data transfer will bottleneck at internet speeds, and there are privacy concerns. A flat annual fee would be the way to go if you have any significant amount of data. On the fence about this one.

Instead of any old smartphone, you should buy an iPhone or a Blackberry. This is a fair point, but I would say Google's Android is here to stay. Many of the apps aren't up to iPhone quality yet (the Facebook app, for instance, is crippled) but the latest Android phones far surpass the iPhone in certain areas.

Instead of a compact digital camera, you should buy a DSLR. Well, I would never buy a point-and-shoot because of many issues, but if you're the kind of person that won't take your camera around if it's large and cumbersome, then a small camera that takes crap pictures is better than a large camera that you leave at home.

Instead of newspaper subscriptions, you should buy an Amazon Kindle. However, I suspect the Kindle will be obsolete within a couple of years. It's a fad and I don't see it catching on.

Instead of buying CDs, you should download music from iTunes. So, should I not buy CDs because they're less convenient? Because they're more expensive? Because they're not cool anymore? I hate iTunes and my iPod is unstable, so recently I've gone back to loading a bunch of songs on a DVD and throwing them in the stereo in my car. I would sell my iPod but I still have music that I didn't put on the DVD and sadly, the only auxiliary connector I currently have is specific to the iPod. In fact iTunes is the very last place I go for music; it's the last resort when I can't find the CD, I can't find the song on Amazon's MP3 downloads, and I can't find a YouTube video from which to rip the (low quality) audio.

Instead of new college textbooks, you should buy used textbooks. Well, duh. There are two problems, however. First is when textbook publishers come out with a new edition every year. They change the numbers on the problems in the book or switch the shuffle the questions around and call it a new edition. This means there are no used copies available and students are forced to buy the new one. The second problem is course-specific books, i.e. "Introduction to Microeconomics for UCLA," etc. This means they can't be bought from places other than the campus boookstore, where they are overpriced. This, combined with the aforementioned tactic of publishing new editions every year, makes it impossible to buy used books.

Instead of gas-guzzling cars, you should buy a hybrid or a diesel. I'd buy a small car without hesitation if they brought some of the interesting stuff over from Europe. Alfa Romeo Giulietta or Fiat 500, please? If you're like the guy I saw on the freeway the other day with a Toyota Prius with huge rims and sports exhaust with lowered suspension and doing 95mph, then don't bother. Also don't bother if you're buying a Prius because you want everyone around you to know that you're anonymously doing a good thing. Which is dubious given the production process of hybrids.

Instead of energy-inefficient homes and appliances, you should buy... Energy efficient ones. Do people go, "I know! I'll buy the dishwasher that uses a lot of energy!" or are they just ignorant to these factors when purchasing?