Tuesday, January 5, 2010

7 THINGS

2010 is going to just be the 'beginning.'

According to Yahoo!, we as consumers should expect to see more revolutionary products taking over for old mainstays. DVDs, books, newspapers and magazines will continue to lose ground to in-home movie rentals and gadgets like the Amazon Kindle. I have one already (see August 26, 2009 blog).

So - just to keep you on top of things, not just theologically and spiritually, but also economically (this is a full service blog) - here are seven items not to buy in 2010 unless you want to risk some serious irrelevance ...

DVDs --- The days of going to a video store to rent a movie are near an end. Sorry Blockbuster! This past September, they said they had plans to close nearly a quarter of their stores by the end of this year. Even buying dvds is going to be risky. They cost, on average, $20 each. That's pricier than signing up for Netflix or renting on-demand.

Home telephone service --- Home landlines could become as archaic as the rotary phone. Today, more than one-in-five U.S. homes have cellphones only. That was up from barely 10% just 3 years ago. (We're getting rid of ours as soon as I can get up to Milwaukee to drop off the unit - required by Time Warner to drop your landline.) Not to mention Skype --- it's free when you communicate with other Skype users via the internet.

Compact digital cameras --- They are likely to be eclipsed by something called the single-lens reflex (SLR) camera.

Newspaper subscriptions --- The past few years have been unkind to the publishing industry. Newspaper advertising revenues have declined by 18%. Average daily circulation at major newspapers has fallen 10%. Magazines have fared little better. In 2009, more than 360 magazines shut down. The morning newspaper has been replaced by a growing online media presence — much of which is accessible for nothing. (The Taylor's are still holding on here, but not daily like we used to -- only a couple of times a week with the newspaper.)

CDs --- When was the last time you bought a CD or even walked into a record store? The past decade was one of the worst for the industry. In the beginning, there was Napster. Then came iTunes. Face it, CDs aren't coming back.

New college textbooks --- We just bought all of Olivia's University books for her upcoming Spring Semester at North Central University. Full price cost would have been $598.00. We bought used ones on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com. Our final cost? $173.00.

Gas-guzzling cars --- Some of us are fighting that, but it's a losing battle. Land Rover, we knew you well.

Enjoy 2010. It proves to be an amazing ride.

And be blessed.

2 comments:

JCsings4Him said...

Beckie told me yesterday that Blockbuster closed ALL their doors in Virginia this last week. I am still a DVD fan...I have...well lets just say I have a LOT. You can always borrow one from me! :~)

Anonymous said...

I will NOT give up dvd's I like, cd's I love or even my land line phone...nada. Ok, so I am a dinosaur....oh well.

I DID see one new thing on tv today that I would love to have. It has a Kindle-like book on one side and a computer on the other side and it closes like a laptop does. My Heart skipped a beat on that one! LOL To read and surf the net at the same time??? Nirvana... OK, so I do that anyway...the old fashioned way...with a book and my desktop computer...I am normally multi-tasking.