THG 2003 Holiday Buyer's Guide

THG 2003 Holiday Buyer's Guide

The holiday season is upon us again. While the weather outside has turned cold only within the last few weeks here in the U.S. and in Europe, for many of us it is time to start selecting gifts to place under the yuletide tree.

This year was a very interesting one, with many new products that made their way into the retail market space. While some of the anticipated breakthroughs were perhaps less than stellar, consumers reaped the rewards of reduced prices and great pre-season buys on many items. In several key product sectors, prices fell l significantly as these products became more popular and widely available.

We have a few recommendations for purchases this holiday season (and for those great post-holiday end of the year sales) for the computer/electronics people in your life, and maybe even you. As you will see, we didn't limit our selection to only computer products; we have included a few other suggestions, as well.

The Editors and THG Staff wish you a very happy holiday season and a prosperous new year.

Apple iPod For Windows

Third Evolution: The 15 GB Apple iPod

No other electronics gift ranks higher on holiday wish lists of computer users that are also music enthusiasts than the Apple iPod. The Apple iPod returns to this 2003 Holiday Buyer's Guide after also being featured as a recommended purchase in 2002. The new third generation iPod packs innovative new features, the best of which is iTunes for Windows, now available for the iPod.

While the iPod is expensive, no other product even comes close to iPod's ease of use, unique product design and product engineering quality. With the addition of USB 2.0 support to the iPod's support for 1394/Firewire, this is a big plus for PC users. We continue to hear rumors that the iPod is in short supply this year, but after some searching on the Web, we were able to find many locations that had iPods in stock and available for retail purchase.