Are you an early adopter of technology?

[SymphonicX]

How soon after the ipod was out, did you buy one? What about HD? Anyone been "3D'd" up yet?

I'm an early adopter of technology - I love it - but my wallet doesn't. I've just shelled out close to 1k for a 3D TV/Blu Ray bundle which I'm very excited about - it's sitting in my car right now, a 50" Plasma TV with 3D blu ray player and all the Shrek movies...!

I did a similar thing with HD although that was an absolute STEAL in terms of how I worked it - Woolies at the time were selling one that turned out to be a rebadged Thomson unit, at less than 40% of the cost - normally the thomson unit would have been £999 but I paid £350 for it just to have it named "Technosonic" - when pulling off the stickers, guess what it said underneath? That's right..."Thomson".

However with 3D I won't be so lucky - I'm now a proud owner of a Samsung and what with Sky 3D already being pumped into my living room, I have content besides those horrible Shrek movies. No rebadged units here, just the real deal - but fuck it, it's on finance and life's for living. Even if I may regret this on Boxing day..!

Early adopters of technology FTW

[childofgilead]

I don't have an ipod, I dislike Apple personally..as for HD, I have a 42'' Vizio plasma..wish I'd gotten a larger LED now though..didn't buy an Xbox 360 until 2007 and have still been RROD'd 4 times, until I finally took it apart myself and fixed it once the warranty ran out..in other news, I resent paying 60 bucks for Fable 3 and being a beta tester and bug reporter.

[Danny]

Nah, not late, but prefer to give stuff a year or so, see if its got the time to last. been on hd and bluray for about a year, had an ipod for about 2.

3d can suck it, every 3d movie is making less than the 2d option if its available and my mind boggles that a friend of mine just spent £3000 on a '3dtv' with a '3dblurayplayer' where only few things can be watched in 3d but you require one of two pairs of glasses he got with it and you can even watch normal stuff without the glasses! 3d is just a boondoggle.

[MinionZombie]

3D remains a gimmick, so I won't be getting any 3D nonsense. Really, the 3D thing really sums up how 'the man' (:p:rolleyes::p) just expects people to keep opening their wallets, and the people will gladly do so ... well the idiots will, but there's enough of them to allow it to continue.

I got a HDTV and BR player in August, so I'm a recent upgrader in that respect - I was pushed into it by my extra features dependency, I'm a whore for making-ofs :D - and while BR can give a lovely image, it's not doing an awful lot more than DVD. Really, think about it, it's not doing much more - PiP tracks are just commentaries with some images or video off-cuts popping up that don't really fit into their own special features, and so often you find special features in SD on BR discs. A great movie is a great movie, regardless of picture quality. Some of my best experiences watching a movie have been with dud quality prints, VHS dubs, and early DivX rips from years and years ago. So it's not a game changer, just a bit of an evolution - so I wasn't fussed to leap into it (for various reasons, including cost, and the general dislike of 'the man' forcing you to upgrade all the goddamned time).

I don't see 3D catching on though, hell, plenty of people don't have HD still, or they do but so what, you know?

Looking at BR sales, they're not taking over yet by any means. On some items they are putting in good numbers (like Avatar which was pretty much half-n-half BR/DVD, and Scott Pilgrim which was 51% BR sales ... but the common numbers are generally in the 20%'s and 30%'s). BR is a slower growing thing that DVD ... once DVD got going in full swing by 2002/2003, it blew up in a big bad way - BR hasn't been doing that, and I'm not surprised for several reasons ... 3D will be far lower and slower in turn.

Xbox wise, I continued with PC gaming for as long as I could, but then the games out-stripped my computer that I was gaming on at the time (if I ever PC game it's on my Quad Core now), so that made me hop on the 360 bandwagon in late spring 2007, so the tech had already been out for a good while by that stage. I don't know what I'll do when the next generation of games consoles comes around (but that won't be for a while), so we'll see on that.

So, generally speaking, no I'm not an early adopter. Wait a while and:

1) The technology can establish itself and work out any major issues.
2) The price will come down to a decent level.
3) For those on a stricter budget, waiting a while will net you a good quality product, rather than leap on something shit or too expensive from the get-go.
4) If you wait a while you'll probably end up getting a better product anyway - look at BR players and the whole Profile 1.0 and Profile 2.0 thing.

I could go on, but that about sums it up.

What I hate most is how some people are so eager to leap onto a new bandwagon, they just throw all their old stuff out and essentially spit on it like it was worthless. I can't be doing with that, and some people have misinterpreted that as me being adverse to change in technology - no - what I'm adverse to are those who leap from one bandwagon to the next like their hair's on fire (I'm not talking technofreaks here, like you Symph, because there's a difference between people fascinated by new tech, and c*nts who just want to flash their borrowed cash around to their mates - I'm talking about the latter).

When it's properly time to advance the tech, I do so, and I do it in an informed way so that I get a good deal and a good product. It's the actions of the aforementioned c*nts that does my head in and leads me to moan against the machine. :rant:

[Philly_SWAT]

I have never been an "early adopter" (I like that term!) of technology the way you put it. When I was a kid, I always wanted/got all the newest gaming consoles...but other than that I usually like to wait...there seems a lot of good reasons to put off being the first on your block to get the newest tech item...

1. Price - Price drops, sometimes VERY significant, usually occur less than a year after a product's release
2. Kinks - Any unforseen/unthought of issues that crop up after release of a new item are a pain to deal with. Even if you get "free" repair/upgrade/etc. still inconvient
3. Rapid obsolescence - Glad I didnt rush out to buy a Betamax back in the day...glad I didnt buy any HD DVD stuff...

I bought an ipod about 1.5 years ago...I really enjoy it, and wish that I had bought one earlier, but hey, thats me.

[Legion2213]

I have never been an "early adopter" (I like that term!) of technology the way you put it. When I was a kid, I always wanted/got all the newest gaming consoles...but other than that I usually like to wait...there seems a lot of good reasons to put off being the first on your block to get the newest tech item...

1. Price - Price drops, sometimes VERY significant, usually occur less than a year after a product's release
2. Kinks - Any unforseen/unthought of issues that crop up after release of a new item are a pain to deal with. Even if you get "free" repair/upgrade/etc. still inconvient
3. Rapid obsolescence - Glad I didnt rush out to buy a Betamax back in the day...glad I didnt buy any HD DVD stuff...

I bought an ipod about 1.5 years ago...I really enjoy it, and wish that I had bought one earlier, but hey, thats me.

Pretty much sums up my own feelings...let some other sucka buy the buggy first editions, I'll pick them up a few years on with all the kinks ironed out and a fraction of the price.

As for 3D, no thanks, will never become mainstream until any kind of eyewear is done away with IMO, I'm not prepared to have to put funky headgear on just to watch some TV.

[Eyebiter]

Would rather wait until a technology is near obsolete then buy it.

At that point the price point is low as retailers clear out remaining stock. Also all the patches and updates are available, mature products have most of the bugs fixed.

[deadpunk]

I had an Atari when they first came out. Pong too, to think of it. Since then, I've caught up slowly but surely ;)

[MikePizzoff]

As for video game consoles - I usually get those about a year or two after they are released. Except Dreamcast - got that the day it came out, for my birthday.

I didn't buy an HD-TV until 2008, it was 720p and only until 2.5 months ago that I upgraded to a larger 1080p TV. I also didn't get a Blu-Ray player until a couple of weeks ago.

[LouCipherr]

I think it depends on the technology for me.

Prime example: I have a blu-ray player, and HD-DVD player, a 55" LG LCD tv in my living room, Tivo (got that back when they first started out) - but, I have an old, non-smartphone that I carry on me every day.

Weird how some electronics I have to go full-hilt on and grab the "latest, new thing" but others (like my cellphone) I could give one shit less about. Odd.

So the answer, for me, is.... "sometimes" I am an early adopter. It just depends...

[tkane18]

I always wait awhile when something new comes out...sometimes too long.
- got my ipod 2 years ago.
- got HD in June (had the TV for awhile but not the service).
- Xbox 360 a year ago.

Money has a lot to do with it too.

[MinionZombie]

Interesting that Lou mentions mobile phones.

I got my first in the Sixth Form (so aged 16), had that for two years (t'was a basic green-screened jobby pay-as-you-go) then I got my second phone for university (which was a contract, and also a green screen jobby) and I had that for three years (although really I should have done pay-as-you-go ... I wasted so much cash on that contract really, but I was too lazy to change it back then) ... after graduating I got my third phone, which finally gave me a colour screen, the option to have MP3 ringtones, and it even had a camera (like 0.3mp or something) ... had that for about 3 years and then it became unreliable (kept shutting itself off), so I had to get a replacement handset - my fourth ever mobile phone in a decade (some fuckers will have gone through 10 or more by now, because they must follow trends like sheeple) and that's given me Tetris as a new thing.

I have no interest in mobile phones. Every one of them hasn't been an 'in' phone, although my Samsung A300 (if memory serves) which I had at uni was popular in the first year, but then I had it long before it 'trendy shelf date' so-to-speak. Same with the two phones after that. The cameras on them are basic, and they do what I need them to do - make/receive phone calls and send/receive txts ... I can take a rough pic on them if I want to, I have my MP3 ringtones, and I can play Tetris if I want.

Other than that, I can't stand mobile phones, and I can't stand people playing with theirs all the time - especially when they're with their mates - pay attention to your buddies, not your ruddy phone that you're on 24/7 already! Sheesh! I don't understand mobile phone jargon, especially contracts, I keep my phones for as long as possible because they do what I want them to do, and that's not an awful lot, and generally I can't be fussed.

My phone may be basic, or stone age, to certain mobile phone fashionista dick faces, but nobody wants to steal it, it doesn't cost the earth, it doesn't do a host of annoying things, and I don't spend every waking minute on it either. Calls (if necessary) and txts - that's what I need it for, end of. The MP3 ringtones and Tetris are nice additions - giving me my own choice of ringtone rather than the standard naff ones (right now I've got the Sonic 3 end credits song :cool:), and something to do whilst having a shit if I've already finished reading that month's Total Film. ;)

[BillyRay]

Right...

In my Living Room have a garden-variety CRT TV, @ 13" (?), on "indefinite loan" from a friend, with a generic Wal-mart DVD player (inherited from a former roommate) hooked to it. (It'll play anything, though)

My new apartment comes with basic cable - VERY basic....about 12 channels.

In my Bedroom is the smaller TV, hooked into a 15-year old Sony VCR. The Digital Reciever is hooked to this one, but my building has piss-poor reception. (Remember when lousy reception just meant 'snow'? Now it's a pixelated Mondrian mess, if that)

I have a computer, standard Dell PC, left by a different roommate when he split the country. I currently don't have the Internets hooked to the house, and it's still waiting to be set up since my move in early October.

My cel phone is Pay-as-you-go. Been that way since 2003 when I finally broke down and got one. (Was dead set against it for the longest time, but hated my crappy land line)

The only 2 video game systems I've had were an Xbox (on a timeshare with, you guessed it, former roommates) and the Colecovision I had in Grade School. Neither are currently in my possession.

I don't own an Ipod, but have an old Walkman sitting in a drawer somewhere. I don't like walking around with headphones on, anyway. I'd rather be aware of things around me, like birds chirping or muggers sneaking up on me.

However, I do have a kick-ass stereo system.

I suppose I'm what you call a "Late, LATE adopter of new technology".

Or a Luddite, I'm easy.

The first wave of Home Computers and Home Entertainment Systems started coming out when I was a kid, when the "obsolescence turnaround" seemed measurable in hours. So my family never got into all of that. We were the last ones on the block to ge cable TV, a VCR, and the other shiny toys of the Modern Era.

(I remember having to purchase my folks their first CD player in the late 90's, just so I could start sending them albums they'd like that were only coming out in the CD format).

A lot of it's money. We didn't have too much growing up (Always had a roof over our heads and hot meals on the table - so I'm not whining); and working in the Arts, I don't have much now. I tend to throw most of my discretionary income into the Puppet Show - there's always another tool or supply run to deal with.

I'm a bit of a minimalist, too. I'd rather read or draw or see a live show than spend a lot of time playing vids. I enjoy them, but I generally avoid them. Life's frustrating enough, why pay all that cash just to add more frustration into your life? And Xbox "acheivements" are like Facebook "friends"...

Don't weep for me. If'n I ever get the money, I'll fall in line with the rest of Consumer Society. :D

[bassman]

Never been an early adopter. Always waited a year or two if not more. For the same reasons already mentioned. Price drop, better product, etc.


The only thing I KINDA jumped on was DVD. I was still later in the game than some, but to people in my circles I was "wasting my money" and the product would "never stick around". Not to mention the few dolts who said it didn't look any better than VHS. Needless to say they all ate those words....

[SymphonicX]

Sometimes you gotta take a gamble I reckon. I've adopted a few things, that essentially needed to be sold off because it never took flight...!

Case in point:

Philips CDi - lol...I could stop there really. I had a good couple of years fun out of it though and before the ps1 came along there was a gap between that and the megadrive - the MegaCD was never going to work, neither was the Saturn, and all the others - The philips CDi had the most potential out of the early CDRom based systems - even going as far as having internet capability (in the mid 90s!) and stuff like that. It did have promise but it was too early.

HD DVD - well a fair few of us bought into that one, and as soon as I got whiff of it becoming obsolete I shimmied all the goods down to Gamestation and sold it off - two days later they announced the death of the format (even though you can still get these things readily, and cheaply) - no doubt the player and discs would have lost value dramatically after that.

Laserdisc - ALMOST! I was *this* close to getting one of those fuckers - mainly cos it was a vinyl sized CD that looked pretty cool - remember reading The Dark Side magazine and seeing the Japanese laserdisc of Dawn of the Dead and just *droooooling*. I literally had a plan to buy one of those fuckers. Still would, if I could be bothered - nice retro thing to have.

See I don't just jump into the idea of new tech based on it being what everyone else is doing - no...not at all! I've got to have incentives like everyone else...

I never adopted Blu Ray after technically being "stung" by HD DVD - (I say stung, I lost maybe 50, 60 quid) so it took me a year or so, I wasn't too early with Blu Ray. I only bought it because I found Dawn of the Dead on Blu Ray about 3 years ago, so I bought the disc way before having anything to play it on. I got a mate to check it would work on a ps3 because of the region coding and all that jazz and when I found out it worked, I bought a ps3 to watch it.

With 3D its more about the games - i've ALWAYS wanted to own stereoscopic 3D games - the idea just jumps out at me as the future of gaming. I don't have problems with the idea of wearing glasses - how often do you call all your mates around and watch a movie? Hardly ever I guess, maybe you have 1 or 2 mates over, but not a slew of 15 people turning up - so to have two pairs of glasses is OK and any other form of movie watching will be done in 2D if it's social - I want 3D for myself, to play as a loner, games like Black Ops - so this is perfect for me.

A lot of people seem to think 3D is a fad - but I think it's got real longevity, because just like HD, you're not forced to watch everything at that quality or in that style. Obviously 3D TVs have the capability to play normal 2D stuff. So the way I see it, if you upgrade your telly, might as well upgrade to a 3D ready one so you've got the choice later on...! Then you end up with a HD TV that's better than your last one, and a 3D capability that, should you decide to watch something like Avatar in 3D, you have the choice. Just makes sense really.

But games were the big incentive for my upgrade to 3D - and can I just say, for the record - Black Ops is nothing short of STUNNING in 3D mode. It changes the way you aim, and the way you see things on screen - the real sense of depth means you have to properly focus down the sights as though you were aiming - I've even found myself squinting one eye closed like one does when aiming down the sight of a real gun. It takes a bit of getting used to but there's a lot of scope for a new level of gaming here.

A final note on prices and costs and economy with these things: The way I see it, I was essentially "renting" my old TV for three years - now it's going to be sold off, and there's still value in it because it's only 3 years old and works perfectly. With holding onto tech until it's dying days, you lose value in your items until it's basically worthless - then you find yourself shelling out ridiculous wads of cash to replace BROKEN or massively outdated bits of kit - so the idea that you save money by waiting isn't necessarily true in all cases. Once I sell my TV, and potentially either the 3D Blu Ray player or the Ps3 (both do the same thing as far as I know, but ps3 still have the games edge) I will have recooped at least 70% if not MORE of the 3D TV's value - meaning really all I'm doing is replacing old for new and keeping up with the tech rather than waiting, waiting, and waiting then having to shell out £1k without anything to sell off and replace those lost monies.

[MikePizzoff]

And Xbox "acheivements" are like Facebook "friends"...


Not too sure I see any connection here...

[BillyRay]

Not too sure I see any connection here...

One's not really an achievement, the other's not really a friend...:moon:

[Mike70]

considering that i don't use cell phones (though i have one somewhere) nor do i own an ipod, i'm gonna go with no on this one.

[MikePizzoff]

One's not really an achievement, the other's not really a friend...:moon:

See, people that use Facebook just to get a high friend count are dorks/morons in my opinion; that's what lame ass (and virus ridden) MySpace is for. Facebook is for staying connected with REAL friends and old classmates.

I get what you're saying though, because there are far too many people that just add any random person.

[BillyRay]

Hey, I don't Facebook, I'm a Luddite. (See above)

Now, the Puppet troupe has a Facebook Fan Page, but I have nothing to do with that...

[ProfessorChaos]

Hey, I don't Facebook,

*high five

as for being an early adopter of technology, i'd have to say no. those sort of things are always being fixed, updated, improved, why not wait till they get it right before you go dropping lots of money into something.

[Legion2213]

Don't know about the USA, but BD players were like £300-£400 when they first came out over here, I picked mine up for around £100 last year, it probably has better features and technology than the first generation at 1/4 of the price.

It's always beneficial to wait a few years before taking the plunge into new tech IMO

[MikePizzoff]

Don't know about the USA, but BD players were like £300-£400 when they first came out over here, I picked mine up for around £100 last year, it probably has better features and technology than the first generation at 1/4 of the price.

It's always beneficial to wait a few years before taking the plunge into new tech IMO

Yeah, a lot of people don't realize how much more advanced and cheaper BD players have become. A few friends came over recently and saw my BD player and basically said "Why the fuck did you buy that? Why didn't you get a PS3? Its better and cheaper." They were singing a different tune after I told them it cost me $100 and showed them the Netflix, Pandora, YouTube, and Hulu functions.

[MinionZombie]

Yeah, a lot of people don't realize how much more advanced and cheaper BD players have become. A few friends came over recently and saw my BD player and basically said "Why the fuck did you buy that? Why didn't you get a PS3? Its better and cheaper." They were singing a different tune after I told them it cost me $100 and showed them the Netflix, Pandora, YouTube, and Hulu functions.

Plus the fact that consoles - all consoles - are terribly inefficient as movie players. Proper DVD/BR players are far, far less power hungry. Consoles chew through far too much power for such a simple task.

[DjfunkmasterG]

I am a pretty early adopter, HD DVD Blu-Ray etc. Lou Beat me on the WS TV though, but I am the first to grab all the new PC toys.

When it comes to cars I don't early adopt anything... Never 1st model year, although the 2010 Stang was an exception, it was more or less a 2009 with the new facia and some re-drawn lines... the 2011 Stang got the mechanical overhaul so it needs to prove itself before I would consider it (2012 anyone)

I kept my HD DVD unit even after the collapse of the format. No sense in re-buying the titles when the HD DVD has the same if not better PQ. Not too mention I still release on the format and make money doing it because the hard core HD DVD fans love a new release and I love the format.

I was an early adopter of the advanced Smart phones (Samsung instinct) - however after 2 years I downgraded it to the good old reliable as hell CRACKBERRY

---------- Post added at 08:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:53 PM ----------


Yeah, a lot of people don't realize how much more advanced and cheaper BD players have become. A few friends came over recently and saw my BD player and basically said "Why the fuck did you buy that? Why didn't you get a PS3? Its better and cheaper." They were singing a different tune after I told them it cost me $100 and showed them the Netflix, Pandora, YouTube, and Hulu functions.

Is yours the Wal-Mart Vizio model???

I have one of those, it has WiFi and all the cool toys and it works great.

[Terran]

Man I dont know where to begin...I guess Im an early adopter....Im just surprised you guys still use money.

[acealive1]

*high five

as for being an early adopter of technology, i'd have to say no. those sort of things are always being fixed, updated, improved, why not wait till they get it right before you go dropping lots of money into something.


the same people that say this wait outside stores for a week for the new iphone or xbox