There are no Everlasting Gobstoppers in the gee-whiz world of consumer technology. Today's sizzle is tomorrow's fizzle and the new is bound to be more sophisticated than the old, making it hard to keep up.
It's easy to find Web sites hawking electronic wares but if you don't know which new gotta-have-it toy is right for you, you're risking an expensive disappointment. These Internet sites give you the deets you need to hold your own so you can shop with confidence, online or off, for features as well as price.
Our favorite online personal consumer electronics advisor is CNET.com. CNET has tech news articles and detailed reviews of products from TVs and PCs to MP3 players and cell phones that evaluate product design, features and performance. You can read product specs and critiques submitted by users. CNET's product ratings and Editor's Choice awards, handy tools to cut through the clutter, and buying guides that explain what to look for in a technology are particularly useful. Fun stops are "First Look from the Labs," videos in which CNET editors give a first peek at new goodies, and other videos, such as one about how phoning over the Internet works.
It's easy to get cracking. Clicking on the "music" icon, for example, whisks you to CNET's portable audio page with links to an MP3 player buying guide, music player reviews, a list of top-rated players and headphones and even CNET's music-lover's center where you can read music news, download music, learn how to convert vinyl to MP3s and shop for music players.
You can shop by brand or model number and compare your model choice, feature by feature, to similar products. Once you find what you want, you can click to compare prices at dozens of online stores through CNET Shopper.
Crutchfield Advisor is another site that can turn you into an expert, especially on audio/visual technologies, such as home theater and car audio and video. The Advisor's resources include good buying guides, glossaries, faqs, and a wide variety of informative articles which are long and detailed enough to give you a good grounding but not so techie that you'll be bored or lost. There are good explanations of such things as how plasma and LCD flat panel TVs work or how to choose speakers for a home theater. If you're game to install a flat panel TV or new car speakers, for example, you might be talked out of it by the short videos (for those with a broadband Internet connection) showing what's involved.
You can also reach Crutchfield Advisor by clicking on the many educational links on the retail site of the 30-year-old retailer Crutchfield (www.crutchfield.com), which offers a wide variety of consumer electronics products at prices that are sometimes better than other places, sometimes not, but the company offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, free tech support for the life of the product, live online chats with customer service reps until midnight, free shipping for most products on orders of $199 or more, and, amazingly, it pays for return shipping on most products.
Digital photography is going gangbusters and new cameras appear almost daily. When you're in the market, visit Digital Photography Review (www.dpreview.com), a comprehensive, easy-to-navigate Website with camera news, an excellent digital photography glossary, a huge gallery of photos to show what each camera can do, and a host of interesting forums where you can search more than five million messages for ones dealing with your topic. Comprehensive reviews of more than 130 models include close-up photos of cameras from every angle.
Two stand-out features are a powerful camera comparison shopping feature that lets you specify which among 28 criteria are most important to you, including price, and a unique camera timeline back to 1995 showing when cameras were first introduced so you can be tell whether the camera you're looking at is a new model or an older one. DP Review links to CNET Shopper for prices.
For fun and a heads-up on new products, prowl through the Web magazine Engadget, with self-described "obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics." Choose from among more than a dozen headings, including GPS, wireless, desktop and laptop computers, portable video and more.
Another place to stay atop the latest innovations is Gizmodo.com. This Web magazine dedicates itself to covering the cutting edge of consumer electronics. Comb through Gizmodo's archive of product reviews and recommendations for laptops, cell phones, PDAs, digital cameras, home entertainment and more. Or catch up on the day's tech news and the latest buzz.
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