Perhaps we are making progress in improving packaging! Jackie Huba bought new headphones recently and praised the packaging. I commented there that, perhaps, marketers are starting to get the message. I got a new HP printer this week and the packaging and installation was a delight. Packaging really was the minimum to transport the device safely and securely, the security/packing tape was orange, minimal, and the instructions to remove it clear. It plugged in and just worked! Fantastic! Really! Now if I can get over my apprehension on what each sheet printed costs………
Actually, we have been on a year end business equipment spree. And in almost all cases the service, shipping logistics and products have been excellent. I’d particularly recommend B&H Photo for their outstanding service and shipping. If you are into consumer electronics, and especially photography they really are the best – and for members of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals they ship for free. I’ve also spent some time with a couple of Infrant network attached storage systems. I have had one of the older systems for about 18 months now and have loved the support forums and the automatic updates. I bought a new device the NV+ for my old company (to do auto backups for 10 people in the office) before I left. I was impressed enough with that short experience to buy one to replace my old system at my home office.
In 18 months the capacity of the disks has doubled (from 1 terabyte to 2), the product is completely redesiged to be smaller, quieter, and the price has come down a fraction. All with service and support, updates and excellent service (this device emailed me when a fan stopped working!).
You might ask why I want one at all. Well, I do lots of photography and raw pictures take up a LOT of space. But most of all, this thing sits on the network, needs no attention and because it has something called RAID 5, one disk can fail, be replaced and data remains intact. That’s the key. The fact that it streams all my CDs (stored on the device) to iTunes on Mac and PCs in the house, streams Classicfm, BBC radio etc (and all the music) to my Squeezebox are nice addons 🙂
Merry Christmas!
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