First On The Block

First on the block to buy the latest technology? That might sound great but on the bigger picture, you're not only spending more money on your item, your purchase will be outdated by the time you get it set up and completely figured out.

When I was a kid, the battle between Beta and VHS was won by the larger but slightly inferior VHS format. Many Betamax machine owners found their format no longer available. The same thing happened but to a lessor extent with the short lived LaserDisc format. Several years after DVD's had hit the market and replaced VHS, the battle of High Definition Players began. HD DVD or Blu-Ray...Who would win? Depending on the retailer, you got answers from both sides and eventually Blu-Ray took the lead and HD DVD was phased out shortly after it's creation.

It seems electronic technology is consistently changing. Keeping up with the Jones', as fun and awesome as it sounds can leave you paying higher prices for format that may be quickly outdated. Betamax, LaserDisc and HD DVD player owners can attest to this. I still own my very first DVD player, which cost me $300. Though it is still an amazing DVD player and plays discs with no issues, it's limitations can be seen on a large HD television as well as it will NOT play DVD-Rs which many of today's $30 DVD players can do.

So today's lesson is to hold off on your trendy purchase until you know it's a solid purchase. Adopting new technology can not only cost you with an outmoded format, costs will also lower when manufacturing companies begin to compete with each other.