FARAI CHIDEYA, host:
So, Mario, let us forge ahead with another important topic, it's where can you find affordable technology like laptops and mp3 players? Listener Nana Adams wants to know. She wrote this on our blog - she says, there are many of us who would love to download your show as well as other NPR News, however, the essentials required can be costly. Wouldn't it be nice if these things were made more affordable for the working poor?
Now, that's a great question and an important one. So let's start out with the whole mp3 player thing. Because, really, when you talk about a podcast, you can listen to it on a computer but a lot of people like to take it with them. A lot of, you know, the iPods have sold like hotcakes, but they're not the only mp3 player and they may not be the cheapest. Can you give us a sense of kind of what these things cost?
MARIO ARMSTRONG: Yeah, that's a great point, yeah. The sense of what these things cost range from as low as, really, $50 to as high as, you know, $450, depending on what you're looking for. But you're absolutely right, iPods have sold over 100 million and we don't want to confuse listeners. An iPod is just one of several different types of music-playing devices where you can access audio that you download to those devices.
So if you go to any of your big-box retailer stores or online, even in the big-box retailer stores you can find - inexpensive mp3 players is what you're looking for, audio devices, so that you can download shows like this one onto it and listen to it at your leisure.
So, absolutely, it's more accessible than most people think. It's just that right now the word podcasting and things of that nature tend to make people think it's only iPods. And then when you start looking at those prices, they're above $150 in most cases. So you're absolutely right. It is more accessible though, Farai. I mean there's no reason why you cannot afford a low-cost mp3 player.
CHIDEYA: What about computers? Is there such a thing as a free lunch? Is there any way that you can get a completely free computer?
ARMSTRONG: Well, you know, a free lunch is - right, whenever you get a free lunch, it's never really the best tasting lunch. I've never really had a great tasting free lunch, or maybe I would get the bread, and the bread is great but the meat is not really that good. And what I mean by that is in the PC world you may find the same thing. If you're going for a free computer, there are places that say they do this. Most of them are shoddy places. I would not utilize some of the places where you go online. If you do a keyword search on free computers, you'll find all of the types of scams that are out there.
One of your best choices and best things you can do locally is to look at your mayor's office one. But look at places like your office of employment and development, your workforce development centers. These are places typically in inner cities especially that have connections with places that do refurbish computers. Libraries also know who in the community refurbish computers that are decent.
And so going back to that free lunch - no, you can typically get a new computer, or a refurbished computer I should say, these days for about $250 to $300.
CHIDEYA: Wow.
ARMSTRONG: The insides may not have everything that you need, Farai, and that's what I'm getting at with my sandwich. But it's good enough to get you on to the Internet and do the basic things like email and let your kids or family be able to do a health research, or education and homework, and things that you need to do on a basic level.
CHIDEYA: You mentioned the term refurbished. Explain exactly what that is and how you would go about buying things that are refurbished.
ARMSTRONG: Yeah, that's a good point, because refurbished is essentially it's being a computer that was previously made - it may be a few years old, it could be relatively new but had significant problems. So you have to know that when you're buying something refurbished, there is typically something wrong with that computer. Either it was old and outdated or there was an issue with it. There was a problem that was then fixed and then being put back out onto the market.
In some cases, what you may want to do is, you know, the big-box places, your HP, your Dell, even Apple, some of these sites they don't really advertise that they offer refurbished computers. So if you feel more comfortable going with a manufacturer name that you bought from before or that your friends have or own, you can go to those sites and look specifically - it's really hidden - for their refurbished section.
Otherwise, go to a local computer shop in your local community, because they are a little bit more open about what's in the computer. It's also easier for you to take that back to them if any problems arise from a refurbished computer.
CHIDEYA: What's often good about refurnished is that even though they have been rebuilt for some reason, they still have a warranty. So if they go really bad on you…
ARMSTRONG: True.
CHIDEYA: …you can toss them back.
(Soundbite of laughter)
ARMSTRONG: It is true.
CHIDEYA: And that's not the case, is it, when you buy, say, from, you know, an individual?
ARMSTRONG: No, and that's a good point that you bring up. Because you could easily go onto places like eBay or try to find other places online where you buy from a person. And you're right, you may lose out on that opportunity for a warranty. You really don't know what other data is also on that machine. So there could be things on there that aren't good or that maybe your kids, it's inappropriate material that could be expose to your kids. Or maybe there's just privacy information that shouldn't be revealed on there. So if you build…
CHIDEYA: Or spyware.
ARMSTRONG: Or spyware, absolutely. I mean, that's an absolute possibility, so people could actually snoop later on what you're doing on the computer. So I would check your nonprofits in the area. One place for nonprofits - if you're in a nonprofit or running on profit, you should definitely look at a Web site called techsoup.org. This is like the best Web site for all technical issues related to nonprofits, and also that being how do we disperse computers to family and individuals that need them.
CHIDEYA: Wow, that's really interesting, especially because, you know, among the African-American community there is so many church-based nonprofits that could also benefit from that kind of information.
ARMSTRONG: Absolutely.
CHIDEYA: Mario, I'm going to leave you with a request. Can you come on to the News & Views blog and blog a little bit about what we were just talking about?
ARMSTRONG: I would love to. Are you kidding? I love to read, I love to write. I'm there.
CHIDEYA: All right. Mario, a pleasure, as always.
ARMSTRONG: I look forward to it. Thanks so much, Farai.
CHIDEYA: Mario Armstrong is News & Notes tech contributor. He also covers technology for Baltimore member stations WYPR and WEAA. And I should point out that you can go again to News & Views by going to npr.org/newsandnotes. Click on News & Views. Mario joined us from the studios of the Baltimore Sun.
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