Shopping & Technology
Matt Seinberg

When men go shopping for anything, they usually want to get in, get what we want and get out. If our wives or girlfriends are with us, wear comfortable shoes and prepare for a day of living hell. Alcohol or a gun are optional equipment that day.

One of the things that anyone hates to shop for more than anything is cars. Let's face it, car sales people have among the worst reputation of any sales job on the planet. I'm in sales for over 30 years, and I hate car shopping.

My wife and I have been talking about buying a car for almost two years. I have a friend at work Max, who has been around my company for about 18 months and heard me talk about this new car to excess. I should mention that Max was in the car business for many years before he joined my company. Right after the economic meltdown in 2008, he left the car business for good.

I mention Max because he was a great help in deciding what to look at, and find the right price. Let's face it, in everything we buy we want a good price, a good deal, and feel that we made the right decision.

One of my criteria for buying a car is the audio system. Previously, I mentioned I put a new stereo in one car, and it had HD radio. The new car does not have High Definition (HD), but includes a six-month subscription to Sirius. I'll get to hear country and smooth jazz, along with one of my old friends and DJ extraordinaire, Pat St. John.

Will I keep it after the 6 months are up? I don't know. It all depends on what the month cost is, and if they give me a good deal to stay with them. See, there is that word again, deal. I love a good deal! Will Mel Karmazin see it the same way as I do? I doubt it.

My new car has a Bose Ten-speaker Centerpoint audio system, with a built in 6 CD changer. It plays MP3 discs and includes an audio input jack. It has a Bluetooth connection for my phone. I have a low tech Motorola KRZR that has a built in mp3 player. So instead of using a memory stick as I do in my other car, I can stream the same music from my phone. How cool is that?

Back to shopping, men like to shop for certain items, such as electronics and power tools. Woman prefer to shop for clothes, am I right, as well as shoes and stuff for the house that men don't give a crap about. How many times do I hear a woman say, "I have to talk to my husband before I decide"? My answer is usually, "Go ahead. Call him now. I guarantee his answer will be something like go ahead, do what you want. I don't care."

I actually did that to someone several years ago, and her husband said exactly that! It was hilarious. She made the purchase, and her husband didn't care. All he cared about what that he didn't have to shop with her.

Let a man loose in an electronics store, such as Best Buy, and he's as a kid in a candy store. Look at all the new technology! There are too many large, lovely flat screen televisions, using LCD, LED and Plasma technology. Men look at televisions as they look at woman: happiness is the largest screen. It's much like looking at voluptuous woman, on the beach, wishing you could do more than watch.

Televisions, today, allow you to mix and match add-ons, as you wish. Add a BluRay player or HD Cable Box and plug in a memory stick for photographs or music. Some televisions connect to your wireless network, you can use special widgets for Facebook or Twitter; Yahoo weather, finance or old-fashion entertainment.

You can even play games. You can even listen to Pandora Internet radio. You can stream a high def movie through various services.

Women don't care about electronics except for how much they cost and did we get a good deal. Of course we did! We shopped around, and loved it. We took our best price to a friend at one store; he beat it and had it delivered, yesterday.

Let any man loose in Home Depot or Lowes and stand back. Even if we don't need anything, we'll walk out with something, be it a new drill or even another screwdriver. Put a woman in one of those stores, and they'll look at curtains, blinds and paint, she's bored in a moment. The downside is, if women buy any of that stuff, we have to put them up or paint the house.

Technology is a wonderful thing and it's constantly changing. Can we afford to keep up? If you just bought that 47" or 55" flat screen television, will it be obsolete, tomorrow, when 3D television is the big thing? I hope not.

I just got a new 47" television, BluRay player and stereo sound-bar, with subwoofer. I can't turn the subwoofer up too high. It makes the room vibrate. It might also wake up my daughters.

The next big thing in technology will be an Internet connection in your car, without having to use a cell connection, of any kind. There will be some sort of receiver that can pick up any open WiFi connection anywhere. Wonder what will best WiFi?

Previously, I wrote about Internet Radio Adapter (IRA). Will there be an IRA in every car soon? Will local radio once again expand past their local borders? I don't think this will happen, but maybe. The IRA is for radio geeks, as me, that want a change of pace. The average radio listener doesn't care if they can get a station from out of their area, unless their local stations are honestly boring.

Most radio listeners still include their own mix CDs, satellite and HD radio iPods or any other music player that can connect to their audio system. It's all about choice and broadcasters must embrace new technology before it leaves them behind and no one is listening to them anymore.

If a radio is on and no one is listening, is it really on?