6A
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19.2004
Expensive electronics worth the extra cost
BY AUSTIN CASTER
acaster@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WINTER
Like some of her fellow students with a full course-load, part-time job and busy schedule, Amy Lewis has to budget time and money.
She has little free time, but manages to schedule in her Gameboy Advance.
"I like anything Mario," Lewis, McPherson sophomore, said. "It suits my attention span."
Lewis and other college students on a budget will buy electronic equipment this holiday season.
Lawrence store employees agree that students have different tastes but popular items include digital cameras, MP3 players and DVDs.
Value does not always equal quality, however.
"A lot of students come in when they're on a budget," said Brian Adkins, department manager for Target, 3201 Iowa St. "I wouldn't spend anything less than $200 on a digital camera."
He said even though cheaper products may be enticing, brand names tend to last longer.
"If you haven't heard of the name it tends to be a little sketchy," Adkins said. "I would buv on quality."
John Kiefer attributed differences in pricing to full-service, discount. Internet and refurbished merchandise. He is president of Kief's AudioVideo Inc.. 2429 Iowa St., and Kief's Downtown Music, 823 Massachusetts St.
"Value is when you get what you pay for," Kiefer said. "Everything we sell we offer four prices."
He said the full-service price was for brand new merchandise and discount stores such as Wal-Mart and Target offered discount merchandise because it had been refurbished.
He said a consumer could not compare prices by model numbers because no matter how many times they are repaired, the model numbers would never change.
Kiefer said every discount store wrote down the full service price then put a slash through it before selling it to a customer.
Students compare prices of merchandise on the Internet but the same model number does not equal the same quality, he said.
He said discount stores were the biggest buyers of refurbished merchandise.
Other consumers looking for deals turn to the Internet for the cheapest price but the cheapest price is not the greatest value, Kiefer said.
"After we've collected the numbers we don't know what to do with them," Kiefer said.
No matter where students decided to shop, Lawrence
Popular items include X-Box and Playstation games, DVDs and MP3 players. Adkins said.
store employees said a few items were at the top of everyone's wish list.
He said Sex and the City and Friends were the most popular DVD boxed-sets among students.
College men prefer Halo 2, Grand Theft Auto and NCAA sports games, Adkins said.
The MP3 players such as iPods, iPod Minis and Sony Digital Music Players attract students' attention. iPod Minis are the cheapest of the three, currently priced $249.99 at Target.
"As far as the CD players, the technology is about the same," Adkins said.
He said the stores biggest day in sales would be the day after Thanksgiving but students usually bought larger items such as televisions and DVD players during the fall when they moved in.
Target will be open three hours longer than usual, from 6 a.m. and to 11 p.m. the day after Thanksgiving.
Best Buy employees said they couldn't comment for the story.
Illustration by Jeremy Monken/KANSAN
Wal-Mart believes students have different tastes so the store
will prepare for the holiday season by stocking up on everything, said Karen Burk, Wal-Mart spokeswoman.
"We think MP3 players are really popular this year as they're downloading music," Burk said.
"I think it's a very clean look as far as the picture," Burk said referring to the new screens. "A lot of college students want to have TVs in their rooms."
Burk said other popular items among students included digital cameras, DVD players, laptop computers and televisions with liquid crystal display monitors and screens.
She said she could not recommend brands.
"We offer all of the brand names and also private label brands to fill a void in pricing and value," Burk said. "They can do so at a price within their range."
Burk anticipates Shrek 2, Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban and Spider-Man 2 to be the biggest DVD sales this holiday season.
"Anytime it's a draw at the theater we anticipate that to be reflected in DVD sales," Burk said.
- Edited by Neil Mulka
STATE
Charge in Kemp case now capital murder
OLATHE — Prosecutors paved the way Thursday for a possible death penalty trial for a man accused of the poolside killing of a Kansas teenager.
A first-degree murder charge against Benjamin Appleby, 29, was upgraded to capital murder. He is accused of killing and trying to rape 19-year-old Ali Kemp of Leawood.
The new charge makes it possible for prosecutors to seek the death penalty, though Johnson County District Attorney Paul Morrison would not say what his plans were.
Prosecutors have five days from a suspect's arraignment to indicate their intent to seek the death penalty. An arraignment hearing has not been set for Appleby, who made his first appearance in court Thursday by video.
Appleby, who is being held on $1 million bond, did not enter a plea during the hearing. He does not yet have a lawyer but told the judge he was looking for a private attorney.
Kemp's father discovered his daughter strangled June 18, 2002. She was found in the pump room of the community pool where she worked, about 10 miles from here, in a suburb of spacious homes and prim lawns.
The murder was Lewood's first in years and one of only a handful in its history.
- The Associated Press
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