You're viewing an article in iPO's historic archive vault. Here, we've preserved the comments and how the site looked along with the article. Use this link to view the article on our current site: iPods Make it to Vending Machines

News

iPods Make it to Vending Machines

Monday, October 24th, 2005 at 10:45 AM - by Staff

iPods seem to sell well from vending machines, according to an ITworld story. Zoom Systems is selling iPods through Zoom Shop vending machines, or "robotic product delivery systems," as they prefer, across the United States.

The program started at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, and has spread to malls, hotels and grocery stores. The Zoom Shop vending machines sell other products as well, like digital cameras, headphones, and snacks, but the iPod is the company's top seller.

The iPod shuffle and nano are currently available in the vending machines, and video capable iPods should be available in November.

6 comments from the community.

You can post your own below.

+ show options

Your current settings, click to change: Sort Oldest First, Show Guest Posts, Hide Community Stats

algr said:

member since 07 Aug 2003 with 296 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Oct 24, 2005 12:40 pm

I'm out of quarters.

Quote this post ↓

fartheststar said:

member since 04 Jan 2004 with 222 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Oct 24, 2005 12:45 pm

Just a thought - if you buy it at the airport, how can you load it with songs prior to your trip?

I would prefer to buy one in a store - I've got to take it home anyway to get some tunes on it.

Now.... if they had a way to load up songs on the vending machine (through the iTMS) that would be something else! So new vending machine (and previously bought iPods) could have new songs added prior to your long trip. That would be cool. When you get home, the "vending tunes" could be sync'd to your computer.

Quote this post ↓

MOSiX Man said:

member since 20 Jun 2001 with 558 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Oct 24, 2005 1:52 pm

fartheststar wrote:
Just a thought - if you buy it at the airport, how can you load it with songs prior to your trip?

Easy! You hook it up to the iBook or Powerbook which you have connected through a Wi-Fi hotspot, browsing the iTunes music store.

Quote this post ↓

vasic said:

member since 09 Aug 2005 with 279 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Mon Oct 24, 2005 2:18 pm

Pre-loading songs - waaaaay to complicated for everyone. First, how would you do it without breaking open the original packaging? Apple would have to design, manufacture and package a special box that could somehow be opened, iPod charged and loaded, then disconnected, closed and sealed before sale. Second, due to the DMCA, it is impossible to download (legally) tunes from iPod back to a computer, so that's out of the question as well.

This is clearly a gift item - pretty much what most people shop for at the airports anyway (duty free, last minute decisions, etc).

As long as it sells, it's fine...

Quote this post ↓

A guest said: (hide)

Tue Oct 25, 2005 4:00 am

vasic wrote:
Second, due to the DMCA, it is impossible to download (legally) tunes from iPod back to a computer, so that's out of the question as well.

Is this illegal? I know Apple doesn't provide an easy way to do this, but is it against the law? I've read articles on programs that do this, but haven't heard that it was illegal.

Quote this post ↓

A guest said: (hide)

Wed Oct 26, 2005 1:33 am

This is not news! The iPod has been available at San Fransisco Interntional Airport atleast since last June. I saw them, and took a picture of it, on the way through to Apple World Wide Developer Conference.

Quote this post ↓

Post Your Comments

  Remember Me

Not a member? Register now. You can post comments without logging in, but they'll show up as a "guest" post.


Please enter the word exactly as you see it in the image above. Registered users aren't prompted for this. Having trouble reading the image get a new one.