Selfridges $150 iPod Lessons a Smart Move
Stores charging for iPod lessons may seem pretty far out to some techies and gadget users who are familiar with ripping CD’s, iTunes, mp3, and music downloads. But for a good amount of the world who received iPods for Christmas and or have stopped in the Apple Store in the local mall while their wives/girlfriends are sifting through the clearance panties at Victoria’s Secret; actually using that iPod to its core competency is still a mystery.
What better way to admit that your iPod clueless than joining a group of other iPod owners who are afraid to ask their grandkids and nephews what they should do with these little white things. Heck, it’s better than having them sit in the dresser drawer for the next 4 years.
Selfridges, a pricey London department store is doing just that. For £65 ($150) they will be offering 40-minute one-on-one iPod lessons. “iPod Survival†sessions, which are to be launched this month, are a result of the bafflement of customers who have already purchased, received, or are debating on puchasing the iPod devices.
Lessons include sessions on using iTunes, installing and deleting videos, creating playlists & downloading Podcasts and can be taken in the store or in one’s home. Showing their pod marketing savvy, Selfridges also offers a SpeedPod service which loads CDs into iPods for a fee.
The Apple Store offers iPod lessons for free but this whole SpeedPod and iPod lessons for a fee sounds like a new market which can be tapped nationally by stores like Tower or locally by high school kids looking for some extra cash. It would even be a useful workshop to offer at local libraries and benefit the library by generating memberships of those who are looking to rent CD’s, then transfer them to their iPods.
