This years Christmas list

owen

Oh, it doesn’t feel complete, but it looks good right now.
Be sure to check out Berta’s list, Abby’s list, and Pat’s list, which are all online.
Here’s the list:

Zoom 505 II Guitar Effects Pedal?

$60-$80
Sam Ash Music Store, samash.com You insert this gadget into the line between the guitar and the amp and program it to make the sound out of the guitar sound different. There are many cool effects this box produces, and it lets you change effects in a series mid-song. There is a newer model out (the Zoom 606), but I don't need all that and the 505 should be cheaper. An additional lead (the wire that hooks the guitar to the amp) would be a great supplement to this pedal. I'm not picky about color, but it should be at least 8 feet long.

Minolta SD-CF1 Compact Flash Adapter

$50-$60
Office Depot, pcconnection.com This doo-dad is a card that fits into our digital camera. It will let us use SD (Secure Digital) memory cards in the camera instead of CF (Compact Flash). The advantage to this is that our phones use SD cards, so 1) We would be able to use our phones to look at pictures we took (and email them wirelessly!) and 2) We wouldn't have to buy two different kinds of memory card.

SD/MMC memory card?

$60-$154
camera stores, Walmart, CVS, Staples An SD card or an MMC (MultiMedia Card) is the memory card that our phones use (and the Minolta SD-CF1 adapter, above). The more memory the card has, the more data/dictures/music can fit on it. Memory is measured in MB (mega-bytes, or 1 million bytes). Saying that a memory card has 64 MB of memory is like saying that a box is 5 inches square - it's just a unit that is used to measure how much stuff the card can hold. All SD/MMC are the same physical size, but hold different amounts of information. To give you an idea, our camera has 64 MB of memory now and can take about 100 pictures before the pictures must be processed. A 128 MB card (twice the memory) would allow us to take 200 pictures (twice the pictures). However, more memory equals higher price. The difference between SD and MMC is difficult to describe, but I'll give you the bottom line. SD is easier to find and more future-proof, whereas MMC is difficult to find but usually cheaper. All of the cards we have now are SD.

Gateway Wireless Connected DVD Player

$200
gateway.com I've been finding places where?I download movies and TV shows, and I have a huge photo and music collection on the computer already. What would be nice is to watch all of this stuff on the TV in the livingroom. This DVD player hooks to the TV and can play regular DVD movies, but it can also play videos/photos/music from a computer on our home network.

128 MB Portable USB Jumpdrive

$35
amazon.com, CompUSA This gadget will be great for school and work. It plugs into the computer and becomes an extra drive. I can put files on it, unplug it, and take it home. No more disks!

NeoPets Card Game

$3-$10
Wizards of the Coast, amazon.com This is a silly little card game at first glance, but it actually looks pretty advanced when played. Probably moreso than Pokemon. The art on the cards is really what I'm intersted in. Boosters are cheaper, but the rules only come in the starter pack.

Wireless Intellimouse Explorer with Tilt Wheel

$40
amazon.com, CompUSA The mouse I have is good. In fact it looks exactly like this one. But this one has a few advantages. First, it uses less battery power, so I won't have to change the batteries all the time. Second, it does not use BlueTooth, so I can unplug that boot-lengthening problematic receiver from my system. Third, this mouse has a scroll wheel that lets you scroll horizontally as well as vertically. The mouse comes in several colors, the cheapest of which is Platinum, which coincidentally matches my computer case.

XBox Pelican Eclipse Wireless RF Controller

$35
Electronics Botique, Walmart, consoleaccessories.com I have one of these already and it rocks!? But to play two-player games with Berta or Dave, a second wireless controller would be very handy. Don't let anyone tempt you with a brittle, poorly-assembled MadCatz controller!

Atari Classics 10-in-1 TV Games

Walmart, Amazon.com This joystick contains 10 classic Atari 2600 games, including one of my favorites, Yar's Revenge. I'm also anxious to play Adventure again, and slay the ducks. I mean... dragons.

List of XBox games

Toys R' US, amazon.com These games look interesting. Games that are not on this list are games that I either already have or might not enjoy. Diverge from the list at your own risk. All games on this list hover around $50 each. Also, I have been meaning to subscribe to the Official XBox Magaxine.?Each issue of the?12-month subscription comes with a demo disk with several playable demos. The idea is that if I have new games to play every month, I won't need to go out and buy XBox games all the time. And it's only $30 for the year.

Suncoast, amazon.com All of these should be $20-$25, unless noted otherwise. If given the choice between widescreen and standard, widescreen is very much preferred, please.

with title and author, all different prices.