I'm pretty sure they have a 30-day "risk-free" trial where you can return them... that would eliminate anyone trying them...or atleast anyone smart enough to know that. And like someone else said, those who would be willing to pay $50 per week to rent headphones wouldn't have an issue with spending $300 on a set they really liked, to own.
I, myself, use a set of ER IEM's that are cheaper and I personally think are superior to the bose headphones, so I would never rent a pair either way.
I don't think Europe would really work unless you had a place to send them in and out of over there - too expensive for fast shipping back and forth, and cheap shipping is too slow.
I, myself, use a set of ER IEM's that are cheaper and I personally think are superior to the bose headphones, so I would never rent a pair either way.
I don't think Europe would really work unless you had a place to send them in and out of over there - too expensive for fast shipping back and forth, and cheap shipping is too slow.
Quote:
Bose - Better Sound Through Marketing...
Same here.Originally Posted by bdjohns1
since I've got in-ear phones which are at least twice as effective at reducing noise as the Bose sets, I'm not your target buyer.Bose - Better Sound Through Marketing...
I dunno, I might try them as an impulse purchase if they were in the airport and I could just drop them at the other end of my flight and pay $10-15.
I'm in the flight frequency where doing that occasionally would work out better than buying, or pretty close to it. Plus, specifically for the Bose since they are bulky, there's the whole not having to pack them and carry for the whole trip angle. That's worth something (maybe not enough, but something) even to those flying more often.
You have to remember, the really frequent flyers around here wouldn't be the target for this. They would own their NC headphones because they're on a plane so much that any kind of rental would not be cost effective. But I do think there's a possible market here to the infrequent flyer.
But to make this work I really think it has to be airport pickup/dropoff. Don't want to have to plan in advance, mail order the things and have to ship them back. Way too much hassle; I'd never even bother, and neither, I suspect, would too many other people, especially not with such a high threshhold. The airport pickup/dropoff allows for something that could be done at a low enough price point to sell rentals to infrequent flyers. There's a huge chicken and egg issue with infrastructure for this, though. Plus, there's a hurdle getting people to see what a big difference it makes. It'll need an intro price of $5 perhaps, and/or a way to test listen and simulate the noise cancelling effect.
I'm in the flight frequency where doing that occasionally would work out better than buying, or pretty close to it. Plus, specifically for the Bose since they are bulky, there's the whole not having to pack them and carry for the whole trip angle. That's worth something (maybe not enough, but something) even to those flying more often.
You have to remember, the really frequent flyers around here wouldn't be the target for this. They would own their NC headphones because they're on a plane so much that any kind of rental would not be cost effective. But I do think there's a possible market here to the infrequent flyer.
But to make this work I really think it has to be airport pickup/dropoff. Don't want to have to plan in advance, mail order the things and have to ship them back. Way too much hassle; I'd never even bother, and neither, I suspect, would too many other people, especially not with such a high threshhold. The airport pickup/dropoff allows for something that could be done at a low enough price point to sell rentals to infrequent flyers. There's a huge chicken and egg issue with infrastructure for this, though. Plus, there's a hurdle getting people to see what a big difference it makes. It'll need an intro price of $5 perhaps, and/or a way to test listen and simulate the noise cancelling effect.
Remember that most non-road warriors have probably never heard of Bose noise canceling headphones, much less know why they might need/want them on a flight. If they're going to spend money on some sort of IFE, I suspect they'll rent a DVD player and a movie at the airport for $10 - $12/day, that's your competition and your price point. I agree with the previous posters, focus on a kiosk at the airport rather than a plan-in-advance sort of thing.