It's Not Too Late to Shop Online
Downloadable gifts and gift certificates offer many last-minute options.Lincoln Spector, special to PC World
Online holiday shopping, one would think, is for the early birds. If you want something under the tree by Christmas morning (or in front of the menorah before the eight days are up), now isn't the time to have it shipped by parcel post.
It's much safer, with the holidays upon us, to do your last-minute shopping at a brick-and-mortar store. But perhaps you're not in the mood to drive around searching for parking, walk six blocks to the store, and work your way through aisles crowded with hysterical procrastinators, only to discover that the item you wanted is out of stock--and then settle for something less desirable but more expensive, wait 40 minutes in the checkout line, and walk six blocks back to your car to find a parking ticket.
On second thought, buying online doesn't seem so bad--even on December 24.
For the ultimate last-minute gift, buy something that doesn't have a physical form. There are plenty of useful and fun products you can download as soon as you type in your credit card number.
Let the Music Play
Take online music, for example. Formerly a semi-underground practice, the online music market is now a thriving business, with Web sites sprouting up where you can legally buy songs for about $1 each. Why not give your loved one the chance to download some tunes?
Unfortunately, neither MusicMatch nor the new Napster offer online gift certificates. But their main competitor, ITunes, does. Go to the ITunes site and click the Gift Certificate illustration. You can have it delivered by e-mail.
BuyMusic.com isn't as well known as the other three music services, but it does offers gift certificates that can be delivered by e-mail.
Playing Games
What if music isn't the answer for someone on your list? More software is available online these days. Buying someone a backup or an antivirus program is the digital equivalent of giving them socks, but a computer game awards you definite cool status.
Check out GameAlbum.com for a large selection of game demos. Pick one, try it out, then buy it (through the actual vendor; GameAlbum isn't involved with the transaction) for your sporting loved one.
Electronic books aren't the same as the real thing, but they are downloadable--and cheaper. There are plenty of them available these days, in the Palm, Microsoft, and Adobe formats.
You can buy them at Amazon.com and other online bookstores. Some sites, such as the aptly named eBooks.com, specialize in just these products.
If you're not sure what type of e-book your loved one can read, go with Adobe Acrobat: The Adobe Reader software is free, widely available, and works on every PC.
Get Certified
When all else fails, you can always turn to gift certificates. They're the perfect answer when you just don't know what someone wants, and many stores will e-mail them to you or the recipient.
GiftCertificates.com offers online gift certificates for more than 40 stores, including Discovery Channel, L.L. Bean, Netflix, Reebok, and Sharper Image. You can e-mail these gift certificates directly to the recipient.
If you don't know where your loved ones shop, GiftCertificates.com also sells its own SuperCertificates, which are redeemable for other gift certificates.
Another option is GiveAnything.com. The site offers one certificate that's good at any one of the over 500 affiliated retail sites. GiveAnything.com is a good choice if you want to support small businesses. Although they have a few well-known names on their list (such as Sharper Image and Sony), many are little-known specialty stores like LPNow and Hedgehog Books.
By the time you're buying a gift certificate good at 500 different stores, you have to wonder: Why not just give cash? It's good at all stores. But, keep in mind, your gift certificate won't get absorbed into the household budget and be used to buy something boring--like groceries or even next year's holiday gift for you.