I know these have been around for a while…but I have never seen one, until this week. I ended up in Las Vegas a few days ago on business, and ran into my first Sony Vending Machine in the airport. I could not resist snapping a quick picture of it. 
While music videos looped on the LCD display, a myriad Sony electronic gadgets and accessories attempt to lure you into parting with your money. Look, I’m all for not having to talk to lame, pimple-faced teenager, uninformed store salesmen that you find in most electronic stores, but this takes half the fun out of shopping, or more accurately, returning, electronics. Who are you supposed to yell at? Additionally, this was in the Las Vegas airport, inside the terminal (i.e. the business side of the ever-so-vigilant TSA). Even if you could drum up the gumption from deep inside yourself to come back and yell at the machine, you’d have to buy some sort of airplane ticket for the privilege. I suppose there’s a phone number you can call if you have problems, but that’s not face to face yelling, so it’s not the same.
On the other hand, if you’ve just paid $5.00 to United/US Air/Delta/[Insert your dysfunctional airline here] for a $0.20 replica of a pair of headphones on your flight (along with $3.00 for a water and $7.00 for some crackers and cheese), you may be inclined to buy a pair of Sony Noise Cancelling Headphones from the vending machine (which they prefer to call a robotic storefront, but let’s be real) for $200. This is worth it because you get a return of $100 over your next 20 flights by not having to buy the crappy earphones that they are selling every time, and the other $100 of value comes from not having to listen to any of the announcements from the cockpit or the flight attendants asking you if you want to buy a $3.00 water. After all, these cancel noise, and that’s what you want. Another thing…what do you think the chances are that they pre-charge the electronic devices that need batteries. How disappointing to buy your new PSP for the 3 hour plane ride but you have no juice. This just helps prove my theory above…it’s for the disembarking airline spit-outs, not those all fresh for their travel. They expect your defenses are down AFTER the flight.
So, the next time you step off that plane all hot and bothered about just getting mugged by the airline, pull out the credit card (if you have any money left), and keep your eyes out for one of these Sony vending machines, and purchase your headphones/PSP/MP3 player/etc. Trust me, you’ll feel better. Or not.