... a large video display wall, say 20 feet wide and 10 feet tall, running apple demos and ads . . . oh, and they're all iPods. Awesome! (Oh, by the way, they're stacked 5 deep, so when someone grabs one to buy, the one behind it comes out of sleep, filling in the hole).Oh, yeah, also: Apple, please play the 1984 ad from time to time.

Why someone gave JEB a thumbs down is beyond me. I'd love to see a bank of iPods with a coordinated display. Ha ha, imagine a row of iPod nanos dripping video paint colors on to the ones below, like in the ads! Eye-catching, which is what you want for an in-store display.

Active packaging may be convenient for both user and seller to provide the most up to date product upon purchase. However, I'm thinking of the component life of the product parts including the display if it has been on 24/7. How much more could the end user get from it before it starts to dim or others start to wear down.

I think almost everyone are asking for the new stock in the back rather than the one on display.

Certainly. No one wants to buy a 'display unit', regardless of whether it still is in packaging.

And there's nothing a wall of ipods can show that a video can't, or that they already aren't showing off on the floor.

Yeah, this plan sounds like this plan will create a whole bunch of display units. If the selling price for these units isn't discounted appropriately, I can envision a whole lot of them sitting on the shelf. I certainly wouldn't buy one that been powered up continuously.

I like this idea. Lets people fiddle with them without having to wait in line at a counter. Also, having a unit on & running ~5-8 days before purchase isn't going to affect display life.

...a Beowulf cluster of active packages!

Well, the idea is bad for one whole other reason. It'll never be used.

Where, exactly, does any store (even an apple one) leave iPods out to be 'touched' or picked up? They're in locked cases for a reason - to prevent theft.