Simple, Elegant Products Part 2

Last year, I bought my first Flip Video camcorder.

It is the picture of simplicity and works great. I was reminded of just how remarkably simple it is when a friend sent me Dave Pogue's product review from the NY Times.

Pogue summarized the product perfectly, "there are no tapes or discs.. no menus, no settings, no video light, no optical view-finder, no special effects, no headphone jack, no high definition, no lens cap, no memory card."

I would add, no power supply and cable (it runs on AA batteries) and no cable to download video.

The video is stored in flash memory and downloads to a computer using a spring-loaded U.S.B. jack that swings out of the camera body like a switchblade.

There are four buttons: on/off, start/stop record, play and erase. The video and audio quality are terrific. We regularly use four of these cameras for media training without a hitch.

Pricing today is in the $150 range and this is Amazon's best selling camcorder according to Pogue, with a 13% market share. Pogue has a great, goofy video review on You Tube.

The Flip Video camcorder makes you wish a thousand other products in your life were so elegantly conceived.

Bill Lear, the father of the Learjet, summarized the philosophy of the Flip Video when he said, "Strive for simplicity. You never have to fix anything you leave out."