• slacker.com - listen to music for free

The Wall Street Journal has done a research project on prescription drugs, showing the disparity in the industry. The price difference – even between generics – is huge. The last survey found Costco Wholesale to be the cheapest. This time, it was Sam’s Club with Costco coming in No. 2. For example, Zocor is $90 at Walgreens, $80 at CVS, $12 at Costco and $6 at Sam’s Club. The generic of Zoloft was $74 at Walgreens, $70 at CVS, $6 at Costco at and Sam’s Club it was $5. So what’s happening? Instead of pricing generics up from the wholesale cost, places like Walgreen’s and CVS discount from the cost of brand name drugs. So, a generic may cost them $3 at wholesale, but they charge $70 or $80 because it’s still less than a brand name. That’s why CVS and Walgreens push generic drugs so hard. They make a ton on generics because they mark them up so much. So, it’s clear that filling your prescriptions at Costco and Sam’s Club is the way to go. If you’re worried about being a member, don’t worry. In many states, you don’t need a membership to get prescriptions from those warehouse clubs.

Have you heard of easycruise.com? Clark is a big proponent of traveling by sea – instead of air – when getting around Europe. The company charges ultra cheap fares on very basic cruises. For example, a week on a cruise around the Greek islands is $200 on easycruise.com. Think about how much it would cost to stay in a hotel for a week in Europe. But this is your accommodation and your transportation. When you think about travel in Europe, keep easycruise in the back of your mind.

Clark had to replace two car batteries recently and it made him start to wonder if something was wrong with the battery industry. It turns out that it’s not the battery at all, according to the Dow Jones news wires. It’s the driver’s fault for plugging all kinds of devices into the car’s charger plugs. Clark bought a device called an “inverter,” which plugs into his cigarette lighter. It cost him $12 and allows him to plug just about any kind of gizmo into it. But it has ended up costing him much more than $12, now that two of his batteries have died. Portable GPS units are the main culprits, according to the report. And there are soon to be millions more of the devices on the market. That’s because GPS units will probably be $100 or less by Thanksgiving time. So, try to use chargers in your home if possible.

Have you heard of “slacker.com?” It’s a listener-supported Web site that allows users to listen to music for free. All that is required is listening to ads. So basically, you find your favorite artists and make your own “radio station.” Right now, you can listen to your “station” on your computer. But Slacker claims it will soon be offering the ability to listen on an mp3 player. We’ll let you know.