Usher Blogs

I Like DRM

I like DRM

 

I do. As a concept, it works. Given the problems I’ve had with iPods (including the one I smashed – on purpose in anger) and iTunes, you might think I hate DRM. I don’t. 

 

I hate hardware. It breaks, gets lost, is stolen, or becomes obsolete. Sure I like shiny new hardware, but that’s not the point. 

 

DRM obsoletes the worry about buying into hardware platforms that suck while making it easier for all of us to buy new hardware (we don’t have to worry about losing our existing investments in software and content). DRM is a mechanism for individually licensing the limited, hardware-independent, private, non-commercial rights to media content. DRM means that your digital rights can live in the cloud, and the content can live anywhere…on the memory-rich devices you regularly access and as identity-specific IP media streams network accessible when you’re away from your primary hardware.

 

Copyright owners of course make a lot of money by reselling the catalog again and again. Fine, but I’d be willing to pay more upfront for a DRM schema that treats me as a customer, not a potential criminal. 

 

DRM also opens up opportunities for things like an aftermarket for private, non-commercial rights. If I purchased some music and don’t want it any more, I should be able to resell my rights, perhaps auction style. I’d gladly pay an automatically withdrawn royalty from the transaction to the copyright owner, and all of my digital copies of the music would be disabled and/or deleted. Well, maybe major record labels would never go for it, but artists that rely on word-of-mouth marketing might find it an attractive model. 

On Conversations and Molotov Cocktails

I had an interesting exchange - via email - with the nom de plume of Amanda Chapel.  Amanda suggested that my comments on Aedhmar Hynes' blog were to quote Amanda: "a rare synthesis of the current swirl of inane blog blather.  It demonstrates definitively a lack of business and communications sense.  If I were a CEO, and knew you were on the property, I’d call security."

Well, not everyone digs what I have to say.  At any rate, my point - which I sent in a subsequent email was this:

"Blogging, participatory media, whatever you want to call it is another tool for listening.  You may disagree, but I think it is a very powerful and managed correctly, very valuable tool, but it is obviously not the only one.  Any company that listens only to the bloggers does so at their peril.  Still, it holds great potential to do well for companies – when managed appropriately…anarchy is unacceptable, totally agree.  But any company that isn’t listening *at least* for damage control purposes – is being foolish. 

People are talking anyway and whether it is through blogs or something else, once what they say starts moving it can travel really fast.  This means that the bully pulpits of Jarvis (and yes Strumpette) can wreak temporary havoc on your reputation and the case of a stolen phone can capture national attention.  It is also means that you can absorb more rapidly what good customers are saying and convert them into even better ones. 

For example: It is pretty well a given that enterprise software (significant installations that run north of seven figures) will have kinks.  The people buying it don’t necessarily begrudge the vendor that kinks exist they just want to get them worked out quickly.  Collecting and disseminating knowledge related to how and where to apply the iron is of high value to vendors and their customers.  Blogs are a significant tool in this respect.  Some of this customer and vendor knowledge is created and/or resides in the public domain through blogs and elsewhere, some doesn’t.  The point is to collect everything, identify patterns and unique issues, and address both appropriately.  Does this mean a blog post or comments on someone else’s blog?  Maybe, every situation is unique. The point is that how information is disseminated, who gets to consume it, and what it says and to whom still requires a skilled human filter, a role in which good PR people are today adding value. 

We all have our own opinions about who those people are and are not."   

I bring this conversation to light only after reading Jonathan Schwartz' June 2 entry "Sunlight is the Best Informant".  Amanda told me to
"Mark my words, there’s going to be a backlash to all this and the “revolutionaries” will have indelible marks on their heads." 

Jonathan has been CEO for slightly more than 60 days, we've yet to see just what mark his legacy leaves on Sun.  The point in all of this is not that blogs are a holy grail that must be adopted by every company, or that we should head blindly down a path towards "mob rule" as Amanda says.  Rather it is that in the right industries, for the right companies, openness is something customers appreciate and will reward.  Personally, I believe Sun is going to learn an awful lot about their customers and how to build and design better products for them in faster cycles which will return significant shareholder value.

Buyer's Remorse

I bought a new HP printer today for my home.  (side note, I also bought a $30 DVD player because every DVD player I've owned has broken, so if its disposable it may as well be cheap too.)

Anyway, I know that HP (and every other printer company) is going to rob me on the ink, I am okay with that (to a point.)  I also expected to have to supply my own printer cable, which I have, but was happy to note that this printer only does USB.

What pissed me off though was to open the box and find that they don't include the USB cable...are you serious?!?!?!  why the hell not?  It doesn't say this clearly and I've never bought another USB device that didn't include the damned cable. I figured it was fair to assume it would include it. That is plain old ridiculous.  I suppose they're trying to protect those old printer cable margins, but that's not sustainable with abundant and cheap USB cables lying about (I had an extra one luckily). 

So instead of being very pleased with the rest of the package I am writing this rant.  Instead of trying to rip me off on the cable HP, just throw it in the box, raise the retail price a couple of bucks, but don't stick me with a nasty surprise when I get home!

Such Arrogance!

Themediaslut points to reason N to the nth power why I hate Apple. Actually, THIS STORY - which you need to check out and watch the video just validates what I've known for a long time - APPLE IS ARROGANT to the point of alienating customers. 

Are you kidding me, how do you screw this one up?  A little girl tosses a softball, a letter as part of a homework assignment, addressed to Steve Jobs on how to improve the iPod.  You've got a probable customer for life who loves her iPod and makes suggestions on how to improve it and she gets back a letter from the office of Apple's General Counsel that the company doesn't accept unsolicited ideas.  Quite.

Well, they should be listening but the fact is that they're clearly too smart to take someone else's suggestions.

Of course, any company that "gets it" - as we hear so often - listens to customer feedback.  Takes the dings along with the praise and figures out how to make customers feel involved in product development, and highlights the successes, including the mitigation of bad customer experiences. 

Again, if I were Sony and I were trying to knock Apple off the throne it used to hold (I had a Walkman way back when) I would open up my product development to customers, and I would implicitly solicit iPod customers to give us your feedback so we can design the iPod killer. 

I'm blown away.  Even if this letter wasn't from a 9 year old - and was say from me - the point is to thank someone for the unsolicited advice and let them know it is certainly something they will consider.  You don't tell a customer to get stuffed when they're offering ideas.

Where's the News?

According to The New York Times and its reporter Michael Barbaro:

   

"What is different about Wal-Mart's approach to blogging is that         rather than promoting a product — something it does quite well, given     its $300 billion in annual sales — it is trying to improve its             battered image."

I am not sure how this makes Wal-Mart unique.  Earlier in the story there is a reference to GE meeting with environmental bloggers before investing in green technology "to build support."  Is that promoting a product other than the GE brand?  Is that wrong? 

Having a strong brand helps promote and sell product.  Selling is not necessarily evil, even when it is done in obscene quantities.  Both companies are engaged in grassroots PR and they're not alone and that is a good thing.  Wal-Mart's brand is under attack and they have every right to defend themselves.  Wal-Mart probably does a lot of good, but with a footprint of their size they are bound to trample at least as much. 

The real question (which the Times didn't ask) and its answer are what is actually newsworthy...will Wal-Mart take advantage of the blogosphere as a two way dialogue?  Rather than working only with their friends, will they engage their critics in the blogosphere, open a dialogue, and use blogs as a platform for addressing their concerns.  Wal-Mart is too big and too polarizing today to win over everyone, but by listening to all of their constituents and working on reasonable criticisms, my guess is that they will win more hearts and minds than they lose. (the low prices help too).

Keyword searching is not currently supported...

The Wayback Machine is kind of like a video tape of the vast majority of the Internet's history, capturing probably too much for posterity, but such are the times we live in. 

I don't know what the copyright situation would look like, but why wouldn't Google (or someone else) offer to make it keyword accessible?  It could conceivably be sold as a service to law firms, pr firms, media, and anyone else interested in paying for that kind of capability, or have ads attached to search results or both.  Though being a non-profit Wayback might frown on such behavior, and I imagine that's why it hasn't yet happened.

If that's the case, Google should just donate the capabilities and maybe even the developer resources to make it happen.  It'd be a PR win that supports their mission and adds polish to the "informal corporate motto, 'don't be evil.'"

Google

I'm Gonna Die Screams the Nanomaker

The email I got from Apple (below) on a nearly brand new iPod seems like extortion to me.  They're telling me that the thing is likely going to break and you're going to need phone support and if you don't pay us now we're going to charge you through the teeth later.

I think it is outrageous that consumer technology companies charge for phone support at all, though Apple is surely not alone here.  Phone support should be viewed instead as the data mine it is.  Use its data to improve products and marketing messages and above all make things that will actually work, not ones that will cause a menacing headache as you migrate iTunes libraries from one PC to another in order to consolidate a family of 5's 4 iPod's. 

If I were Sony or anyone else determined to break Apple's stranglehold on portable entertainment I would start advertising free phone support, not just for my own products but for Apple's as well.  Huddle the lawyers and get the disclaimers in a row and then engage each one of Apple's *somewhat* dissatisfied customers (dissatisfied by definition that they are calling in a problem with the device) and figure out what sort of product(s) would get them endure the switching costs.

Now that is (potentially expensive but effective) guerilla warfare. If they sue you, enlist the Naderites and eat them alive in the media as a company not interested in helping its customers.

ipod Apple nano walkman Sony

I'm Impressed

Before buying it, I was sure that if I ever wrote anything about the iPod Nano it would be to bitch about Apple.  Again. 

Well, I'm pleased to say that I'm not going to do that, though strictly speaking I'm not (yet) impressed with the Nano.  The Nano is a gift for my son, but that's not impressive either.  What is impressive is the supply chain I just watched from the comfort of my house.

I placed the order (after going to every retailer who might carry the device, other than the Apple Store where I won't shop on principle) on Sunday afternoon.  Why I didn't just go online escapes me, something about having a few hours to kill while another son was at a birthday party. 

But the point is that it came with free engraving and free shipping and the cost was identical online as it was in every store that might have been selling it had they had any inventory (though I doubt they would have had free engraving.)  Why they didn't have inventory I can't really say, though I have to expect that this would present a huge opportunity for competitors but alas, once you've started buying your music from Apple you are kind of stuck with their devices, DRM schema, etc.

Anyway, I got an email from Apple with a link to track the order.  It (presumably) rolled off the assembly line in Shenzen on Monday morning and was engraved.  It was transferred to UPS that day and got on a plane bound for Louisville Kentucky by Monday evening.  It was on a truck Tuesday and at my front door on Wednesday afternoon.  That is cool. 

Given what I've read, you know that UPS is doing a lot more than just the transporting, I wonder if they're doing any of the manufacturing and I wouldn't be at all surprised to hear that they're even doing the engraving.

7 Hours

I bought an iPod today as a gift.  I needed the item today, but didn’t want to dink around in the store, just pick it up on my way home and be done with it.  So, I went to BestBuy.com and ordered the gift to be picked up at the store.  

 

For anyone who’s heard me bitch about BestBuy before you are probably wondering why the hell I still shop there.  The truth is that I’ve had nightmarish service, but I’ve also had some real help.  Another time perhaps I'll recount all the best and worst stories.

 

From my vantage point, BestBuy has mostly excellent young people on the front lines who are working with complete incompetents in the corporate back office. Case in point today: So I ordered the iPod, which the Web site told me the store had in stock, at around 2PM.  This is pretty good software integration, I as a consumer know which stores have the item I want in stock.  After purchasing (and probably before, I think they disclosed everything well) I got a message with pick-up instructions.  Basically, wait till we send you an email that the item is ready, usually about an hour, sometimes longer for a credit card that hasn’t been used on BestBuy.com before.   Not really a real-time enterprise, but no problem I figure, I’ll leave the office around 5:30 anyway and pick it up at 6, should be plenty of time.

 

I used my BestBuy credit card (hell the money’s free for 6 months…very expensive after that though) which hadn’t been used on the site before but still I figured should help speed the process.  It didn’t, and I began getting nervous around 5.  Around 5:15 I called the store which took a bit of time, but the staff worked hard to get me a resolution.  They said I can come and just buy one and then cancel the order on the second or just not pick it up, either way my card won’t be charged.  

 

Anyway, I went to the store, checked with customer service to see if BestBuy.com (a.k.a. the mother ship of the supply chain one would think) had sent word that my iPod was ready.  They hadn’t, at which point I asked if there was someone they could call to speed the process, there wasn’t.  They reassured me that I wouldn’t be charged twice, just don’t pick up the second one, and buy one now.  Which I did. I logged on tonight to receive an email seven hours later that my iPod is ready.  Hmmm…

 

I’m not angry with my experience, but I really shake my head that a company of BestBuy’s scale, who is trying to attract the sophisticated customer (not necessarily me mind you), can have such a poorly integrated distribution system.  This is a software problem which I think is really inexcusable given what that brand wants to achieve and what others in similar businesses have already achieved.  The whole purpose of In Store Pickup is lightning fast convenience…hell, they should have kiosks all over the store to BestBuy.com where I could entirely bypass the check out stand.  If they can tell me ahead of time that an item's in stock, then they can make the rest of it work.  Instead they will have a new 20GB iPod sitting behind their customer service counter for the next 8 days where as inventory it will lose value but yet not be available for sale.  This is not that difficult an integration problem, and one I think BestBuy had better get on.  

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Brand Loyalty

Starbucks should offer free WiFi.  Better yet, I’d like to see them buy meetup.com and offer free WiFi to attendees of affinity group meetings and perhaps permanent free WiFi to meeting organizers.  If they were smart, they would do two things 1) seed new groups by empowering their employees to create groups based on their own interests, and 2) encourage groups to host telework days from local Starbucks, guaranteeing where each attendee gets free WiFi for the day (and perhaps a headset for their softphones.) Better yet, host text conferencing rooms too so affinity group members (especially in professionally-oriented groups) in one place can meet others somewhere else and talk shop, or some such vision of community bliss happy talk.  

 

But seriously, I think that’s a brand loyalty winner that increases same store sales…(something to consider when you’ve already papered the entire Earth with Starbucks… an inescapable fact in

Shanghai, where a cup of coffee did taste the same and *surprisingly*, cost about the same…talk about a well-integrated distribution network.)