Wednesday, December 29, 2004
A Digital Christmas
by Tom Bozzo
My friend, noting that you can't throw a rock on the subway without hitting someone displaying the telltale white wires, actually credits the iPod for part of an increase in sales. The iPod evidently induces a strong desire in some users to maintain very large collections of current music, users of a certain age and income don't tend to use the extralegal download services, and the legal services have — as previously noted here — significant limitations for listeners with esoteric tastes (and OM does not cater specifically to mainstream listeners). This ends up as CD sales at the friendly neighborhood record shop.
Another interesting point is that since CDs have some resale value, whereas digital downloads have none (for now), the effective prices of CDs and downloaded albums are closer than sticker prices might otherwise suggest.
Also from the same article:
I'm not sure if this would work on Suzanne, but my brother's big plasma HDTV sure was cool.
In today's NYT, confirmation of something I heard earlier in the week from a friend who co-owns the Other Music record shop in NYC:
"There is iPod messaging everywhere," said Kate MacKinnon, a spokeswoman for Tweeter. "You can't escape it. Even if people don't understand what it does, they want one."
My friend, noting that you can't throw a rock on the subway without hitting someone displaying the telltale white wires, actually credits the iPod for part of an increase in sales. The iPod evidently induces a strong desire in some users to maintain very large collections of current music, users of a certain age and income don't tend to use the extralegal download services, and the legal services have — as previously noted here — significant limitations for listeners with esoteric tastes (and OM does not cater specifically to mainstream listeners). This ends up as CD sales at the friendly neighborhood record shop.
Another interesting point is that since CDs have some resale value, whereas digital downloads have none (for now), the effective prices of CDs and downloaded albums are closer than sticker prices might otherwise suggest.
Also from the same article:
Flat-panel sales have also been helped by their popularity with women, who like the less blocky shape. Tweeter's research has found that when women shop for a TV, they are twice as likely to buy a flat-panel version.
I'm not sure if this would work on Suzanne, but my brother's big plasma HDTV sure was cool.
