Software Vending Machines

anubis__ writes "CNN details a sort-of software vending machine named 'SoftwareToGo' that CompUSA is testing out in their Seattle, WA, Dallas, TX, and San Francisco, CA stores. The upside to this vending machine is that your CD is burned when you request it, so the latest patches available for the software you're buying might already be included with the installation. The downside, like anything requiring some level of technical aptitude in the US, is that the machines are avoided by the masses of shoppers." This has been in the works for a year or so.

Comments

This might work out for the rare stuff

[Liselle]

...but as other people noted in the last thread, you miss out on some of the other other niceties. For one, I hate "online" manuals. You can take your PDFs and stuff 'em. I treasure my spiral-bound manual for Neverwinter Nights.

Also, about patches: this would be nice for things that need updated patches, like Windows.... except Microsoft won't sell Windows or Office at these kiosks! Erk.

Re:This might work out for the rare stuff

[willy134]

I remember when the local kinkos copy center had a shareware vending machine. For one dollar you could get a floppy disk with several shareware games on it. It was great when the local bbs didn't have the games and they kept it farely well upgraded.

Re:This might work out for the rare stuff

[Scareduck]

I work for a company whose predecessor used to have a scheme for a similar setup. Everyone was enthusiastic about it, but... nobody could ever get the big boys on board. Microsoft, in particular, said nice things... and never got back to us.

This would have been nice in 1998 or so. Now it's too late to be useful, as standalone computer stores, the principle motivation for having such stuff in the first place, are dying off. One very large national chain estimated that our system would save them 1% of gross sales annually due to minimized return costs -- no small amount.

One problem...

[hbean]

I'm a very active CD archiving person, with live music (think phish/dead/etc, its all legal, but thats really beside the point). In the long term, say 6-8 months, I find that alot of my burned disks become unreadable...which would annoy me alot more if my 400 dollar copy of windows XP pro was burned onto it. I wonder if this is addressed at all by this system, or is the buyer just screwed?

The RIAA should take note....

[JustDisGuy]

This is the technology that might replace their obsolete distribution model.

--
Ride, shoot straight & speak the truth.

Profit Opportunity for Linux

[RailGunner]

How much money do you think one of these could make if it looked like a soda machine, only the buttons said:

"Debian Linux - 6 CD's, $6.00"
"Mandrake Linux - 3 CD's, $3.00"
"Fedora Linux - 3 CD's, $3.00"
"Gentoo Linux - 1 CD, $1.00"
"Knoppix Linux - 1 CD, $1.00"
"Vector Linux - 1 CD, $1.00"
"Peanut Linux - 1 CD, $1.00"
"Microsoft Windows XP Home - 1 CD, $89" This actually might be a good way to get novices to try Linux, especially the Knoppix (or the BitDefender Knoppix based "Linux Defender", which makes an excellent recovery disk)...

Re:Basic Problems

[stratjakt]

Well, you can't burn SafeDisc or CDCOPS or whatever other cockamamie anti-copying schemes are on *every* PC game out there.

I'd pay full price for a cracked copy of the game, with the latest patches. I've had to crack tons of legitimately purchased games to get them to work properly. Or remove annoyances. ie; XIII is 4 CDs and asks you to swap them ALL the time, in between levels, sometimes a couple times at a pop.. All for no good reason, the entire game is on the HDD..

I see trialware/shareware/open source being sold for 5 bucks a cd from these machines. I just don't see it as a new way to distribute corporate goods. If I pay money I want the manual and box and everything else I got comin' to me. I suppose one could couple it with HP's publish-on-demand technology to do manuals..

Didn't really work for music...

[xTown]

...sheet music, that is. I used to work for a music store, and we had a machine for sheet music that was similar to this one. You put in your money, select your song and key, and it prints out.

I don't recall ever seeing anyone using it, which made me mad mostly because I was the one who had to unload it from the truck and it was dang heavy.

People in general are just not going to want to do anything more than push one button, maybe two. It's a lot easier to paw through the bargain bins and the store shelves.

I also just don't trust something like this. Personally, I want to take something physically from a shelf and walk it up to the counter so that I know exactly what I'm getting.

Targeting...

[lukewarmfusion]

Do you feel safe sticking $100+ into a vending machine? I mean, it's a pain enough to try and stick a single dollar bill into a Coke machine, but try sticking five or six twenties in there.

Also, these would be targeted like ATMs, but probably with less security. They'll probably sit inside the store, but without the procedural security of a cashier's drawer.

Will the product be cheaper than the boxed version? If not, why wouldn't you just buy the boxed?

Re:I don't see why...

[sTalking_Goat]

you my friend oput too much stock in the human race.

I was living in NY when they first rolled out the Metrocard vending machines. Its amazing how long it took the average person over the age of 35 or so to get a card. There were people with stacks of these cards because they couldn't figure out how to renew an old one.

Maybe in about 4 decades when the vast majority of society is technically adept, but by then they'd probably come up with something new that dumbfounds us oldtimers. As it I refuse to send or reply to cellphone text messages. I don't need another language of shortcut keys taking up valuable brain space.

The is a contradiction

[superpulpsicle]

Half the software industry is trying to make all these hi-level security iso so that CDs can't be copied.

Half the software industry is moving toward "Software-to-go" so that software can be distributed easily.

Which is it? You can't have both.

Why not music vending machines?

[Zurgutt]

I've long wondered where there are no music-vending machines like this? You have this small vending machine with touchscreen where you can select albums/songs, drop in your $5 (or less if less/cheaper music chosen) and walk away with a nice, fresh-burned cd in 3 minutes. Takes very little room, no possibility of music theft, no need for security gates.

Cost of hardware very small, built from off the shelf components, software simple, built on free opensource components. Songs would be downloaded over broadband from central location at demand, most popular titles could be cached locally. All the new music would be available on all machines instantly.

There are endless places where machines like this could be used, places where you have some time to kill anyway. Think bus and railway stations (get something new to listen on the road), supermarket queues (machine a bit away from checkout, let your cd burn while you stand in row and get fresh cd from the salesperson in end), gas stations (you get handled a wireless tablet to choose tracks by the refill guy, free cd if you buy a full tank!) etc etc. Cost of distribution virtually zero, meaning high returns for artists, very convenient to customers, they get exactly what they want where they want it.

Heck, someone offer me a contract and Ill take care of both software and hardware. Distributors, any takers? :)

One question

[Tired_Blood]

Seeing as how I've had the misfortune of buying software that didn't work (reimbursement still pending):

Who do I approach if the purchase warrants a return?

Re:Another solution in need of a problem....

[Koatdus]

Humm...

You know, I can't remember the last time I bought software, from a store or otherwise. It was probably RedHat7.3 (I was in the habit for a while of buying every second or third RedHat release just to support the company).

Between Freshmeat, FreshRPMS, and Sourceforge I have not had to pay for software for quite a while.

I wonder how much money I have saved? Hundreds? Thousands? Quite a bit I imagine. Somehow the idea of paying for software now seems kind of odd. Like, why in the world would I buy that when I can just go out on the internet and download everything I need? Heck, with Synaptic and FreshRPMS it has gotten downright brainless, just browse and click. (Kudos to the repo maintainers by the way, they are doing a great job and they are doing us a HUGE service.)

Of course I don't play many games, BZFlag and Neverball are about it for me. Have you tried Neverball yet. Great game!

I did really enjoy both Myst and Riven but I don't have a windows machine at home anymore to play them on. I might buy a Myst type game if it would run on Linux although the puzzles would have to be a little harder. I enjoy puzzles.

I never really thought about it but there has to be a sizable group out there in the same situation. How about it. Any others find that the idea of purchasing software now seems kind of strange?

Re:Good Idea but . . .

[corngrower]

Those complex soda vendimg machines are just too intimidating for me as well. I guess I just have to go to the supermarket, reach in to the cooler, grab a bottle of pepsi, and pay for it at the checkout counter.

Re:Exactly what software will be on this?

[babyrat]

Dead tree manuals are easier to read than some .pdf or README file.

I'm really sick of people saying this - I prefer PDFs or some other form of electronic docs. Don't tell me people are going to want the box and the manual - tell me SOME people are going to want the box and the manual and thus they won't purchase from this machine - it certainly won't stop me or a bunch of others from buying from such a machine (other things might, but not that)

Hands-on experience

[pat_trick]

I was in CompUSA today looking for a new LCD monitor, and noted that they had some of the SoftwareToGo machines already up and running. Walked over and gave the thing a look-see. Everything is accessed through a touch-screen interface. Browsed through some of the software titles that they offered; it made this horrid beeping noise each time you clicked on the "down scroll" button, and any time you selected an option, more beeping noises. I felt rather embarassed having the thing reward me for making choices by spitting out little ringing sounds; this will probably drive away people who want to browse software in peace. Most of the titles were budget titles, and nothing I was interested in either. All in all, I won't be using the system again anytime soon.

Re:Basic Problems

[Anonymous Coward]

>> Assuming someone doesn't patent the whole idea... :/

> You can't patent a business process.
-----

Please tell the PTO, because I certainly don't think that they should, but I understand that they are.

You can, however, patent the machine itself, in any event...

the market for this ...

[sir_cello]

is really for tunes, movies and other "entertainment content" for mobiles and pda's. the problem with downloading this type of content over the air is that (a) it's costly, (b) the transfer rates are low. the vending machines can offer high transfer rates at low immediate cost. so, for example, you can waiting at the train station and decide to purchase a 1hr documentary to watch/listen to on the trip: you download it at local bluetooth/IR/usb rate in, say, no more than 1/2 minute. it's effectively the multimedia equivalent of the railway bookshop or newsstand, and surely profitable: it won't work so well for infrastructure/productivity/etc applications, but will for audio, video, tunes, etc. sounds like a great idea.