"I don't know who is to blame for the major decline in CD sales, the RIAA's stupidly clutching to the old music business model, or the students with 3000+ stolen songs on their ipods. I admit that I have pirated music, but I just listen to SIRIUS now and don't even own an iPod."
A factor nobody mentions is that CD sales don't come out of a line item in people's mental ledger called "Music", they come out of an item called "Entertainment".
10 years ago, DVDs, online music purchases, game consoles and games, and online games weren't a significant part of that item. Now they are. The latest CD from the latest sensation isn't just competing against free or otherwise soft-copy music, it's competing against Everquest, Halo 3, Happy Feet, and the next Harry Potter book.
The pie is getting sliced into more pieces than it used to be. This means smaller pieces for the established players (like the music industry). Given the lower quality of product they've produced lately, and the negative effects of their war on their customer base, it's not surprising that their piece is shrinking faster.
"C'mon cell phone manufacturers, it's not that hard, hire some designers can actually design something that looks good and is functional - this is all that Apple does, it really is as simple as that; they've proven that people will pay extra for something that is beautiful and 'just works'"
It actually is that hard. You don't just go out and hire a designer. You need to spend time and money figuring out what people want so your brilliant designer can make something that is "beautiful and 'just works'". PHBs don't understand this, so you get something that the PHB thinks that other people think is cool. Unfortunately PHBs aren't cool, and rarely ever get it.
Slashdot Mirror
"I don't know who is to blame for the major decline in CD sales, the RIAA's stupidly clutching to the old music business model, or the students with 3000+ stolen songs on their ipods. I admit that I have pirated music, but I just listen to SIRIUS now and don't even own an iPod."
A factor nobody mentions is that CD sales don't come out of a line item in people's mental ledger called "Music", they
come out of an item called "Entertainment".
10 years ago, DVDs, online music purchases, game consoles and games, and online games weren't a significant part of that item.
Now they are. The latest CD from the latest sensation isn't just competing against free or otherwise soft-copy music, it's competing against Everquest,
Halo 3, Happy Feet, and the next Harry Potter book.
The pie is getting sliced into more pieces than it used to be. This means smaller pieces for the established players (like the music industry).
Given the lower quality of product they've produced lately, and the negative effects of their war on their customer base, it's
not surprising that their piece is shrinking faster.
"C'mon cell phone manufacturers, it's not that hard, hire some designers can actually design something that looks good and is functional - this is all that Apple does, it really is as simple as that; they've proven that people will pay extra for something that is beautiful and 'just works'"
It actually is that hard. You don't just go out and hire a designer. You need to spend time and money figuring out what people want so your brilliant designer can make something that is "beautiful and 'just works'".
PHBs don't understand this, so you get something that the PHB thinks that other people think is cool. Unfortunately PHBs aren't cool, and rarely ever get it.