Adam Kazwell is...somewhat concerned

More ebb, less flow People

More ebb, less flow

People who update their sites less frequently than I do:

Wordparts
Kottke
Flooz

Really, it's all Kottke's fault - that bastard hasn't posted any new links since the day after the east coast blackout - what I am suppossed to do with my time? Work?

A tolerable forwarded email You

A tolerable forwarded email

You are driving along in your car on a wild, stormy night, when you pass by a bus stop, and you see three people waiting for the bus:

1. An old lady who looks as if she is about to die.
2. An old friend who once saved your life.
3. The perfect partner you have been dreaming about.

Which one would you choose to offer a ride to, knowing that there could only be one passenger in your car?

Think before you continue reading...
This is a moral/ethical dilemma that was once actually used as part of a job application. You could pick up the old lady, because she is going to die, and thus you should save her first; Or you could take the old friend because he once saved your life, and this would be the perfect chance to pay him back. However, you may never be able to find your perfect mate
again.

The candidate who was hired (out of 200 applicants had no trouble coming u p with his answer. He simply answered: "I would give the car keys to my old friend and let him take the lady to the hospital. I would stay behind and wait for the bus with the partner of my dreams."

Sometimes, we gain more if we are able to give up our stubborn thought limitations. Never forget to "Think Outside of the Box." However, The correct answer is to run the old lady over and put her out of her misery, have sex with the perfect partner against the
bus stop sign, then drive off with the old friend for some beers.

Just got done reading this

Just got done reading this article, which came from a comment made by a BoingBoing reader after he read this article

Here are some of my main take-aways on the future of pricing:
• No such thing as a set price - Price of a Coke could change based on the temperature.
• Total Price Awareness - every competitor (and customer) knows the price of every product that every other competitor offers and knows instantly of any changes. (airlines are already there, but what happens when it's true for everyone)
• Would anything ever go on sale - Overall list prices might become lower as companies can more effectively set the right price.

Some comments on the above bullet points:
1. I think that the first thing that needs to happen in order to eliminate set prices is to eliminate cash. Everything is paid for electronically, and any device you have can receive and pay for products/services (Ex – cell phone can buy a Coke, iPod can buy a song, etc). Also, with electronic currency you could be paid on the fly for doing something – taking a survey, recommending a friend, etc.
2. In order for total price awareness to affect consumers, we have to have devices that can do a better job of shopping for the lowest price. Instead of only going to Amazon, I’d like a book agent that would automatically find the lowest price available from a number of reputable sources.
3. With the elimination of fixed prices, there’d really be no thing as a sale anyway.

What I’m interested in is how to price music. How can the music industry get more people to listen to more music from more artists while also having the artists take in a higher percentage from their product? With the increasing amount of storage space available, people should be able to expand their musical tastes without increasing the amount of money they spend on music (question – how much does the average consumer spend on music per year – both pre and post Napster). Record labels need to redefine what services they can provide (unique targeted marketing, street teams, etc) besides creating another pop tart or boy band.

Pricing Options:
• Per song pricing
• Price starts cheap then increases as album sales increase
• Price based on how many times you listen to a song
• Subscription based pricing – all you can listen to for a month
• Get discounts on music if you buy concert tix or other band merchandise at the same time
• Price discounts if you recommend the stuff to your friends
• Price based on location – discounts on local music (or would it be more expensive because that’s were the established audience is?)

Comments
1. Fuck that, per song is to small of a unit, I don’t want to buy singles ever! Give me the whole album, or even better the artists whole catalog – storage is getting bigger, we need more content not less. But as for the theory behind per song pricing, it could be applied to larger quantities. So if per song pricing says that the best selling single on an album is the most expensive song, then just apply that to the best selling album, most popular artist, etc. With best selling artists, they would make more money per sale as their popularity increased.

Make the “People who liked this also like this” feature more human, give a price discount if people personally recommend two or three other things they thought were similar (and that they liked) to the product they just purchased.

2. I figure this kind of pricing scheme would give new artists a chance to expand their audiences because people would be more willing to take a chance on new or unknown music if it was cheaper. Then, as the audience expands you can increase to a regular price (I think this strategy was used when Norah Jones was first coming out, her CD started at only $7.99)

3. Not necessarily the biggest fan of this kind of pricing, although it might lead to cheaper prices. I think the trend overall is for people to listen to a particular CD less, mostly due to an increased number of other media. This would also be good for trying out new music because you wouldn’t get penalized too much if you bought something you didn’t like.

4. Subscription based pricing – all you can listen to for a month
5. Get discounts on music if you buy concert tix or other band merchandise at the same time
6. Price discounts if you recommend the stuff to your friends
7. Price based on location – discounts on local music (or would it be more expensive because that’s were the established audience is?)