Latest on twitter:
variable track pricing
So I see that variable track pricing has made its way to Amazon mp3s too. Variable track pricing is a mandate being pushed by record labels to price new mainstream tracks at $1.29, normal tracks at 99c, and older, niche stuff at 79c. I find this pricing scheme as intuitive as it is wrong.
Ha, yes, pricing by demand is intuitive indeed, but one prices on elasticity, not demand. New music is more price elastic because there are more alternative channels for which consumers to acquire it, namely piracy. Niche stuff on the other hand, while appealing to fewer people each, are often must-haves to whomever would be interested in buying it in the first place. It’s not intuitive, but lower sales doesn’t always mean that something is undesirable or low quality; in fact with music, it often means there are fewer people who want it more badly.
The 3-month auto-renew trick: Just long enough to justify a volume discount, and just long enough for people to forget they have a recurring subscription. What a great way to scam people into paying twice for your single-use product!
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“Primitive typewriters were unreliable mechanical devices, David wrote. So the QWERTY keyboard was deliberatelyd esigned for dysfunction — to slow typist down and keep them from striking the keys so rapidly that the device would jam…”
“David’s QWERTY example implied that the free market does not invariably favor efficiency. Network effects reinforce whatever alternative gets a lead, driving that alternative, even if less efficient, to market domination. Market forces, Davi wrote of QWERTY, ‘drove the industry prematurely into standardization on the wrong system.’”
"Different take on Makers vs Manager's Schedule
A different take on this post by Paul Graham.
I think Pauls observations reflects the fact that decision making vs creative tasks have opposite relationships between contiguous-time-on-task and productivity.
Decision making seems to have an inverse relationship between contiguous-time-on-task and output, that is: the first hour spent on a decision making problem is more productive than the next. Starting with the rough facts and big-picture understanding can give me most of the answer, with further time spent on a particular decision being either only marginally helpful, or even down right paralyzing (analysis-paralysis).
When it comes to writing code or making designs, the reverse is true: I often spend the first hour producing failed iterations, while successive hours grow more fruitful than the previous (until some reasonable point of exhaustion of course). Think this has to do with the creative process requiring a lot more “content in memory” — recently formed memories rapidly accessible in random sequence. Content in memory takes hours to build, and is then quickly lost at the first sign of distraction.
Switching to tumblr.
I used to believe in installing my own server-side software (Wordpress), but no more. Now I simply dislike software. This is easier, this is faster. The only question on the itching question now is: would this be even easier on Facebook?
