February 07, 2005
You can't persuade the public using Math
Daring Fireball is ragging on Napster-to-go. One of his main complaints is that "$15 a month is $180 per year. That’s a lot more than most people spend on music, isn’t it?" He seems to think that "doing the math" (as Napster's new slogan goes) will make people realize that it is a lot cheaper to not use Napster.
While I agree with DF on the math, I don't think that that will make any difference in the public's reaction. As Joel points out: "[Y]ou finally get the focus group to agree that your software is worth $25 a month, and then you ask them how much they would pay for a permanent license and the same people just won't go a penny over $100."
People just don't think sensibly when dealing with monthly costs. I think that Napster-to-go will fail, but not becuase of how expensive it is. I think it will fail because people like to "own" their music. People want to know that once they've paid for it, their music is theirs forever (or for as long as they can find a player that can play it). The idea that your music becomes inaccessible when you stop paying the subscription fee just kind of freaks people out. The music files are there...why can't they be listened to? DivX (the rental service, not the codex) failed for this reason, and Napster-to-go will fail too if they pursue this marketing strategy.
- wink [February 7, 2005 11:09 PM]syndromes says:
Yah, I just have no desire to rent my music, as you said.
Maybe at some point down the line when $15/month will get me access to EVERY SINGLE piece of media ever in existence i'll pony up the cash, but for now, I like knowing that I can do what I want with the music and that it'll always be there.