Some ideas I’ve had recently

by Nic Haralambous on 11/04/2008

Here’s just a short list of some things I’ve been thinking of lately:

The music industry needs to get its head on straight.

What needs to happen is that CDs need to go bye bye. Ok that was harsh. They don’t need to go anywhere but there needs to be an effective solution to purchasing digital music in stores.

Here’s my suggestion:

Stores like Musica and CD Warehouse need to offer customers the option to purchase a removable disk (flashtick) that they can use as a “CD”. Instead of going in to a store to buy a CD you can use the flashstick to plug in to a computer, pick music song by song, album by album, genre by genre or any other which way that they like, save the music, pay per song, check out, swipe credit card and legally have purchased digital music.

I love shopping for music, not online all the time and this provides me with a perfect and effective solution.

Then taking this a step further, I think that the flashsticks need to be identifiable as a specific customers flashstick. Why? So that you can go home, plug in the flashstick and connect to the store online. Then pick your music again, enter your credit card details and bam, you have music on your flashstick.

Obviously there are issues that need to be worked out, but I’m not that guy. I am an ideas man, let someone else make it happen!

The next idea has to do with PVR.

This is what PVR is:

The PVR will revolutionise the television experience and the way you watch television.

The DStv PVR Decoder is a Personal Video Recorder and decoder in one. With your DStv PVR decoder you will be able to take control of your television.

Some of the exciting features of the DStv PVR decoder that you can look forward to include:

* Record 80 hours of TV Programming
* Pause live TV
* Watch two channels and record a third channel at the same time
* Rewind programming
* Fast forward and slo-mo programming you have recorded

So the idea stems from a night at the pub. Someone I was drinking with was missing a programme, so he tried to call home to get someone to record it. Nothing. Another person at the table was however, recording the self-same programme.

Here’s the kicker. In the era of Internet and gaming platforms that are able to hook up to wireless and networked internet connection, why can’t I send a recorded programme from one user of PVR to another? This should definitely be a function. P2P2P sharing (programme to person to programme).

On top of that, if we have Internet capabilities then we should be able to set the PVR to record a programme from a mobile website that is linked to our account via the TV guide. I visit the mobile site, login with my PVR number or code, pick a timeslot, programme and option and BAM you are recording. Too easy.

What do you think? Am I losing my mind?

nharalambous@gmail.com

There are 6 comments in this article:

  1. 11/04/2008Marcel says:

    Hi Nic,

    Why not have a ‘jukebox’-type “music vending machine”? Select your albums, swipe card or enter a voucher number, & download straight to flash disk, iPod, mobile device, etc.

    Possibly then send a link to your email address so that you can download another copy to your pc as backup.

    No materials, dramatic drop in costs. Vendor can sell ANY music, it would probably cache thousands of albums.

    You could put them anywhere: airports, Cape Town Traffic Department, petrol stations on the N1 North-bound…

    PVR that is P2P2P: sounds like a Slingbox to me. I don’t know whether this works in South Africa, but I did see them on sale at Heathrow Terminal 3 Duty-Free last year. The Slingbox ’slings’ your PVR programming to your mobile device or PC. Actually, check out http://www.slingmedia.com/ for explanation video. I think you’ll find it’s what you had in mind. Would you let us know through nudjit if it works in SA with Dstv PVR?

  2. 11/04/2008Nic says:

    Marcel,

    Some great ideas! And thanks for the slingbox link, had no clue about the system!

    I’ll chat to the nudjiters and see what we can come up with!

  3. 11/04/2008SaulK says:

    I actually had that Music idea about 2 years ago and I still think having computers with a credit/debit card machine linked to it with all the music in the store would be a great idea.

    Great minds think alike!

  4. 16/04/20086000 says:

    Or:

    http://www.selectdigital.co.uk/sky/sky-plus/

    “One of the really great features with Sky Plus and Sky HD is that you don’t even have to be home to record a show. If you are on the go, just use your mobile phone and use either mobile internet or send an sms to your Sky box. If you’re stuck at the office, you can schedule your recording online using the very easy to use 7 day programme guide. Sky is the first TV provider in the world with these three great ways of remote recording.”

    We miss so much by being in SA. But then we gain so much too.

  5. 16/04/2008Nic says:

    6000 – Thanks for the link!! I’ll give it a look. I know technologically we take a huge knock being on the tip of Africa! But I am confident that is fast changing!

  6. 21/04/2008Jade says:

    Hey Nic

    True what you say, and yes music retailers business model does need to change – But the fact is, SA is not ready for it just yet. We strangely compared to the rest of the 1st world, have a growing CD sales figure. Not by much, but thats the research I’ve found. Partly because of our emerged black middle class, however it is not sustainable. We are going to have to follow HMV’s way forward by offering Ipod and other external music player downloads, even pay per song burnt cd’s (we are still in Africa, nit everyone has in Ipod). Going instore for music is going to have to become more experiential and offer something piracy cant . . .

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