RodeWorks

I always find good stuff in the vast library of stuff from it conversations, and this talk by Jesse James Garrett is one of those:

IT Conversations: Jesse James Garrett

One of his points is an exploration of why certain technologies catch on, such as the iPod.  It wasn’t the most feature rich audio player, and it certainly wasn’t the cheapest, so why did it so widely succeed (70% penetration rate in portable audio devices) where others didn’t?

In the iPod’s case the winning strategy was iTunes.  iTunes just worked, and works very well, making the task of managing audio, and now video content very easy.  And I can see them doing it again with the new Apple TV device.  I’ve been really close to buying video content (like Battlestar Gallatica) from iTunes, and have held off because I don’t want to play it on the computer screen.  But they certainly manage to process very well.  And now with a really easy was to move it to play on my television, I could be hooked — look out Tivo!

In another smart move, they now have the Complete My album promotion.  Your most likely buyers are always your own customers, and this is a great idea — I wonder how it took them so long to think of it.  Its good for the artists, and so good for Apple.