PC World: "Get Media Savvy"

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,118447,tk,dn112204X,00.asp' target='_blank'>http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,118447,tk,dn112204X,00.asp</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Carlos Perez knows a thing or two about high tech. The 37-year-old developer in Germantown, Maryland, purchased a Gateway ADC-320 Connected DVD player a month ago, hoping to use its wireless capability to stream video and audio from his PC to his living room. The promise was tantalizing: His PC would serve as a media database, feeding music and movies to his other home electronics. Like other so-called media adapters, the Connected DVD player hooks up to stereos and TVs using standard cables, then pulls digital media off a host PC's hard drive over a wireless network. For Perez, building a bridge between his living room electronics and a growing collection of PC-based digital media made sense."</i><br /><br />This article talks about the struggles that consumers, even techno-savvy ones, go through when it comes to getting their media from one device to another. The article is worth the read as it covers the current options on the market, including the new Microsoft Plays For Sure campaign. I spent most of last week in Redmond, learning about Microsoft's digital media products and initiatives, and they've got their act together more than any other company in this space. Not everything they're doing is perfect (and I told them so), but by and large, the platform they're building is going to make life easier for consumers.

[James Fee]

That's good to hear about Microsoft really working with PlaysForSure. Now that the software side is figured out, the hardware side needs to start getting realistic about their products. I can't even begin to figure out how Creative names their products. Consumers like short names that are easy to remember. I should be able to go into a store and say I want a 20 gig Creative player and not be offered 4-5 choices that are practically the same. (hmm, I'd better stop. I feel an off topic rant coming on.)

[Felix Torres]

I should be able to go into a store and say I want a 20 gig Creative player and not be offered 4-5 choices that are practically the same.

Or ten identical products that only differ in their fruity colors? :twisted:
I tend to think of it as fighting fire with fire...
Some would argue that product proliferation is a form of shelf-space control.

[James Fee]

Or ten identical products that only differ in their fruity colors? :twisted: Agreed, but it is much easier to choose a color than figure ot which form factor is best (well my wife did spend a month trying to figure out which iPod mini was for her :oops: )
Some would argue that product proliferation is a form of shelf-space control. :lol:

Maybe, but you have to admit that Creative needs to do something about their product line. They have some great products, but they never seem to get very far because they compete not only against Apple and Rio, but against themselves. It is much easier to market a product when all you really need to show is a pair of white ear buds hanging out of people's ears. When the Zen Touch player came out I thought Apple would be in a heap of trouble, but Creative never ran with the design. Simple works....

[Felix Torres]

Maybe, but you have to admit that Creative needs to do something about their product line. They have some great products, but they never seem to get very far because they compete not only against Apple and Rio, but against themselves.

Product specialization isn't bad per se.
If nothing else, it lets you take all-roads of the product design decision tree.

Creative's real problem is the same problem Rio, RCA, Philips, Samsung, and iRiver have; V-I-S-I-B-I-L-I-T-Y.

Pouring tons of money into cutesy ads won't do, since that particular niche is full, but they need to take a page from MS's PocketPC handbook and set up some special customer education initiatives in place; mall kiosks, separate counters or display modules at BestBuy, CompUSA, etc; they make superior products that only techies fully appreciate. The average walk-in customer doesn't even recognize the brands...

And the typical in-store sales personnel can't even answer the most basic of questions.

At a minimum they need to teach consumers the meaning of "lock-in". ;-)