Note: This is a really long post, full of my many founded and unfounded opinions, be warned.
Folks,
Hey all, I'm glad that there is a place here to vent off some steam. I have a small amount of venting to do. The last few days I have been going from store to store in town looking for either the SACD or DVD-A of an album that I have been wanting to get, simply to avoid having to pay shipping by ordering it online. Unfortunately it seems that every place in town that sells music on cd has no idea what an SACD or DVD-A is. In fact, the first place I went to, called FYE at the mall, I had to actually explain to the clerk what it was. So he gets an odd look in his eye, walk over to some discs and pulls one out, and says, is this what you are looking for? It was a dualdisc. I guess he shows SOME promise, but still... I would think that if you work for a music store, that you should know what formats are out there for when the occasional doofus like me walks in wanting a DVD-A or something.
I have to give some credit though to one guy who knew right away what I was looking for. I don't know his name, but he worked for Tower Records. I called the local store, and said I was looking for a DVD-Audio, and he said, Yeah we have a few of those, unfortunately we don't carry the specific one you are looking for though. Owell.
I have to admit also that up until a few months ago, I didn't know what an SACD was, but I had at least heard of a DVD-A. I mainly started to get interested in learning about it when I was looking for a new DVD player, and found that some of them played something called an SACD. Until then I had NEVER heard of it. I was also just reading the following AH forum:
http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20505
I have not yet read the article referred to in it, but regarding marketing, it seems to be a two edged sword. There is the the Jedi and Dark Side of the force when it comes to Marketing. Truthful and not so truthful and vague. I work for a very large company, and have to deal often with "Marketing-ese" and "manager-ese", think Dilbert... Mostly it's just a bunch of nonsense words arranged in such a way as to make the listener think that the person talking knows what he is talking about. Often it's just a bunch of buzzwords and jargon thrown together hoping to fool the poor slob listening into believing them. This works mainly because those listening are not familiar with either the product or the process being discussed, and so will nod their heads quietly and acquiese. I believe there is a similar trend in all facets of "marketing" out there, no matter if it is for audio/video or kitchen gadgets, cars, computers or whatever. It is a source of unending frustration for me. I am also somewhat knowledgeable about computers, and hardware, and because I am just slightly more knowledgeable out of previous experience and personal study on the subject, there are those who regard me as a "genius" though I must protest and say that I am far from it. Because of this, they trust my opinion, and take it to be the absolute truth. This is dangerous, both for them and for me. If I make a rash remark about some product, either for or against it, that could be the make or break decision for them when it comes to purchasing something. It is an awesome responsibility.
*am I just rambling, or is this actually making sense to anyone?*
I guess what I am trying to say is that Marketing in general is the same way. You have the responsibility to do what is right, truth in advertising so to speak, because if you are the one doing the marketing, you are the ones that people listen to and will base their decisions for purchasing on, because you are supposed to be the expert, and they will follow it. Most people unfortunately do this blindly, allowing companies to knowingly sell inferior products and services because they know no one will complain. Nobody knows any better. At least the thronging masses don't. There is probably a small minority that do know better, and some companies cater to small niche markets like that.
Perhaps I can give a few examples. (I hope I don't offend anyone, if I do, I'm sorry in advance, I tend to be rather opinionated) Let's start with twinkies. People love them. They have a nice bland sweetness to them, and give a quick little bit of flavorful enjoyment. Sure it's ok, if you don't know any better. Then take a quick trip to Paris, and walk into a patisserie. Sample an eclair or a pain au chocolat, or a fraisier, or something like that. I swear your eyes will open, the scales will fall from your eyes, and you will NEVER, I mean NEVER go back to twinkies again. They will become nasty to you. The same goes for many things out there, audio equipment too. I had a walkman as a kid. I had hundreds of cassette tapes of various things. I thought I was top dog. Then I went into the local Lechemere one day and found out about something called the Compact Disc. I listened to it, and when I got home listened to my walkman, and was immediately converted to the CD. I just had to have one. I bought one of the original Sony Discmen.
Then in college I was introduced to mp3 and Napster. I thought "what a wonderful way to listen to music, no more swapping discs, I can just put all the music I like on one hard drive and have it there for me to run random through!" I had no idea how it was that the files were so much smaller than the wav files I had used in high school, which took up large quantities of the then very small hard drives. I had no idea what 128k was when referring to mp3's, despite being in college, I was "un-educated".
I am finding that the more people are educated about a subject, the better and smarter decisions they tend to make. An example of this, I was at a local CompUSA a few months back looking around for something, and an older couple asked me if I knew anything about computers. I told them I knew a little bit, just so that I didn't set an expectation for them that I was any sort of an expert. I had heard them talking to the clerk and he was just trying to sell them on the latest and greatest most expensive computer system in the store. They asked me, is this computer better than that one? I had to tell them, it depends. What do you want to do with it? Answer was email and type up documents with MSWord. I told them that they could find the cheapest most ugly computer in the store, and it would be more than enough for doing that. The clerk winced. Knowledge is power. I tried to explain what each component does, and why they would or would not really need it. They left the store empty handed to go and re-evaluate their desires and needs at that point, and hopefully will go back with a much better idea of what to get, instead of just buying what is popular.
There is one major problem with that however. Not everyone wants to take the time to educate themselves to make a good decision. They want/need something right now. They just want it to work. They don't care if it is the best quality, or the right fit, as long as it works. They don't want to learn how it works, or why, they just want it do it, and now. Because of this, companies have catered to this. Look at Micro$oft, almost being overbearing in "simplicity". You don't have to know anything, you just have to mindlessly follow along and it will do it all for you. A computer is a tool just like any other tool. You need to know how to use it, and how to keep it in good repair, or else it will stop working correctly and maybe even break. Don't use your level as a hammer, and don't think your computer is magically going to solve your problems.
So I guess in the end my conclusion is that we can rail all we want against marketing and those who try and pass off crap as if it were the best thing since sliced bread (which really isn't all that great either, try a good french baguette!) but it's not going to do us any good. We need to fix the actual problem, and that is people, the consumers. They are the ones that drive the markets, if they make stupid choices, companies follow the market. If there is a market for it, they put money into it and get a lot of money back. We need educate ourselves, we need to actually care! Until that starts to become the norm, I predict that we will always be stuck with crap products in the mainstream, and only get a few really nice products, for a lot more money in the niche markets.
Am I right?
-capT
