Re: The Final Word on Browsers and the Future

  From: "Abigail" <abigail@ny.fnx.com>

| You, Jason O'Brien, wrote:
| ++ 
| ++ No difference -- doesn't matter how they came into the store, how they   
| ++ got there, what they drove in, but they went to the source (U2's new   
| ++ music), the question came down to format and compatibility.
| 
| Moral: had U2 made both a CD and a venyl record (which doesn't need
| recording things twice), they had made twice as much royalties.  U2
| certainly doesn't care how the man were dressed. They want to sell
| their work as much as possible, either for the royalties, or because
| they want to spread their toughts/words/music/feelings or whatever
| drives the musician.
---

But it *does* cost something to support multiple formats.  The CD and
the vinyl and the cassette will probably be individually mastered,
because of the different frequency responses of the different media.
The cuts may be ordered differently (the CD doesn't have two sides, so
it doesn't have to provide two roughly equal-length subprograms).

More to the point, though, reproducing the vinyl version will add
costs for the masters, for warehousing, for distribution, etc.  The band
(and its distributors) need to do a careful cost:benefit analysis to
judge whether they would make or lose money on the extra format.  You'll
notice that the mini-disc, digital cassette, and vinyl disc sections of
music stores typically have a lot less product, for exactly thtat reason
- the expected revenue from the additional format is not expected to
meet the cost of distributing it.

Just so the Web page provider needs to balance the expected return from
each alternative form provided against the cost of building and
providing it.  Many providers may make a rationale, documentable
decision that the gain from optimal service to high-end viewers is more
important to them than the loss of low-end viewers.  They need to be
aware they're making the choice, but it may well be a reasonable choice
for some providers' goals.

scott

--
scott preece
motorola/mcg urbana design center	1101 e. university, urbana, il   61801
phone:	217-384-8589			  fax:	217-384-8550
internet mail:	preece@urbana.mcd.mot.com

Received on Tuesday, 22 October 1996 10:37:03 UTC