Steve’s “Thoughts On Music”

Today Steve Jobs posted his thoughts on music. In this he explores three alternatives for the future of DRM (digital rights management). He concludes by suggesting making music available via download DRM free.

Awesome! But what is his motivation?

Using myself as a micro consumer example helps explain it a bit beyond Steve’s macro numbers. Currently I have 7,023 songs in my iTunes library. The vast, vast majority of these songs I purchased for my own use. Of those songs only 117 came from iTunes. Why? DRM.

Call me old-fashioned (well not that old-fashioned I generally purchase online), but I stll purchase my music in CD format (which is non-DRM protected) and then copy it on my hard drive (which is then backed up). I do this for one reason, and one reason only. I do not like Apple’s FairPlay system in that it limits the number of times I can copy an iTunes purchased song to a computer. I bought it. I should be able to use it as many times as I want to as long as it is for personal use.

It is the DRM driving my behavior. Its not the artwork. Its not the liner notes. It not the pretty stamped CD. My recent purchase habits are about 85% CD, 15% iTunes. You remove the DRM and those numbers reverse.

Steve is a smart man. He understands this buying behavior.

I hope music DRM goes away and that I can give Apple more business in the future.

February 6, 2007  |  Comments  |  Tweet  |  Posted in Internet, Web/Tech

A Changin

With all due respect to Bob,  there are going to be some rather big changes to this blog over the next few weeks.

It has also been my strategy to turn this into my primary personal Web presence once the traffic generated here got to be larger then my "official" site.  That time has come.

I just love working with Kirsten over at Brandego.  I have upgraded to TypePad Pro so that she and Chris can implement a custom design. 

We are going to be making changes on the fly so bear with us as we do so over the next few weeks. 

  |  Comments  |  Tweet  |  Posted in Web/Tech

Free Pay Per Click Campaign

Following up on the recent post about improving your Web presence, I received a little direct mail piece from Microsoft for adCenter. Seems like they are up to their old tricks of giving product away to win market share.

So if you go to the promotion URL and register for five bucks, they will give you $200 in free clicks. The offer code, which I don’t think you need, is 3TXDQ4BTTZZ9XK86 .

Now, as then, if Microsoft gives you a free deal I say take it.

February 5, 2007  |  Comments  |  Tweet  |  Posted in Internet, Marketing

Keys to A Chicago Bears Super Bowl Victory

Run Baby Run

The Bears need to run the ball 20 times in the first half. Why?

The Colts front seven defenders average only 256 pounds. They are built for speed, not strength. The Bears offensive line is built on power, not speed. Indy may get worn out facing the power blocking from a Bears line that averages 305 pounds. Wear them out and the Bears may be able to get more than the 173 yards (last in the league) the Colts gave up rushing over the regular season.

Then again, the Colts have knocked this average down to only 73 during the playoffs. Part of this is due to the return of Bob Sanders who is Dick Butkus about not being aggressive enough. Urlacher says he needs to keep his cool to think. He needs to outthink Peyton.

If all this happens the points allowed averages hold.

Bears win 23 – 17.

February 2, 2007  |  Comments  |  Tweet  |  Posted in Sports

George Carlin’s New Rules For 2007

New Rule: Stop giving me that pop-up ad for classmates.com ! There’s a reason you don’t talk to people for 25 years. Because you don’t particularly like them! Besides, I already know what the captain of the football team is doing these days: mowing my lawn.

New Rule: Don’t eat anything that’s served to you out a window unless you’re a seagull. People are acting all shocked that a human finger was found in a bowl of Wendy’s chili. Hey, it cost less than a dollar. What did you expect it to contain? Trout?

New Rule: Stop saying that teenage boys who have sex with their hot, blonde teachers are permanently damaged. I have a better description for these kids: lucky ba*&^*.

New Rule: If you need to shave and you still collect baseball cards, you’re a retard. When you’re a kid, the cards are keepsakes of your idols. When you’re a grown man, they’re pictures of men.

New Rule: Ladies, leave your eyebrows alone. Here’s how much men care about your eyebrows: do you have two of them? Okay, we’re done.

New Rule: There’s no such thing as flavored water. There’s a whole aisle of this crap at the supermarket, water, but without that watery taste. Sorry, but flavored water is called a soft drink. You want flavored water? Pour some scotch over ice and let it melt. That’s your flavored water.

New Rule: Stop screwing with old people. Target is introducing a redesigned pill bottle that’s square, with a bigger label. And the top is now the bottom. And by the time grandpa figures ou t how to open it,
his a** will be in the morgue. Congratulations, Target, you just solved the Social Security crisis.

New Rule: The more complicated the Starbucks order, the bigger the a**hole. If you walk into a Starbucks and order a “decaf grande half-soy, half-low fat, iced vanilla, double-shot, gingerbread cappuccino, extra dry, light ice, with one Sweet-n’-Low and one NutraSweet,” Oooh, you’re a huge a**hole.

New Rule: I’m not the cashier! By the time I look up from sliding my card, selecting ‘Debit,’ entering my PIN, pressing ‘Enter,’ verifying the amount, deciding, no, I don’t want cash back, and pressing ‘Enter’
again, the kid who is supposed to be ringing me up is standing there eating my Almond Joy.

New Rule: Girls, just because your tattoo has Chinese characters in it doesn’t make you spiritual. It’s right above the crack of your a**. And it translates to “beef with broccoli.” The last time you did anything spiritual, you were praying to God you weren’t pregnant. You’re not spiritual. You’re just high.

New Rule: Competitive eating isn’t a sport. It’s one of the seven deadly sins. ESPN recently televised the US Open of Competitive Eating, because watching those athletes at the poker table was just too damned exciting. What’s next, competitive farting? Oh wait. They’re already doing that. It’s called “The Howard Stern Show.”

Courtesy of McQ. Had me ROTHFLOL.

February 1, 2007  |  Comments  |  Tweet  |  Posted in Uncategorized

Why I Am A Chicago Bears Fan

Have not been blogging much this week. Most of my spare cycles have been spent trying to find a seat at Super Bowl XLI. I have been to four Super Bowls. I am starting to resign myself to the fact that I may not get to this one.

But I am a Bears fan. Why?

The Wall Street Journal, of all publications, seemed it up pretty well today.

And the names of famous Bears and bits of Bearsiana are so hallowed you expect to hear an echo when you say them aloud: George Halas. Red Grange. Bronko Nagurski. Gale Sayers. Walter Payton. Mike Ditka. The Monsters of the Midway. “Brian’s Song.” The Super Bowl Shuffle.

On on top of this, defense has always been the key for the Bears. I have been a defensive kinda guy since my days of playing at Westport.

A little later in the week I will outline the keys to a Bears victory. Right now I am just playing out my last hopes for a ticket.

January 31, 2007  |  Comments  |  Tweet  |  Posted in Personal, Sports

10 Ways to Improve Your Web Presence

Tony Antoniades and I recently gave a presentation at an ATDC “Brown Bag” entitled 10 Quick, Cheap, & Easy Ways to Increase Your Web Presence.

It was a well-attended event with nearly a third of the companies in the incubator present. A lot of the entrepreneurs told me that they got great value out of the discussion.

In the future we are going to start Webcasting some of these events, but for now I thought I would share the 10 tips.

1. Get One

Yes believe it or not, not all tech companies have a Web site. It is your face to the world and your first point of interaction with analysts, customers, employees, and investors. For most start-ups it is the only outlet to portray their brand.

2. Set Goals

You really need to determine the purpose of the site. Are you trying to build some awareness, generate leads or actually create revenue? The goals need to be specific. Quantifiable. That way you can track results and measure success.

3. Study Your Stats

Most hosting providers have a free stats package and if they do not there are free third party packages such as Google Analytics. Learn where you visitors are coming from, the time they come to your site, the search terms used to find you. Knowing this info helps immensely on SEO keyword phrases.

4. Keep It Current

The most not so obvious tip is not to put dates on things that don’t need them. Don’t call it a weekly update if you really are not committed to updating it every week. When leaders join get them on the site pronto. Set a schedule for updating news and stick to it.

5. Clean Up Content

Less is more. People prefer clicking to scrolling. Page depth also helps with SEO for specific terms on specific pages. Seems like to me around less then 150 words a page is about right. Clearly identify downloads as such and put your deeper content such as tech specs, white papers, and case studies in those. Make sure that your site architecture is flexible and easy to change by someone less technical.

6. Be Found

SEO is designing your site so that it is friendly to search engine robots. While this is a subject in and of itself, at its core SEO is ensuring that robots can access and read all the content from your site. Robots can’t read scripts and they can’t read images.

7. Be Relevant

Relevence is key and the proper keyword phrases must be used. Both Google and Yahoo have nice keyword generator tools. Use keywords strategically on your site in content, inbound links, meta tags and titles. Don’t use them in images. And as in all marketing, density matters.

8. Be Popular

Think of inbound links as votes. You have to campaign. Do so by blogging, commenting on blogs, and getting links from customers/partners. Put your site in your LinkedIn profile. Make the votes count with links to your site that are hyperlinked keywords.

9. Buy Some Friends

I little efficient PPC campaign never hurt anyone. Be cheap with by focusing on $.05/.10 keyword phrases. Implement the ability to track conversion.

10. Stop Procrastinating

Just do it! Andy Monin from Vendormate started implementing these suggestions right away and for that he gets a little vendor credentialing and compliance love.

January 23, 2007  |  Comments  |  Tweet  |  Posted in Internet, Marketing, Web/Tech

More on NDAs

I first wrote about VCs and NDAs last November.

Well last week Rick Segal had a whole series of rants on the subject.

First he explains how you should go for confidentiality in the term sheet.

Second he outlines how to handle it in an execution play.

Finally he piles it on by analyzing the last 100 unsolicited business concepts that has been sent to him and were marked as confidential in some manner.

If one of your goals is to raise money in 2007 these are must-reads.

And BTW, the ATDC does not sign NDAs.

January 22, 2007  |  Comments  |  Tweet  |  Posted in Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital