Has the Internet Disintermediated Libraries? Apparently Not

Internet threat to libraries analyzed
"A major national study conducted by the School of Informatics and the Urban Libraries Council found five years ago that increased Internet use in the U.S. had not produced a reduction in the public use of libraries. The study presented a new consumer model of the U.S. adult market for library and Internet services, one that consisted of "information seekers" who used both resources, but in different ways. With Internet use continuing to grow by leaps and bounds, the UB researchers now are poised to undertake a much larger national study to see what, if any, changes have taken place over the past five years." Hat tip to ResourceShelf.

Wacky Warning Label Contest Winners

Some consumer warning labels are so well done that they deserve special awards: Consider the label attached to a toilet brush that admonishes: "Do not use for personal hygiene.". Um, yeah. Or the "This product moves when used" label fastened to a scooter. I'd sure hope so. Then there's the oblique "Once used rectally, the thermometer should not be used orally." Unclear is whether the converse is admissible.

Thanks to the Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch for sponsoring this educational contest. Have you found a wacky warning label? Submit it here.

Jeff Bezos on Amazon's Anti-Wal-Mart Strategy

Wal-Mart's strategy is to sell what sells: high volume SKUs stay on the shelves, low volume SKUs are discontinued. In contrast, hard-to-find low-volume products are Amazon's bread-and-butter (and why I love Amazon.com). Check out this excerpt from Wired magazines interview with Jeff Bezos:

WIRED: Does Amazon actually create demand for hard-to-find products?

BEZOS: Absolutely. We not only help readers find books, we also help books find readers, with personalized recommendations based on the patterns we see. I remember one of the first times this struck me. The main book on the page was on Zen. There were other suggestions for Zen books, and in the middle of those was a book on how to have a clutter-free desk. That's not something that a human editor would have ever picked. But statistically, the people who were interested in the Zen books also wanted clutter-free desks. The computer is blind to the fact that these things are dissimilar in some way that's important to humans. It looks right through that and says yes, try this. And it works.

Read the rest of the interview.

Are Citizen Consumers Writing a Brand's First Draft?

Are Citizen Journalists Writing History's First Draft? Dan Gillmor thinks so:

We used to call mainstream journalism the 'first draft of history.' Now, I'd argue, much of that first draft is being written by citizen journalists. And what they're telling us is powerful indeed.

Switch contexts to grassroots product evangilism, and we have the makings for a transformed marketing landscape in which citizen consumers create a product's the first (and continuing?) story. Will branding ever be the same?

CDs: Preferred Format and Growing Sales More Talent or Fewer P2P Grannies?

The BBCreports:

US CD sales rose by 2.3% in 2004 - the first rise in four years - despite the growing popularity of legal digital music downloads.

The CD format still accounts for 98% of the 666 million albums sold, according to research company Nielsen Soundscan.

A total of 140 million digital tracks were legally downloaded last year, equivalent to 14 million albums.

R&B star Usher was the biggest-selling artist with his album Confessions selling eight million copies alone.

Other top sellers of the year were Norah Jones, Eminem and country stars Kenny Chesney and Gretchen Wilson.

Hmm ... did 2004's extra abundance of compelling talent entice more folks to purchase CDs this year? Nah. It must be because the RIAA has now sued enough grannies to stem the flow illegal file sharing. Yep, that must be it.

The Register weighs in:

CD sales rebounded for the first time in four years in the United States in 2004, according to Nielsen Soundscan, defying the predictions of big label executives. Overall music sales rose 1.6 per cent over 2003 but CD sales, which account for 98 per cent of all new music sold, saw a 2.6 per cent increase.

The new music stores contributed next to nothing directly: just 0.033 per cent, or 1 in 3000 album sales were Net downloads. Nielsen says 140.9 million tracks were sold through the "Nappletizers" - new music stores such as Apple's iTunes Music Store, and Napster, compared to 666.7 million physical CDs. Universal and Sony BMG accounted for 58.7 per cent of internet downloads between them.

But such figures are dwarfed by the P2P networks: over a billion tracks are downloaded each month, according to some estimates.

Is there a correlation between the new music services and a renewed interest in buying CDs? Are downloaders getting physical?

Evidence in the UK suggests that 92 per cent of people who bought from an online store preferred CDs. Hardly surprising, as the real thing sounds better, allows you to share the music with friends and you have something tangible at the end of the day. That's a lot of advantages to something that costs about the same, or in the case of discount CDs, is much cheaper.

Who wants to pay more to get less? ®

iTunes SOV Bites Apple

Apple's remarkable share of voice (SOV) in the portable digital music player space has attracted my comment before (here and here). BBC NEWS reports that Apple's SOV has ironic consequences:

A user of Apple's iTunes music service is suing the firm saying it is unfair he can only use an iPod to play songs.

This claim is central to the filing:

Apple has turned an open and interactive standard into an artifice that prevents consumers from using the portable hard drive digital music player of their choice,"

Could Apple's amazing (and unjustified IMO) SOV be responsible for this bloke's apparent belief that iTunes is the only source for digital music downloads; that he appears unaware that non iPod centric online music stores exist? Ironic indeed.

Pardon me while I download Brian Wilson's newest album Smile from Wal-Mart's music store and load it onto my Dell DJ20.

Microsoft Goes SpyWare Hunting (free beta)

Feeling the heat, Microsoft made available today Free AntiSpyware (caution beta). Can a Microsoft branded anti-virus solution be far behind?

It is about time Microsoft assumed responsibility for the vulnerabilities in the Windows and IE software that empower spyware and viri. But, is it too late? Has the accumulated aggravation reached such a crescendo that those of us migrating to alternate platforms (e.g., Firefox) will never migrate back? OTOH, after swearing off Windows Media player when it was in version 1 or 2, I'm now a reconvert. The tipping point? When MusicMatch--my previous jukebox steady--delivered a very buggy version 9 which crashed incessantly.

Women Will be Women and Men will be Neanderthals

A reminder that gender stereotypes run deep -- Diets - a guy and girl thing?:

When men watch their weight, they may do it differently than women.

and

But the recent low-carb revolution has changed the diet landscape, argues Amy Bentley, an associate professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University. Bentley says high-protein mania has made dieting politically correct for men. A guy feels manly if he can go out in public and carve up a hunk of red meat at dinner.

Yep, the men as Neanderthals stereotype lives on. Sigh.

US Consumer On-Line Spending for Christmas: $23.2 Billion

Online Spending Christmas 2005:

US online consumers blew $23.2bn in the run-up to Christmas - a rise of 25 per cent from a year ago. Most of the cash went on clothing, toys, video games and consumer electronics, while items like jewellery, flowers and computer gear made big gains.

Photo Convergence: Kodak Integrates WiFi into Digital P&S Cameras and Printers

Imagine a digital camera with unlimited picture capacity. It's here! Kodak has introduced a WiFi enabled digital p&s camera: "The new Kodak Easyshare-One camera allows users to e-mail pictures directly from the camera via Wi-Fi ((802.11b Wireless LAN). In addition to this, users can also view online albums directly on the 3' touch screen display. The images can be stored on the Kodak Easyshare Gallery service, the new brand for Kodak's Ofoto service. An automatic software update service will also be available so users can update their cameras on-line."

With reveneus from film, processing, and prints declining rapidly, Kodak is striving boost the number of prints folks make from their digital snaps. Integrating WiFi is an intriguing approach to narrowing the chasm between pressing the shutter and hard-copy prints.

Another report here.

Granted, Canon introduced WiFi capabilities for the EOS 1Ds Mark II Digital SLR body a year ago, but to have WiFi embedded in a p&s is startling.

UPDATE: DP Review has more.