[linux-audio-user] Re: Linux audio market question

[Mark Knecht]

HI,
   I want to take the time to thanks the 5 people who responded to me
so far, either through the list or privately.

   So far everyone thought it was an interesting/good idea, and so far
not a single person said what they would pay for a service like this.
If indeed this means that the market is 5 people who won't pay then
that would be disappointing!

   I look forward to hearing more ideas on this subject. I do indeed
have access to bandwidth and could get this set up rather quickly in a
manual mode, but I need hundreds of subscribers to even begin to have
this make sense as a business.

   If  it's a bad idea, for whatever reason (data security, not enough
broadband users, something else) please speak up. I have no personal
investment in this. Just an interest in promoting musical
collaboration and safer/happier computing.

With best regards,
Mark


On Wed, 8 Dec 2004 15:46:08 -0800, Mark Knecht <markknecht at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>    Imagine a web site where you can pay a small monthly fee. At this
> site you can primarily do three things:
> 
> 1) Post mp3's (et all formats) and then let people download them. You
> have your own 'page' (whatever that ends up meaning) to say things
> about the tunes, etc.
> 
> 2) You get unlimited data storage for audio projects. The site would
> keep up to 1GB on line (i.e. - on hard drives) at all times and would
> store anything else on DVD+RW so that you can download it within 24
> hours. Uploads and downloads could be automated so that you request it
> and it happens in the background. Offline storage is unlimited. If
> you'll bother to upload it then the site will keep it on a hard drive
> or DVD for you. You can control what is kept online vs. off-line at
> any time.
> 
> 3) You can set up collaboration groups to share audio. As an Ardour
> user you might want to have another Ardour user do a guitar track for
> you. (hint hint) ;-) You'd specify what audio tracks from your archive
> another user can have copies of and the site would get it to them.
> 
>    In general the above features would come for a low monthly fee.
> Streaming of mp3s is unlimited until it becomes 'burdensome' at which
> time the system either limits access to certain tracks or charges you
> some more money based on a choice you make ahead of time. 'Burdensome'
> is probably defined by how much you're using vs. other people and how
> taxed the system and connectivity is.
> 
>    Obviously you need broadband access to make the storage part of
> real value. What would people pay for a service like this. How many
> Linux users are out there to take advantage of this? (Not that it
> needs to be limited to Linux...)
> 
>    What price makes this compelling? <$3/month? <$5? <$10?
> 
>    All comments appreciated. Respond to the list or to me privately.
> 
> Thanks,
> Mark
>