How many short, interesting, YouTube clips have you watched this week/month/year? What about other online sources such as Hulu and Fancast?
Internet-delivered video content doesn't always have the highest quality - but it is "good enough" for most people, most of the time. The source material wasn't always high quality, anyway: for example an old videotape of Muddy Waters was definitely recorded in standard-definition on analog video tape, and perhaps deteriorated somewhat before being digitized for YouTube, yet it is still well worth watching.
This, I think, is why the networks and cable companies are worried about losing market share and advertising dollars: these other products can deliver "good enough" content much more cheaply, and at acceptable quality.
At least the cable companies have their high-speed internet delivery pipes to fall back on; the broadcast networks are scrambling to get on the 'Net-delivery train before it leaves the station.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Saturday, April 18, 2009
"Good Enough" and the economy
As the subheading of the blog says, "good enough" in some ways is for people who can't afford the very best, or perhaps it would be better to say that they don't need to afford the very best.
It's April 2009, and we're all aware of how the economy has slowed down due to the credit crisis, which I won't go into since it's been covered so well by so many others. Some of the people responsible for predicting the economy say it will begin to rebound by the fall - but I want to point out something they seem to be missing and which ties into the central theme of this blog.
People are finally scared enough to stop spending so much, especially on credit. Many have lost jobs, and they say unemployment will continue to rise before it gets better again.
So, to the retail forecasters, I say - "good enough" is going to hurt you.
It's April 2009, and we're all aware of how the economy has slowed down due to the credit crisis, which I won't go into since it's been covered so well by so many others. Some of the people responsible for predicting the economy say it will begin to rebound by the fall - but I want to point out something they seem to be missing and which ties into the central theme of this blog.
People are finally scared enough to stop spending so much, especially on credit. Many have lost jobs, and they say unemployment will continue to rise before it gets better again.
So, to the retail forecasters, I say - "good enough" is going to hurt you.
- A 1996 Olds station wagon suddenly becomes "good enough" if we can keep it running, and it's better than taking on a car payment.
- The DVD player is "good enough" - we don't need to buy Blu-Ray.
- The "old" 32-inch CRT television is "good enough" now, we really can wait on that thin LCD model.
- A haircut every four weeks instead of every two is "good enough", and suddenly the Supercuts at the mall seems every bit as good as the Haute House salon.
- The three bedroom house is "good enough" - let the youngest two boys have bunk beds, rather than increase the house payment to let everyone have their own room.
- Powdered milk mixed half-and-half is "good enough" and makes the milk stretch further.
Resurrecting the blog
I admit it - I didn't keep up with posting to this blog. Blogger says my last post was almost three years ago. Where did the time go? Well, on this end it was spent doing various personal and career things I won't go into at the moment, because who wants to hear three years of that?
Anyway, I'm going to give it another shot. I still don't know exactly how to spread the word to get more readers, to get the conversation going, but maybe that will come to me this time.
Anyway, I'm going to give it another shot. I still don't know exactly how to spread the word to get more readers, to get the conversation going, but maybe that will come to me this time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)