Thanks for the participation yesterday folks; much appreciated! Specially since we all should have enjoyed the tail end of Summer '13. Here up in the Pacific NW it was another gorgeous day. Only problem encountered was that the bottle for the gas grill emptied out before the steak could be thrown on. Another indicator summer is about over and somewhat symbolic I would say. I'll wait until next year to refill.
And welcome back to the work week. Since I'll post my LRs early, this is my prediction for ..
Lunch
Thai Tuesday. It is supposed to be Thai Monday but Labor Day has wrecked the schedule
In my daily life, I work for PopCap Games (which is a label within Electronic Arts aka EA) and have been very busy over the last year (and still am) working on game called "Plants versus Zombies 2 - It's About Time!". The game got released for iPhone and iPad about 2 weeks ago. And I feel (and hope) I will not break any forum policies in promoting it a bit because we give it away for free. Really! We don't want your money. At least not upfront and outright but more about that below. So play it!
The approach of giving your product away for free is called the fremium model in contrast to the premium model where you have the customer pay a fair price, or at least what you think is a fair price, at the point of purchase. The perceived advantage of fremium is that you'll get more eyes on your product and hence a wider audience. But there is definitely a risk to give away your product for free since now you'll have to rely on a certain willingness in at least part of that audience to pay for additional content or access. Most of us will be familiar with the term pay wall, currently used by many online newspaper providers. Or you just have to make money with placing ads, something that is not necessarily popular with users. The difficult part is what trade-offs to make in disallowing access to certain things unless one pays versus disenfranchising your customer base to the point they abandon your product. It is a tough problem in the modern society only acerbated by the trend of open source etc. which basically dictates everything should be free. Incidentally, lfor those interested, last weekend's episode/podcast of On the Media covered this area in as far as journalism and web content is concerned.
Non-G&L question
Are there things you think should be provide for free but aren't? Or vice versa?
Personally I have more of what I call the 'Public Radio' approach: I appreciate it when I get it for free but when I use it enough I feel compelled to sponsor the effort that goes in. Hence, yes, I am a member of the local NPR station and financially support things like Wikipedia because I see value in it.
In one my previous LRs, I showcased 'The Wrangler'. This was the first G&L with what became later known as a Nearly Naked (NENA) Honey Ale finish and the Baltic Amber pickguard. When a 2012 Special Collection ASAT Classic 'S' became available for a very reasonable price, it got added to the collection.
Although the collection already contained a 2007 Special Build ASAT Classic 'S', I was curious what John Toner's neck pickup modification would do. Well, the hum is different and yes, there is a little more Strat character in positions 2 and 4. But it is not earth shockingly different in my opinion. Not unexpectedly given what the finish is supposed to bring out, it has some gorgeous wood:
I was somewhat surprised though to not see any sticker on the neck heel and only a faint date stamp (JUL 16 2012)
Ah, of course it is all in the bath tub rout:
Dang! And unfortunately, this 2nd hand did not have any of the papers. Still a nice axe to have though!
G&L question
Should NENA finished become a standard option for G&L instruments? (See poll above)
Personally I think that right now, these finishes are special enough that some exclusivity is warranted. But if they come up with a suite of say another 3 or so NENA finishes beyond the current Honey Ale and Ice Black, it might as well become a standard option.
Have a great day!
- Jos
