I took a trip down Imbi plaza, K.L yesterday with a friend to check out some PC components. Along with that, my enthusiasm shared a fair portion towards pirated MP3 CDs up for sales from the shops.
Surprisingly, there were no longer any MP3 CDs being put up for sales anymore, at least since 3 December 2005. It was quite amazing to note the scenario where the following conclusions can be derived per se.
1. When one shop stop selling something, all shops stop selling as well. This means that either they all work under a boss or they have some sort of association-obligation.
2. What is the reason for stop selling pirated MP3 while they continue their business with games and software?
2a. Perhaps the big boys have taken them to task.
Yahoo Music Unlimited offers:
- Play over a million songs just $4.99/month (RM 20)
- $0.79 (RM 3.2) to download a song for CD burning.
Apple iTunes
- Buy one song for $0.99
- Buy one album for $9.99
2b. In terms of large scale production, it is no more profitable to manufacture pirated MP3 CDs in the long run. Even though a blank CD is only costing around less than RM 1, but yet the impact of large scale production could still hurt quite a bit. Perhaps this has a lot to do with inventory problems, where having unmoving-large-inventories at undisclosed locations is risky for their legal protection.
2c. Broadband is becoming more prominent now.
With proliferation of broadband initiatives and demand, many has been coming to conclusion that investing in a fixed rate high speed Internet connection is a much better deal to pay per use dial-up.
On the average, it took less than few minutes to download an average MP3 files of >3Mb with the slowest broadband package; 512k/312K. Thus, why bother buying CDs since MP3 can also be downloaded for free from many other sites and even in the world of bit-torrent.
On the other hand, software and games download could still be a little problems because some software could be larger in size. However, most importantly, softwares and games are protected by serial-codes which couldn't be found easily from the Internet. One may want to utilize underground web sites for the service, as such is astalavista.com.
These shows that with rising trend for broadband adoption, business players from the Imbi, Layout, Sungai Wang region must look for other source of revenue for business continuity. Their business revenue could be wiped out in a short duration when softwares and games developers crank up for creative and effective methods to encourage direct purchase by end-users.
2d. The trend for ownership of iPod,Zen and other types of MP3 player is getting better and better.
Having these devices, there is no doubt that you are going to live your life with MP3 and podcast. To do that well, connection to the Internet is essential, otherwise conventional radio and CD player will do. Thus, with all these factors coming in, there is a very high possibility where consumers actually got driven by impulse to buy legitimate MP3 from Internet stores rather than from stores in real shopping malls.
With the Internet, we are all citizen of the world.
The bottom line is that access to originals is getting cheaper and more convenient via direct channels, why would I want to take hassles to visit Imbi Plaza for just a few songs? and there are so much funs with online commerce where samples are given prior to purchase.
Surprisingly, there were no longer any MP3 CDs being put up for sales anymore, at least since 3 December 2005. It was quite amazing to note the scenario where the following conclusions can be derived per se.
1. When one shop stop selling something, all shops stop selling as well. This means that either they all work under a boss or they have some sort of association-obligation.
2. What is the reason for stop selling pirated MP3 while they continue their business with games and software?
2a. Perhaps the big boys have taken them to task.
Yahoo Music Unlimited offers:
- Play over a million songs just $4.99/month (RM 20)
- $0.79 (RM 3.2) to download a song for CD burning.
Apple iTunes
- Buy one song for $0.99
- Buy one album for $9.99
2b. In terms of large scale production, it is no more profitable to manufacture pirated MP3 CDs in the long run. Even though a blank CD is only costing around less than RM 1, but yet the impact of large scale production could still hurt quite a bit. Perhaps this has a lot to do with inventory problems, where having unmoving-large-inventories at undisclosed locations is risky for their legal protection.
2c. Broadband is becoming more prominent now.
With proliferation of broadband initiatives and demand, many has been coming to conclusion that investing in a fixed rate high speed Internet connection is a much better deal to pay per use dial-up.
On the average, it took less than few minutes to download an average MP3 files of >3Mb with the slowest broadband package; 512k/312K. Thus, why bother buying CDs since MP3 can also be downloaded for free from many other sites and even in the world of bit-torrent.
On the other hand, software and games download could still be a little problems because some software could be larger in size. However, most importantly, softwares and games are protected by serial-codes which couldn't be found easily from the Internet. One may want to utilize underground web sites for the service, as such is astalavista.com.
These shows that with rising trend for broadband adoption, business players from the Imbi, Layout, Sungai Wang region must look for other source of revenue for business continuity. Their business revenue could be wiped out in a short duration when softwares and games developers crank up for creative and effective methods to encourage direct purchase by end-users.
2d. The trend for ownership of iPod,Zen and other types of MP3 player is getting better and better.
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Having these devices, there is no doubt that you are going to live your life with MP3 and podcast. To do that well, connection to the Internet is essential, otherwise conventional radio and CD player will do. Thus, with all these factors coming in, there is a very high possibility where consumers actually got driven by impulse to buy legitimate MP3 from Internet stores rather than from stores in real shopping malls.
With the Internet, we are all citizen of the world.
The bottom line is that access to originals is getting cheaper and more convenient via direct channels, why would I want to take hassles to visit Imbi Plaza for just a few songs? and there are so much funs with online commerce where samples are given prior to purchase.
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