The shortsightedness (and arrogance) of some people…
Scott Blum, the CEO of Buy.com, this week chose to launch his own online music store (BuyMusic.com) to compete with the iTunes Music Store. That’s fine. What has angered me is the hypocrisy he has displayed by copying as many aspects of the Apple operation as he could while publicly running them down. Additionally, buyMusic.com has locked out anyone except those using Windows and Internet Explorer.
Now, Mr. Blum, you won’t miss my music business. I haven’t bought any downloaded music, yet. I tend to buy CD’s. If I do buy downloaded music, I’ll look at Apple’s iTunes music store anyway. Most of my machines are Macs and my wife and I both use iPods to cart our music around. They’re incompatible with the .wma format as are many other music devices. Nothing like picking a proprietary format…
What you need to realize, Mr. Blum, is that you have lost a customer for Buy.com as well. Over the years, I have used Buy.com to buy components and software for both my Macs and my Windows machines. I had every intention of continuing to do so until I saw your attitude toward those people using the Mac platform. Frankly, I’ve always considered the platform wars nothing short of petty and ridiculous. That’s where I put your comments, and why I won’t consider using Buy.com in the future. There are plenty of other online retailers who are just as cheap and efficient as your company, no matter which platform I’m buying for.
Besides, I don’t think I have much to worry about. Not only was alienating your Mac customers (many of whom use a Windows machine for one reason or another) a stupid business move, but you’re going to have some real competition soon from Apple itself. In case you didn’t know it (and apparently there are indications on your website you don’t), iTunes for Windows is coming this year. Let’s talk in a year from now and see how you feel about your comments then, and what the reality of the business world might have taught you about them.
By the way, my cable modem came back on a little after noon today. That made for a 28 hour outage, but at least they got it fixed.
Now, Mr. Blum, you won’t miss my music business. I haven’t bought any downloaded music, yet. I tend to buy CD’s. If I do buy downloaded music, I’ll look at Apple’s iTunes music store anyway. Most of my machines are Macs and my wife and I both use iPods to cart our music around. They’re incompatible with the .wma format as are many other music devices. Nothing like picking a proprietary format…
What you need to realize, Mr. Blum, is that you have lost a customer for Buy.com as well. Over the years, I have used Buy.com to buy components and software for both my Macs and my Windows machines. I had every intention of continuing to do so until I saw your attitude toward those people using the Mac platform. Frankly, I’ve always considered the platform wars nothing short of petty and ridiculous. That’s where I put your comments, and why I won’t consider using Buy.com in the future. There are plenty of other online retailers who are just as cheap and efficient as your company, no matter which platform I’m buying for.
Besides, I don’t think I have much to worry about. Not only was alienating your Mac customers (many of whom use a Windows machine for one reason or another) a stupid business move, but you’re going to have some real competition soon from Apple itself. In case you didn’t know it (and apparently there are indications on your website you don’t), iTunes for Windows is coming this year. Let’s talk in a year from now and see how you feel about your comments then, and what the reality of the business world might have taught you about them.
By the way, my cable modem came back on a little after noon today. That made for a 28 hour outage, but at least they got it fixed.
posted by Andy Foster at
3:13 AM
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