From: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org (loud-fans-digest) To: loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Subject: loud-fans-digest V6 #60 Reply-To: loud-fans@smoe.org Sender: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-loud-fans-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk loud-fans-digest Friday, March 24 2006 Volume 06 : Number 060 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: [loud-fans] La La La, I Can Hear You ["Stewart Mason" ] Re: [loud-fans] La La La, I Can Hear You ["don't mine me" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] La La La, I Can Hear You Buried deep in the "How It Works" section, I noted the rather startling fact that shipping the cover art along with the CDs is discouraged, I assume so that they're able to follow the Netflix model in terms of shipping. You have to pay extra for the privilege of shipping the cover art along with the CD! What a remarkably dippy concept. S ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2006 06:33:05 -0500 From: "don't mine me" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] La La La, I Can Hear You Stewart on Lala: > You have to pay extra for the privilege of shipping the cover art along with the CD! What a remarkably dippy concept. < They only added the capability to ship art last week and public launch isn't til July -- they're very much working the kinks out, and expect they'll realign that position before launch. So I'm inclined to give them a break on that score. What bugs me right now is that every address I've shipped to (5 so far) has been provided to me as first name, last initial, and as a standalone street address with no apartment/suite etc info. I used my first initial as my first name (as I usually do with online services) and I'm afraid the poor post office is going to have to try to deliver the Kaiser Chief's _Employment_ to D. M. at my street address with no suite information, and it's going to be returned as undeliverable. I've shipped 5 discs, and have so far been matched up with only one of my requests -- it's not clear how they load-balance things like discs with high demand. A Netflix like "long wait" (or "low supply", or "88 other Lala-ers want this") would be helpful. Jeff, how exactly did you tie a note to your disc to indicate which release it was? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2006 06:56:28 -0600 From: 2fs Subject: Re: [loud-fans] La La La, I Can Hear You On 3/23/06, don't mine me wrote: > Stewart on Lala: > > You have to pay extra for the privilege of > shipping the cover art along with the CD! > > What a remarkably dippy concept. > < > > They only added the capability to ship art last week and public launch isn't > til July -- they're very much working the kinks out, and expect they'll > realign that position before launch. So I'm inclined to give them a break on > that score. And given the variability of the size of cover art - and the fact that lots of people, apparently, don't care whether it's included - I can see how they launched the beta that way. The're now saying cover art up to 4 pages (i.e., two sheets folded) is included in the prepaid postage, and that if you add more than that to add the appropriate additional postage. Seems reasonable to me. What doesn't is that a couple clowns want people to ship *jewelboxes* - - which are completely interchangeable for the most part, and available in bulk for cheaper per unit nearly than the postage would be to ship them. The real problem arises with non-jewelbox-packaged discs, I guess. Just put on extra postage I suppose. > What bugs me right now is that every address I've shipped to (5 so far) has > been provided to me as first name, last initial, and as a standalone street > address with no apartment/suite etc info. I used my first initial as my > first name (as I usually do with online services) and I'm afraid the poor > post office is going to have to try to deliver the Kaiser Chief's > _Employment_ to D. M. at my street address with no suite information, and > it's going to be returned as undeliverable. I think they're balancing people's privacy needs here - but you're right; I'd suggest suite numbers *must* be included, since w/o a full surname a lot will be undeliverable. They've been pretty responsive to customers' requests so far - so I'd make that one if I were you. > I've shipped 5 discs, and have so far been matched up with only one of my > requests -- it's not clear how they load-balance things like discs with high > demand. A Netflix like "long wait" (or "low supply", or "88 other Lala-ers > want this") would be helpful. Another good point... Perhaps they could even tip the trading-karma scales a bit by specifying that if anyone reaches a certain imbalance at any point due to delays (like more than 5 or so) they're entitled to a free (i.e., tradeless and costless) CD or something? > Jeff, how exactly did you tie a note to your disc to indicate which release > it was? I clicked on the title in my "have" list, then clicked on "review disc" there. It's not really tying a note to the disc - I think buyers need to be aware when there are multiple editions of a disc to check which edition, or know that it might not be the one they want - and once lots of reviews trickle in, such a method won't be effective - but I figured hey, I did what I could for anyone who didn't already know that the 2-fer was the one w/the redone bass & drums. - -- ...Jeff Norman The Architectural Dance Society http://spanghew.blogspot.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2006 09:28:40 -0500 From: "don't mine me" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] La La La, I Can Hear You Jeff: > They've been pretty responsive to > customers' requests so far - so I'd make that one if I were you. Dude! You beat me to it. (Thanks) I found plenty more stuff to pester them about. Were you able to access their support area using anything other than IE? I sure wudn't. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2006 10:38:52 -0500 (EST) From: Aaron Mandel Subject: Re: [loud-fans] La La La, I Can Hear You On Thu, 23 Mar 2006, don't mine me wrote: > What bugs me right now is that every address I've shipped to (5 so far) > has been provided to me as first name, last initial, and as a standalone > street address with no apartment/suite etc info. I've shipped out one with an apartment number on it-- maybe you just happen to dislike the kind of music subsurbanites are hot for right now? > I've shipped 5 discs, and have so far been matched up with only one of > my requests -- it's not clear how they load-balance things like discs > with high demand. A Netflix like "long wait" (or "low supply", or "88 > other Lala-ers want this") would be helpful. Yeah. (I'm in the same situation.) And yesterday, there were six things on my 'other people want this' list when I logged in, but as soon as I agreed to ship one, the others vanished. I guess since shipping something out is a benefit to you (you get credit for the trade) and it's possible for more people to offer a disc than want it, there must be a system of priority for that just like for determining who gets a much-wanted CD first. It still seemed weird. I really hope the system's eventual form just lets you list a disc as having liner notes or not. With a few things I don't care; with most I will. Other people feel differently. Computers are good at storing information. Seems obvious... a ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2006 11:06:59 -0500 From: "don't mine me" Subject: Re: [loud-fans] La La La, I Can Hear You > On Thu, 23 Mar 2006, don't mine me wrote: > > I've shipped out one with an apartment number on it-- maybe you just > happen to dislike the kind of music subsurbanites are hot for right now? Oh, I'm glad to hear that. Not that it's terribly relevant, but mostly I'm still liquidating things that amy and I had in common. (The Heads and Kiss discs are exceptions -- bleh!) > I guess since shipping something out is a benefit to you (you get credit > for the trade) and it's possible for more people to offer a disc than want > it, there must be a system of priority for that just like for determining > who gets a much-wanted CD first. It still seemed weird. I really hope it's a FIFO queue. Nothing else seems fair to me. I really hope the system's eventual form just lets you list a disc as > having liner notes or not. With a few things I don't care; with most I > will. Other people feel differently. Computers are good at storing > information. Seems obvious... Yeah, one of my usability enhancement suggestions was an "only with art" checkbox for each "want." At the moment, apparently, they're assuming members who *send* art want to receive it, which seems to me to suffer from the same problem as using my discard pile to predict my wants. So, what do people think of the Libertines, anyway? I already know I think bloc party is overhyped. ;) ------------------------------ End of loud-fans-digest V6 #60 ******************************