Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!sjsca4!greg
From: greg@sj.ate.slb.com (Greg Wageman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: Bitching about S/W distribution / MIDI HELP??!?
Message-ID: <1989Sep30.004724.7443@sj.ate.slb.com>
Date: 30 Sep 89 00:47:24 GMT
References: <1989Sep28.172110.7096@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU>
Reply-To: greg@sj.ate.slb.com (Greg Wageman)
Organization: Schlumberger ATE, San Jose, CA
Lines: 173
Opinions expressed are the responsibility of the author.
In article <1989Sep28.172110.7096@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU> mshapiro@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (Blind Man With A Vision) writes:
>
>For the last few weeks, I've been trying to find a MIDI package for
>a 520ST. atari [...] told me of
>only two stores. One was about 45 minutes away and the other about
>20 minutes away. Not too bad if I live in your average town.
>HOWEVER, I LIVE ABOUT 15 MINUTES FROM ATARI'S HQ!!! Why are there only
>two stores in Santa Clara county that carry atari software? But wait,
>it gets much worse than this.
Why should there be a particularly dense packing of Atari vendors near
the company's headquarters? If IBM clonesellers followed that logic,
you'd have to go to Taiwan and Korea to find most of them. Stores
don't spring up overnight, like mushrooms, and magically create a
market. The *market* creates the need for retail outlets, and
retailers move to fill the need. In the US, right now, there is very
little demand for Atari computers, hence the lack of dealers.
Expensive computers are a specialty item. You will not find
professional quality computer equipment at Target or K-Mart. Game
machines, yes; computers, no. You are looking for MIDI software;
that's an even more specialized market. Here's a clue: the MI in MIDI
stands for "Musical Instrument". Does that suggest where you should
be looking? If Atari has market share anywhere in the US, it's in the
music industry.
>I went to this store B&C Computer in santa clara, to check out MIDI
>stuff. THey had several packages to choose from. So I asked the lady
>there if I could take a look at them.
>
>"No, we can't open the packages. We'd have to sell the software as
>used."
>
>Now, I'm thinking to myself, oh great, we've got a genius here.
>"How do you expect to sell this stuff if I can't look at it? Do you
>know anything about these?"
>
>"No."
>
>extends this line of reason.>
>"We're not salesmen We have the stuff if someone wants it."
I've been a continued customer of B&C since I moved to California
almost 2 years ago. Let me tell you how *overjoyed* I was to find a
store, within 20 minutes of where I work, that *specializes* in Atari
computers (they sell no other brands), and has a wall full of ST
software! Every other computer retailer I had ever seen that even
*heard* of an ST, sold them on the side, and had all of about 10 ST
titles on their shelves.
Would you, as a small businessman, really want to open one copy of
*every* non-game title, regardless of cost, just because a prospective
customer (who might be "just browsing") wanted a demo? Do you have
any concept of how much inventory that would require, and how much it
would cost?
Let's say you went through five or six packages before you found one
you liked. At an (estimated, probably low) average retail price of
$120 for a MIDI music package, you're talking $600 worth of inventory,
and you're just one customer! Sure, they can now keep those five open
packages for "demo" purposes; but they must now stock five more,
unopened copies to sell, and as soon as the next update comes out,
they're demoing obsolete software. No doubt you would expect them to
open the latest versions for you, too. Of course, they should simply
swallow the loss they take on the old, open, unsalable copies.
You should be thankful that these people are *honest* enough to
admit that an opened package should be sold as used software. Many
less scrupulous vendors would simply re-wrap the package and put it
back on their shelves, at full retail price, and not bat an eyelash.
>As I'm walking out the door, a man behind the counter starts to tell me
>how the software business works. He says, "In this market, you have to
>buy a package and try it out. If it works for you, that's great. If
>it doesn't, buy another."
>
>Now, I'm really getting perterbed. "Look, I don't plan on buying every
>package in existence, or even more than one. I just want a look at
>the stuff before I buy it."
>
>This is a good one here...."Well, maybe you aren't ready to spend the
>money to buy something then."
>
>"Well, maybe you aren't ready to own your own store."
Well, maybe *you* aren't ready to own your own computer.
Before I go shopping for a software package, I do research. While you
were at B&C, you should have stopped at their magazine rack and picked
up a copy of STart, and checked out the ads for MIDI software. A
visit to a Walden Books or B.Dalton's could have netted you a copy of
"Electronic Musician", "Keyboard", "Music Technology", and other
magazines that specialize in MIDI equipment and software. Read the
reviews, the articles, the ads. If you do this, you will have some
idea of what these different packages can do, what you need, and which
ones fit.
It's the job of the software *publisher* to promote his wares, not the
retailer. You cannot reasonably expect the software retailer to be an
expert in every aspect of the software he sells for a general-purpose
computer! You're asking them to be MIDI experts, CAD experts,
spreadsheet experts, word processing experts, accounting experts,
compiler experts and game experts. An impossible task!
>Atari, if you're listening, maybe you should have a little talk with
>your software/hardware distributors. All two of them. They could
>use some pointers in the customer relations/sales development
>areas.
Sounds like you're the one who could use a few lessons in the
economics of running a small retail business. Perhaps you could do
better? I'm sure you've got the $100,000 cash in your pocket for your
hardware and software inventory, displays, racks, cases, employee
payroll, utilities, store rental, and advertising. All set? Good.
Now, try to earn a living selling software at an average $30-$90
*retail* price (hint: you only get to keep about $10-$30 of that). Of
course on that kind of margin you can easily afford an army of trained
sales staff, who are knowledgable about every package they sell and
will gladly open each one for every uninformed imbicile who asks. No
doubt you would *never* complain about the people who came in for the
demo, but then decide to order the package by mail, because it's $10
cheaper, but then come to *you* for support anyway!
>Between the difficulties of finding a store in the first place and
>then the escapade I went through once I did, I have to wonder why people
>would want to buy an ST when they can buy a MAC and get software on
>every street corner.
Would you seriously walk into a Mac or PClone computer dealer, and
expect an expert to demo, for example, every CAD package they sell,
because you don't know which one you want? Be sure to tell them
you're buying one copy for personal use. They'll laugh you out of the
store. I dare you to try it.
>If any of you could recommend a decent MIDI package, I would really
>appreciate it. Obviously, the store wasn't a lot of help. I saw
>a few packages there, ranging from $54 to $200. I don't mind spending
>the money, if it's good stuff. Full editing capabilities, as well as
>scoring. Please, oh please, help me out.
For full editing AND scoring, you can expect to pay $200 and UP. $60
will get you a basic multi-track sequencer with little or no editing
capability. I really suggest you pick up some magazines and read the
reviews. There are also MIDI product guides that come out
periodically. You *might* be able to get some help at a Music store
that carries Atari computers (e.g. Haight-Ashbury Music in San
Francisco), but you'd better look like you're ready to spend some
money. They make a lot more on the customers who come in ready to
drop $1500+ on the latest whiz-bang keyboard/synth/workstation than
they do on someone shopping for a $200 software package, so you can
bet where they're going to invest their time.
The other place you might go for help is your local Atari user group.
The Bay Area has several. You can find their numbers in the back of
free papers like Micro Times, which you also could have picked up at
B&C. No doubt there are members into MIDI who can give you the
first-hand look at the packages that you desire.
But don't, *don't* libel the nice people at B&C for trying to make an
honest living and a decent profit, in a market that is not at all
kind. No disclaimer should be necessary, but here it is: I'm not
affiliated with B&C Computervisions in any way except as a long-time,
satisfied customer.
Copyright 1989 Greg Wageman DOMAIN: greg@sj.ate.slb.com
Schlumberger Technologies UUCP: {uunet,decwrl,amdahl}!sjsca4!greg
San Jose, CA 95110-1397 BIX: gwage CIS: 74016,352 GEnie: G.WAGEMAN
Permission granted for not-for-profit reproduction only.