Here's my basic take on the issue of content bundling with the WinTV boards. (I'm going to post this here because I'm thinking that it's important to talk about how Wave markets their services and their vendor's products. If this feels too tangential to the topic, I can move the discussion over to the Micropublishing thread.)
I think that in this initial launch there's a conflict between the marketing (or the lack thereof) of the content and the mindset of people who are currently trying out the system. Basically, they way the software is presented to users right now, it presumes a pre-existing interest in the games themselves. If that's not there (and I'm guessing that it pretty much isn't, although there is certainly an eagerness to try out the system), there has to be some sort of incentive for trying things out. Right now, there's no pitch, no tease to try it. If you don't already have the desire to play Dr. Brain, there's nothing much to draw you in. You can't find out much about the game without plunking down the $2.00 to give it an hour long test drive. (And with many games and software, I can easily spend that long just learning how to make the thing work.) On one hand, two bucks isn't much. But it can be a psychological barrier to entry. I think that content providers are going to have to learn to use this system more enticingly. They're going to figure out what those of us who have already been using the Wave system know: you've got to give away just a little, to make people want more. That feeling of getting something for free (even if it's hardly anything) is quite powerful. It's the reason when people go to the movies that they actually enjoy the previews of coming attractions. They feel like they're getting something for nothing and it makes them want more.
I think that this is both an issue for content providers and for WAVX. I think that this is just the beginning and that as providers start to figure out how to use the system more effectively it will become an incredibly powerful tool. Those are my thoughts for the morning. And that said I'm off to rent "Trophy Streams" for an hour and see how I like it.
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