Visit to Best Buy

I just spent last week at the headquarters of our new corporate parent, Best Buy in Minneapolis. Aside from the 60 degree temperature delta from SoCal :) it was a great week. I thought I would share some of my thoughts and impressions with you from the week and get some of your opinions on Napster and Best Buy.

For a company the size of Best Buy, I was really impressed with the culture and true customer-centricity embedded deep throughout the entire organization. And I do mean the entire organization—whether it is the Best Buy CMO openly discussing marketing strategies, or CEO Brad Anderson taking time from his very busy day to stop by and talk about digital entertainment strategy, or a Blue Shirt in the retail store explaining how technology and entertainment can improve a customer's life—Best Buy really leverages the entire company to put the customer first.

Best Buy employees exhibited impressive passion, enthusiasm, and excitement for the Napster service as a way to help customers get more value and enrichment from digital music. Staffers from pretty much every functional area of the company welcomed us to the Best Buy family. I loved the open culture and collaborative environment, which is set up to yield the best ideas from employees, customers, and the broader community—ideas which they are then able to execute on a scale few can rival. Very cool stuff.

Those are some of my thoughts, but I am interested in what *you* think. What should Napster and Best Buy do to empower you more with music and entertainment? What could Napster become to be more interesting to your digital media world? Love to hear your thoughts and comments...

- Christopher

Comments

[Cell Detective]

Unconventional good stuff here. I normally don't find nothing but junk but when I get something I know my people will like I link back. This is good stuff and I hope you don't mind if I add a link back to you from my website

[forex http]

What a great article. I stumbled into your site when I was searching for movies and I must say I really enjoyed your post. Will be back to check more out in the future!

[DashboardDJ856]

Someone actually made a comment??? I'm Shocked!!!

[Rick Montoya]

"What should Napster and Best Buy do to empower you more with music and entertainment?"

I would love to see bestbuy.com cross reference napster titles in it's search engine. Even offering some physical product on a "special order" basis. Perhaps through a third party like target.com is currently doing with amazon.

[DashboardDJ856]

Mr.Allen, Well it appears that you have abandoned your own blog. I mean it's not even set up to show a page2, unless you type something in it.
Anyway, I just read something disturbing on the Best Buy website. Maybe you can answer me this. Under Best Buy Digital Music Store Customer Service, when you click on it, it says "Need assistance with the Best Buy Digital Music Store powered by Rhapsody?"
Powered by Rhapsody????? Best Buy just bought you guys out a few months ago, and then seeing that message is pretty frightening. What are Best Buy's intentions on building the Napster brand??? Or did they just buy you to squash you, the competition with Rhapsody?
As always, trying to make Napster a better product, even though you guys don't seem to care. -Dash

[DashboardDJ856]

OK, I'm confused, other than typing in a message, how do I can to the second page of comments?

[DashboardDJ856]

Why would you program the blog to put new messages on some sort of Track Back addy. Wouldn't you put the old messages there, and keep the more current ones here? At least that makes sense to me. -Dash

[DashboardDj856]

What the heck? Now everything I type under Corporate is going to Visit Best Buy blog. Does this Corporate blog only take so many comments, then defer to some lace else? You might to hire some better programmers. -Dash

[DashboardDJ856]

Oops,I put my answer under Best Buy visit, sorry. Ok, now yer e-mail program is reading it weird also. Unbelieveable. Let me try it this way. The program is reading & sign as &ampersand/; Leave off the ersand, and put that piece under Artist, hit Search, there are hundreds of bands set up like that. -Dash

[DashboardDJ856]

Nope,it's the e-mail program doing something else weird with the ampersand sign.. Unbelieveable. Well, let me try to explain it this way. It is reading the & sign as &ampersand/; just leave off ersand. Then type that in under Artist, then hit search. Whew!!! -Dash

[DashboardDJ856]

Sorry, I'm not sure what happened, I thought I put &/; The program is reading & as &/; thus the band & hundreds others are reading it right under Artist Search. -Dash

[DashboardDJ856]

Mr. Allen, Here is another programming problem. When you do a search under artists, the program reads the ampersand as &/; . For example, if you look up the group Healy & Orr , the artist search is gonna show as no matches. Under nappy's programming, it shows as Healy &/;Orr. If you do a Search under Artists &/; you will find over 500 bands with this problem. Subscribers can't find the artists they want, which means artists lose money, nappy loses money, & we can't hear or download music.
As alway, trying to make nappy a better product - Dash

[DashboardDJ856]

Ok, it is come down to word games. 'Surfacing, 'streaming', 'unlimited', 'entire' and so on. I understand all of that. My point to Napster is, that in this economy, Napster is a luxury, not a necessity. There is no where in the verbage for NTG subscribers about 30 second clips or buy only tracks. It says unlimited full tracks in Napster's entire catalog. If you state that, people will understand that. By not doing that, it looks like your just another business ripping off the customer, so now they don't trust you, and will move on to another music service. That's my only point.

On another matter, there is a problem with someone's programming. If you do a track or album search with ' typed in, you will get thousands of songs & albums. What that means is if your looking for a song, ex. You're My Medicine by Christian Dozzler, it's not gonna come up under track search. The reason is coz somehow it was programmed as Youre My Medicine. So someone with an album name or song name is going think that napster doesn't carry that song or album. Big loss for the artist & Napster, especially if they were looking to buy that song.

On a lighter note here are 2 songs, you might enjoy (not 30 sec snippets, yet) 1) David Byrne and Brian Eno - Strange Overtones 2) James McMurtry - We Can't Make It Here. If you enjoyed those, check out my Two Songs thread under Easy Listening for more adult alternative songs or as I like to call them Dash's Road Rage Free Radio.

As always, trying to make nappy a better product - Dash

[Christopher]

Unfortunately, there are still a handful of artists that have not yet granted streaming rights for their catalog - the Beatles and the Eagles are two examples of those. Everything we have streaming rights for is surfaced in the product. We also elect to surface the "buy only" tracks to allow our users to purchase MP3 songs rather than not surfacing them at all. It looks like the Jack Johnson album on the homepage is a data feed error - we will get that fixed...

-Christopher

[DashboardDJ856]

Mr. Allen, As suggested I called customer service today, my Id is 653923. The 2 support members were very helpful. As NTG subscribers, we do not have 'full' or 'unlimited' access to the entire Napster catalog as stated on the Napster website or advertising. There are these pesky tracks called 30 second clips/buy only tracks, that we cannot hear or download full songs.
The verbage that Napster uses is very deceiving & borders on false advertising.
For instance on the Napster Homepage, you have Jack Johnson's album 'Sleep Through The Static'. It is all 30 second clips. The Napster 2008 playlist, you mentioned is all full tracks. Of course it doesn't make sense to make a playlist or a radio station with 30 second clips. Something needs to be changed.
As always, trying to make nappy a better product, Dash

[DashboardDJ856]

Hey Chris, thanx for yer response. But since you also use NTG, this weekend, would you please check something for me before I call the 800 number. Check the tracks under The Eagles or Jackson Browne. If you don't see a mess of 30 second tracks, then myself and a whole lot of other people need to call the 800 number. I know a few peeps have left nappy because of that problem. Thanx, have a great weekend (skiing in Apsen) gotcha!

[Christopher]

Yes, Napster To Go subscribers absolutely have full access to the entire catalog with full track streaming. You might want to ping customer support and they can look up your account to see if something is going on, as I am logged in as a Napster To Go subscriber and I am playing full-length tracks. I am actually listening to our Top Hits of 2008 playlist http://home.napster.com/ns/play/admin_playlist/70744

-Christopher

[DashboardDJ856]

Hey Chris, hope you had a safe New Year's. I think you know my main pet peeve & other sunscribers. Under Napster To Go, we are suppose to have unlimited listening to all tracks. In your policy under the Napster User Guide under Membership Plan, it says under Listens To Tracks -Napster To Go subscribers get full tracks, not 30 second clips. Only Napster Light gets 30 second clips. So is there a programming problem or is there, let's say, 'a little gray area' with the 30 second clips. You advertise 'unlimited' tracks, yet that doesn't seem to be the case for us NTG subscribers. What is going on?

[DashboardDJ856]

Well, I'm glad to see you have a sense of humor. If your a Dilbert fan, here's one for ya. Wally tells Asok, "Vice Presidents can't hear us Asok. To them, our voices sound like the faint buzzing of flies.If you want to give him your idea.You have to do it indirectly. Tell someone who knows someone, who knows someone else, who knows the vice president." At least I got your eyes for a minute.
Yeah about Best Buy, go read about my day there in the message boards under Dash's Magical Misery Tour. It's about life in nappy hell. But like I try to tell people, I'm just trying to make nappy a better product. (read the Dilbert quote again)
Sarcasm, it's not a career choice, it's a lifetime of opportunities.
-Dash

[Christopher]

Actually my holiday was much more mundane than you might think. Aside from adopting a new dog from the LA County Animal Shelter, I spent a big chunk of each day on the phone with Time Warner, trying to get them to fix my home internet connection - apparently there were problems at the tap in the neighborhood. Six days and about 15 phone calls later, it now seems to be operational again.

Anyway, we are working diligently with Best Buy to get the Napster cards distributed and placed in the BBY stores across the country. Thanks for both your interest and your patience on that front. And, we are working on some broader launch plans with Best Buy tied to an upcoming product release. OK, I am a bit biased perhaps, but lots of cool stuff in the works...

-Christopher

[DashboardDJ856]

Oh Andreas, don't be worried about Mr.Allen, because he's not worried about you & your pesky problems. The Best Buy deal made him a rich man. I bet right now, during the holidays, he is skiing down the slopes in Aspen, throwing Napster precard cards to everyone he meets. You would have thought he would have left us a Christmas message of hope & good will before he left. Come with me & we can go sulk somewhere together. Oh,I forgot my manners! Andreas, Merry Christmas!

[Andreas]

Why don't you answer anymore, Christopher??? We are interested in what *you* think about all this!!! Thank you...

[name]

user's do not care about corporate headaches. the only thing users care about is the experience. spreadsheets are from the stoneage. pump up that ui.

[DashboardDJ856]

1) Andreas, trust me you don't want the 4.0 version!!! it takes away a lot of features. A Lot us here in the states wish we had 3.8 back!!!
2) NTG Girl & KennyG, I'll tell you why, they don't want NTG cards available. It makes it that easier for you to quit & use another music service. If you can't find any place to buy a card, they figure you might want to use your credit card and charge it monthly. Now, when you want to quit nappy, you have to call the 800 number to do that. Have you ever tried calling the 800 number?? Bring a magazine and some scoobie snacks, and when you do get a hold of someone, they will try to talk you out of qutting.
3) Christopher - a blog is a "FREQUENTLY" updated personal journal chronicling links at a Web site, intended for public viewing. Please make an effort. That's called customer service!

[DashboardDJ]

You can find ITunes cards in supermarkets, drug stores, heck even at Best Buy, but nappy cards, no where to be found! I have been complaining about this for 2 years now. So much for customer service!!

[KennyG]

I just want to know what happened to the Napster Cards! They are impossible to get ANYWHERE! I also want to know if Napster will get combined with the Best Buy Music Store or if it will stay a separate service. Best Buy Music Store sucks. Bad. And to stay competitive with Itunes you guys need to market and maybe include movies in you store.

[NTG Girl]

What has happened to all the prepaid cards? I want to give them as Christmas Presents and can't find a one!

[DashboardDJ]

Just as I thought! More of the same! No customer service, just more lip service! Yo Andreas your still on your own!!! Spotting a napsterstaff member is like finding a dodo bird. They are both extinct! I wish CEO Brad Anderson would take the time to see what is really going on here, instead of leaving it in the hands of the same people who have done nothing before.

[DashboardDJ]

Well I'm glad to see that everything is magical at Best Buy's & Nappy's corporate offices, where animals talk & men fart rainbows. Meanwhile back at the nappy farm, life is a lot more miserable. The one thing we don't need now is another distraction like this blog and a lot of promises that nappy isn't going to keep. You already have the Message Boards like the Trouble Shooting and Napster Service threads where people have complained & made suggestions about Napster services or lack of services. Heck, just read my 30 Second Snippet Depot & Magical Misery Tour threads! Two years ago, the genre issue was supposed to be fixed & updated, still nothing. The main problem is there is a lack of communication between Napster & it's customers. Just saying your the premier music service doesn't make it so. In fact, you in 10th place as far as music services go in a field of 10. From June to September nappy lost over 50,000 customers, I haven't found the new numbers yet, but I'm sure you lost another 50,000. Napster had a name brand recognition & at one point a couple of million users, now it's lucky to have over 500,000 users. What does that tell you about your product? Anyway, if you want any real suggestions, just read the message boards to truly find out what is going on.

[Andreas]

Christopher - thanks for your reply.

Besides the missing international release for the actual Napster version 4 there is another big issue that we are complaining about since many many months now in the German Napster forums:

There is no official local German speaking Napster employee anymore who is supporting us in the German forums. All the Napster users are discussing with other Napster users only and even in the help forums there are only hints from other users how to solve problems with the Napster client.

But no official answers from any official German speaking Napster supporter in the forums anymore, so we feel a little betrayed and disrespected here in Germany at the moment!

So what's up? Why are you officially moderating the US forums only and not the international forums anymore? What are Napster's future plans here?

Thank you...

[DashboardDJ353]

As A Napster-To-GO member, enough with the 30 second snippets, if I want 30 seconds of music, I would just go the BestBuy.com site. The terms of NTG are 'Unlimited' , 30 seconds is not unlimited! Or somehow, make it so NTG members can listen to a whole song but not download it into our mp3 player, since it has some kind of legal mumbo jumbo attached to it or at least charge me an extra couple of bucks for that option. Please also have someone in Napster staff answer the questions on the message boards. Where is a button to click on, to make it a little easier to find the Napster blogs?

[ananias]

Feedback on the official messageboards used to be great, now it is non-existent. A lot of people are worried that best buy is going to shut down napster or radically change it. a little reassurance (posted on the message boards, which is what people read since its embedded right into the application) would be nice

[Christopher]

Andreas - thanks for the comments. We are absolutely listening to our international customers, and while I won't get into any specifics, we are working diligently to the international release our web app shortly. Thanks again for your support, and stay tuned for more info...

[Andreas]

What should Napster and Best Buy do to empower you more with music and entertainment?

That's easy:

They should make Napster version 4 available in Germany and all other countries outside USA as soon as possible at last!!!

We are still on VERY OLD version 3.8.1.4 here and that's really a shame because we are paying customers too and so demanding the same modern application or web platform that the US customers can use for many many months now!!!

Please don't forget all your LOYAL customers outside the USA!!!

Thank you...

[Rob]

I agree with your thought on the BBY culture and feel on the campus.

My two vivid recollections on the Best Buy visit was the size of the steaks they serve at restaurants- think barosaurus from The Flintstones and the trip to the Best Buy Mobile concept store in the Mall of America. Barry Judge (BBY CMO) talks about the store concept on his blog

The store had amazing attention to detail in how the information was presented for the target audience. The store is targeted to women with children so they’ve included a play area for kids at a small retail location. I think this will spur us to do really deep thinking on designing product features and how we communicate them.

I think there is a huge opportunity for digital music as it goes mainstream. With our deep product knowledge and their consumer insights we’re poised for terrific growth.