An open letter to gear manufacturers from an end user.

[joeysimms]

Since more and more of TapeOp these days seems to be glossy ads / porn claiming to fix my life forever, I tend to look at them a little. Most of them are so cheesy and awful that they end up serving the opposite purpose: The harder you try and sell me something, the less i listen!

I'm sooo tired of reading the word "warmth". I got some warmth for ya, it just dropped outta my ass you slimy fuckwads!

hey Phil, I said "fuckwad"!

[goldenechos]

I think this converation applies to nearly EVERY area of consumerism today. Few people purchases shoes with the idea that they will wear them for years, getting them repaired and re-soled along the way. Few people purchase a knife thinking they will ever get it sharped.

When the knife goes dull, it is time to get down to TARGET!

Most people are too cheap to pay for quality cutlery. Besides, as stated earlier in this post, for many people SHOPPING IS THE FUN.

The few people that want SIMPLY quality will have to pay more today because the majority is NOT purchasing the quality.

I think the best thing to do is to purchase from companies that share your personal aesthetic! Read about them, visit the websites CALL THEM UP.
Right now those companies are smaller, have fewer products and (unfortunately) charge a more.

[bobbydj]

I think this converation applies to nearly EVERY area of consumerism today. Few people purchases shoes with the idea that they will wear them for years, getting them repaired and re-soled along the way.

Haha - not that this gainsays your point in anyway whatsoever, but I just last month had my shoes re-soled. I bought them about 10 years ago for ?90 (=$180).

They are these ones I think. Don't laugh. Ah fuck it - guffaw at them. Most people do. Square as fuck, they are. I just needed something for interview shit cos I was on the dole.

[mertmo]

bobbydj -

you're right, I focused on a small part of Joel's original argument. But really, we're all talking about the same thing in the end.

The fact that these companies are creating a market that doesn't really need to exist, except to sustain itself. If they can't sell enough great simple gear, they can stay in business by "inventing" demand for dumb shit like lights and bells and whistles, that nobody really needed before, but they've been sold on the concept that they need it now.

If companies didn't do this, there's no way they could compete. Because there just aren't enough of us that actually need or can afford to buy $2000 pieces of gear that will never need replacing!



This really is a great discussion... like most things, more complicated than it first appears.

[bigtoe]

"Jack Endino gave the keynote address. He brought up the fact that Quantegy only has a five year plan for keeping tape around (and that this was a year or two ago). It really opened my eyes and, frankly, scared me."

I wonder what this means though. I mean in a dying market...i'm sure you keep your plans tight and re-evaluate...five years seems like a long time away.

quantegy has the whole market...even if it's a shrinking one. and it's a market with customers not unlike harley davidson customers...the loyalty factor is a hard factor to ignore.

i'd look at the tape game as an entirely new market...cuz it is. stop looking at the market as dying and start looking at the upside and how you can fill the need.

Mike