I had occasion to be in my favourite bookstore … Readings here in Carlton … they have an excellent range of high grade Vinyl … and I was musing that the real answer to the music companies fears of unauthorised digital duplication is to … only release the LP version of the music. The complete absence of analogue copying facilities in Pirate land would ensure that the music never went beyond its copyright borders … when you buy a record, and to a lesser extent a CD, you possess a tangible artifact from the artist that you know is the best available iteration of their performance in the intended sequence ... and it cant be wiped from your system by an elctrical spike or use-license expiry ...

Readings is an excellent specialist retailer of product that in theory can be bought either online or from a global chain that opened up next door (Borders) with a clear intent of taking their market share. Borders themselves proclaimed when they opened that there was no room for themselves and a traditional specialist in the same neighbourhood and were of the confident presumption that their business model would supersede a small medium enterprise built on service values and good quality staff. What actually transpired was that Readings found their business to have only been affected by a minor percentage by the Borders attack, because they actually sell better quality literature along with an excellent shopping experience.

Jerry Harvey made a similar pronouncement in the consumer electronic marketplace when they attempted to raise the market level of their offering to compete with the specialist audio stores a few years back ... fail ... thus joining Myer Electric and many pretenders who thought they could offer the form of a quality audio visual store without the substance of good staff and excellent product and service. Rather like Nikita Kruschev and “we will bury you” in the end it has been the mass marketers that have gone to the wall in the incessant market force onslaught. The bulk store retailers are increasingly feeling the pressure from online resellers that are able to offer a bypass for the consumer from annoying commissioned salesmen purveying undifferentiated low-end electronics.

As you are probably aware Borders has now gone into liquidation in Australia as part of the Red group that also included the Angus and Robertson stores (an irrevocably boring bookshop ...) and the Carlton store is in the process of being closed down. Whilst the Borders business plan was originally to consume the the market share of specialist stores it seems that they themselves were consumed by the really big fish being Amazon et al from E-tail land. I'm sorry but we have actually done rather nicely out of the Borders demise as they were not only selling off their (bad) range of books but were also liquidating their (good) shop fittings … thanks very much for the 10 cents in the dollar chairs and slat wall fittings guys …

E-tailers loved the bricks and mortar majors plaintive call to the government to bring in the GST levy for purchasers under a thousand dollars, it was brilliant advertising to buy small goods online overseas as far as they were concerned, Sadly for Mr Harvey et al perhaps they should have done better to publicly insist on the removal of that levy on Australian goods rather than its addition to imports. In our case we avoid products that we are not able to be competitive on … I will not harp about the need to buy mains operated kit in Australia for Australian use any more herein, but it is very important that you buy Australian spec 240V kit for Australia …

Low end TVs are a particular item that is being purchased online ... there has been an entertaining slanging match in the industry beetween Mr Harvey and Mr Kogan. They are both selling inexpensive TVs that have basically become disposable "printed" products. The strident edge has come off the advertising of 3D as the thing to have in your TV and the industry is now gearing for the next whiz feature in an otherwise stagnant mid range market that involves connectivity in the digital realm …

TVs are offering themselves up as “Internet ready for your favourite sites”” or “now able to reach out and touch the digital world” etc etc in that they are incorporating some degree of media streaming in the current crop of product … Loewe have actually been doing this for ages in their Connect series or as an add-on to their other ranges but the voracious-for-new-feature SE Asian TV giants are finally connecting their displays to a domestic network … somewhat …
Because that’s not to say that you can pick up the handset of your new Shonysung TV and dive online or into your own hard drive … oh no … there is a new battle taking place over the distribution model of web based content and file compatibility that’s taking place in the high ground of media.
You don’t think you are going to be allowed by the TV manufacturers to slip away from News Corp et al when it comes to providing them with repeat revenue sources based around your viewing habits do you?

There are serious deals being done between the major purveyors of media and the major manufacturers of your TVs to ensure that you the consumer stay firmly in your place in the fiscal food chain of social and entertainment media. Where your TV will be allowed to browse and which files it will be allowed to stream are a very particular part of this evolution of media distribution. The current media moguls oddly enough are attempting to ensure that they remain at the top of the consumption pyramid and they are prepared to fight to retain their positions. They are sometimes playing a sticky wicket as witness the MySpace resale that NewsCorp just lost $545 Million on ... I have strong feelings about News Media companies with Republicanesque leadings that they deserve even less sympathy than Borders.

I note with interest that LG Australia - one of the main purveyors of the aforesaid Televisions - with a turnover of several hundred million dollars in Australia has declared a net profit FY 2010 of ... $11,492 ... this down from their 2009 figure of ... $12,749 ... expect the ATO to pay you a call chaps ...

Break the cycle I believe … put a computer or two on your (good) TV and theatre system as just another source component … the media browsing capabilities of the TVs are nothing but frustratingly limited and desperately slow and clunky trying to operate through a remote. Nothing beats a wireless QWERTY Keypad and mouse with totally open access to material online and on your own network. ABC iView is a wonderful thing.

Then, like many generation Y and Z clients of our store, it will also be time to add a Turntable to the system. There has been such a resurgance of youth consumer interest in this format that I suspect an undercurrent of rebellion against the imposition of digital expectation on this generation. Hopefully they will be browsing the shelves at Readings and then buying some good books as well as good records ...