Its all about branding

I'm willing to bet at least 9 out of 10 people just briefly glancing at the picture above could easily tell me what that logo stands for. Its I-Tunes.

Sure the compact disc may become for all intents and purposes obsolete some time in the near future. But do I think Apple needs to change this logo? Absolultely not. It's all about branding and Apple has that down to a science. This logo is simultaneously synonymous with both I-Tunes and Apple and is instantly recognizable. What more could you ask for out of a logo? Nothing.

You put that logo on a website as a button, and intuitively anyone, except for maybe your great grandparents, will know that if they click on it, their I-Tunes application will pop up.

My choice to keep the design of this logo in favor of revamping it isn't a cop-out, but rather a recognition that branding is one of the things that Apple does best and I think this truly is a case of 'if it aint broke dont fix it'.

I-Tunes needs to start thinking outside the box

I-Tunes Critique/Survey/Goals:

All in all, from my personal experiences to the survey responses I collected, there seems to be a general consensus that the functionality of I-Tunes is pretty solid. There are definitely a few features that they need to add, lyrics being a big one. I think some improvements could be made in the search and credits could be added to areas of production and behind the scenes work to the music, but those would all be quick easy fixes for I-Tunes.

Really what Apple needs to view I-Tunes as, and i think they are headed in that direction, is a literal "one stop shop for all your online media needs." They need to give consumers no reason to shop anywhere else for their media, and most importantly their musical longings.

The biggest problem i see with the I-Tunes music store is the fact that as my survey pointed out, almost NO ONE goes to I-Tunes to discover new music. Sure people may often times discover music elsewhere and go to I-Tunes to purchase it. However, if you eliminate that middle man you are much more likely to compete with illegal downloading because you are offering convenience to your customers. Link I-Tunes directly in customers minds as your place to constantly stay on the up and up with the latest and greatest in your musical tastes and people will flock there.

In an upcoming post i will detail an idea i have come up with to help take I-Tunes to the next level as a music provider to the masses. The idea centers on this concept of being a place where people can come not to just buy music, but experience and discover it. It isn't the only solution to the problem and in fact i think I-Tunes needs to consider giving their store a community element to it. The most popular illegal downloading sites i have seen over the years all center on having a communal feel. They create this atmosphere where you feel apart of something; you're in and underground society no matter how mainstream it might be and that kind of thing is attractive to people, especially in a younger demographic.

To summarize, I think there are a few things I-Tunes can definitely do to improve its functionality, interface, searching etc...But I personally believe the true answer to making I-Tunes "The future of music" lies in creating an atmosphere thats both constantly music-relevant, and also much more personal and connected to its users.

I-Tunes Survey

Here is the link to my survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=jAuFMO7BYfTdZXdD4BY4tg_3d_3d

I collected over 4o responses, which i was surprised at how easy a feat that was. The results were very interesting, especially the fact that the majority of those surveyed do not use I-tunes as a way to "discover" new music or artists. Also the answers to the open ended question i feel gave some really important insight as to what users except or hope for out of I-Tunes.

I have a big idea for an interface/functionality related change/addition for I-Tunes, but it is something i'd rather save until our projects are fleshed out a little further.

bookmarks are del.icio.us

Here is my link to the delicious bookmars: http://del.icio.us/Scrkng22

I Tunes Could be Better

I think one feature that would really enhance the i-tunes experience is having updates from your favorite bands. I think there should be a feature where you can "subscribe" to your favorite bands and receive updates from them when new music, concert tickets, video etc... become available.

Having i-tunes run through the internet would help this, but in any case, when a band you have subscribed to, say puts concert tickets up for sale, you should recieve a news feed on your itunes or even if you have an i-phone you could have it sent directly to your phone as an alert. This makes the experience more personal and keeps you constantly connected with both i-tunes and its content.

Ecommerce is about ease

Instead of looking at a huge ecommerce site like Amazon.com I want to look at a site on a smaller scale that larger ones such as Amazon could take notes from.

The website merchdirect.com sells merchandise for a wide array of rock bands. Their homepage is very simple and eyecatching with a lot of pictures of various new merchandise. The only drawback on their page is there is no "search" function, only a pulldown menu of all the bands they represent. I think once they grow larger it would be much more useful to implement a search function that also includes recommendations on similar bands to those you are looking at.

One feature i really like is that each bands merchandise page you go to isnt just a standard look but rather allows the bands to reflect their image by putting up different backgrounds etc...

The transactions are very simple and it allows you to buy merchandise from many different bands stores at once so that you can save on shipping.

I think bigger sites like Amazon could take a cue from merchdirect.com in eliminating a lot of the clutter on their pages and keeping the essentials of what your customers need.

Starting companies with your friends is hard to do

Next Town Logo:


#2



I think the movie Startup.com was compelling as a whole. It was a rare look into a process that can be very exciting, complicated, and disastrous as the movie showed. Having considered an entrepreneurial route with friends before, it was fascinating to watch how much success and heartbreak the whole process can cause.

Particularly what i learned from the movie was that if you are going to start a business, whether with close friends or not, it is absolutely crucial to be able to separate professional realms from personal. You have to be able to be one distinct person at work and totally separate that from who you are at home.