Nathan, I think you are comparing watermelons to kumquats.
We are not talking about dissolving subscription models in favor of all free content. The nature of my content deals with people like Allen Meadows and Steve Tanzer is that I can only show their intellectual property to people who are already paying to access it. The key value-add is that their subscribers then get to use this IP in more scenarios, thus making it more useful to them. I also bring many potential new subscribers. For a lot of people the sheer convenience of accessing professional content through a highly sticky (voluntary subscription) tool like CellarTracker. You are also potentially conflating ‘free content’ with ‘software utility.’ While CellarTracker features free wine reviews from consumers, the bulk of the utility (and revenue) is derived from people use the ‘software productivity tool’ aspect of the site. Most people who use the site to read reviews do not pay. That said, a large chunk (40%) of those managing their cellars with the tool to choose to pay a voluntary annual subscription.
If the potential audience of users of the MyWines product are limited to those who are already paying Parker $100/year, they will have a very hard time building up a critical mass of user inventory, reviews etc. They might get a few thousands people. At this point CellarTracker has 42,000 people actively tracking their cellars with more than 25,000 of those writing reviews, and we have 5.5 years worth of accumulated data as well.
Murdoch wants to blok Google? Do it. It’s literally a matter of editing some text files on his sites. In any event, you obviously don’t understand the issue since free opinion content ala Perez Hilton and Drudge have nothing to do with the issue of licensing content in the manner in which CT uses it.
Just out of curiosity, why do you guys seem to think that it’s Robert Parker’s solemn duty to increase the totals in Eric Levine’s various bank accounts?
Nathan, don’t be a tool. Robert Parker should do what he thinks is best for him, his business and his customers. I have been making an argument for 5 years that simple collaboration between us with complete respect for his IP would benefit all of the above–and obviously would be good for me and CellarTracker. He and/or his technology people apparently disagree and would prefer to compete with me. Fine. Thousands of mutual customer would prefer that we collaborate (which also does not preclude competing) with several dozen weighing in publicly this summer on the ‘Taking it to the next level’ thread on Bob’s board. Bob has even said publicly that, once MyWines ships, he may well choose to talk to me. What is clear from your responses so far is that you are either not reading or prefer to make sweeping analogies without understanding the subject matter. That is your prerogative of course.
That was funny. Although, I do find it ironic that some complain about all of the Parker bashing on the internet as
But this is so different? Parker is a grown man. He can decide what is best. Short of a petition being signed and circulated, he is aware of everyone’s opinion on CT integration.
I find this an odd comment and don’t understand where you’re coming from. I don’t recall anyone saying it was Parker’s “solemn duty” (in your words) to do this; rather, the consumers think it would be helpful and apparently all are willing to pay the subscription fee for it. It seems its Bob’s bank account that would benefit.
i used to use the old parker software to track my cellar, was reluctant to change, and waited for a while (6 months-year) for mywines before giving up and switching to cellartracker. can’t imagine that anythng will get me to switch from cellartracker. i love it - absolutely no comparison to what i was using before.
I used RPWACM from 2003 until May of this year. The primary reason was that I wanted access to the WA reviews in a convenient form. With a great deal of help from Eric, I converted to CT in May. I know Eric is working on a major upgrade, but as it stands now, it is an awesome piece of software. The usability is already quite high as is.
The most ironic aspect of this whole discussion is that for the vast majority of wines, CT has a link to the WA review. So if you have a subscription, you just click on the link. This brings you to the eRP review, where you can then look at other reviews (if there is more than one for that wine) and use the full functionality of that site simultaneously. So IMO integration with eRP is a non-issue for CT. I know it would be good in terms of publicity for CT but as a CT user and WA subscriber, I don’t find it to be a pressing need.
That’s because you’re on their special manual processing list and they must make sure it does not include any unacceptable material about Sierra Carche before sending it to you.
Steve, as I have already noted earlier in this thread, I think it is a bit shameful to announce a product on 9/1/2006 and claim it is “imminent” before the end of 2006, and then here we are 3 years and 3 months later and still no product. Clearly their goal was FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) to blunt my business. I think the many customer comments in that thread suggest it has turned back on them. All that said, I have met some of the engineers circa 2006. They are smart, professional people. I am confident that whatever they deliver will be professional and well thought through. Goodness knows they have had plenty of time.
Given the track record though, is it enough to just deliver the product? How confident are people that these folks will then deliver top-notch support and continue iterate rapidly into the future? Just gasping your way across the finish line won’t cut it. We are on mile 3 of a marathon in my opinion. Or maybe they are on mile 3 and CellarTracker is on mile 13. This is a surprisingly rich space with an endless number of cool areas to innovate.
One last thought. Even if someone “builds a better mousetrap,” it is my opinion that is just a small part of the equation. CellarTracker as a phenomenon has far outstripped my expectations. The thing is, it’s not about me, my code, the database etc at this point. Rather, CT is a living thing that is a combination of all of those AND a huge critical mass of very hands-on, engaged customers. Frankly all of YOU are in many respects far more important than me. Let’s take Vinfolio as one example. Back in 7/2008 they delivered a big upgrade to VinCellar. In many respects it is technically superior to CellarTracker from some engineering aspects. When they launched this new site they had 6,000 community notes. Now 17 months later they have ~34,000. CellarTracker generates that many notes in 2-3 weeks ago this point with 1.15 million, ~410,000 in 2009 and accelerating.
Anyway, I welcome the competition from Vinfolio, Parker, Vaynerchuck, Snooth and many, many others. It certainly has me BUSTING my ass. You will see some serious fruit from that labor pretty soon. (I sure hope this year but we will see.) Bottom line, the more innovation there is in this space the more the space will be validated and grow. Lots of parallels to my early days in technology as WordPerfect led 90% of the word processing market from DOS to Windows into the waiting jaws of the Word team. Those were heady days!
Steve, not a good plan. I do still hold out hope that I might collaborate with these people someday, since a lot of mutual customers want us to do that.
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