Major New MSE Website - TuneChecker pls help test it

payless

I don't have an issue wth Martin including afflialite links to help fund development , costs and/or profit.

Suppose the question is :- are these links in effect adverts ? - as the site quotes a "no- ad " USP

If the tool / editorials ( not just talking about tunes- but all of MSE's activities ) effectively cover the marketplace , then I suggest that the links are not not ads , however where the site is comparing from a smaller sample then I would say affiliate links are adverts.

Back onto the Tune site -Maybe next point is petty - but if MSE is "whiter than white" then perhaps relevant ( especially if similiar services are/ become available elsewhere) ;
if this is a seperate legal entity from MSE site, then the mentioning of the service by interested parties (ie Martin and his staff) is again surely an advert.

russell07

payless wrote: »

I don't have an issue wth Martin including afflialite links to help fund development , costs and/or profit.

Suppose the question is :- are these links in effect adverts ? - as the site quotes a "no- ad " USP

If the tool / editorials ( not just talking about tunes- but all of MSE's activities ) effectively cover the marketplace , then I suggest that the links are not not ads , however where the site is comparing from a smaller sample then I would say affiliate links are adverts.

Back onto the Tune site -Maybe next point is petty - but if MSE is "whiter than white" then perhaps relevant ( especially if similiar services are/ become available elsewhere) ;
if this is a seperate legal entity from MSE site, then the mentioning of the service by interested parties (ie Martin and his staff) is again surely an advert.

Firstly the tool is clear in that it compares prices from a selected range of suppliers (which I would say cover the majority of users' purchases anyway) - indeed this is the very first thing at the top of the page.

Whether a user uses this site to find the lowest price from these suppliers, and then compares that with other suppliers or not is their choice, and surely has only made this process quicker and easier.

On your second point, which I must admit I don't fully understand, whether or not tunechecker is a separate legal entity or not, it still comes under the umbrella of MSE sites, and therefore I can't see any problem in it being promoted by Martin on the main MSE site, as its core values are exactly the same in that it helps users to save money. It is not influencing your actual purchase in any way other than through the end product price (which is the same whether you use the tool or not).

Let's not forget that MSE does indeed promote the use of comparison sites for other purchases which in a lot of cases are separate independent profit making entities not connected to MSE.

CLLC

MSE_Martin wrote: »

Its not 'an affiliate site' its a 'finding the cheapest MP3 site' though its funding model is an affilaite one as explaned on the site. We order by who's cheapest not by who pays the biggest affil revenue (and as its usually a % of the track value, by definition a comparison site means as we're always with the cheapest provider thats lower anyway)

Also your statement that you can't get cashback is wrong. You can use the site to find where is cheapest and then get cashback and we tell peope about this in the FAQ - and wouldn't dream of stopping anyone doing this (though the savings from getting the cheapest track easily outstrip cashback on most occassions)

Yet there seems to be an assumption this site was built for free. Actually its taken many hundreds of hours of mine and my teams time - and my team don't work for nothing they need paying - as does the licence to use official chart data - servers and more. Currently its rather unlikely that it will ever pay back that cost - though I think its a good tool and am happy to take this a risk. Yet to set up a site like this as a charity would be a bit far?

Martin

I was just asking a Question by the way , No offence if any

I just noticed it seemed like affiliate links hence my question , I also know and acknowledge it's not free to build something like this. I'm just wondering how we could use Cashback like Quidco

For example I go through Quidco {affiliate cashback link} -> Search and go to purchase music through your tool {go through another affiliate link] -> To the Seller of the Music.

So basically is it going from an affiliate link to another affiliate link to the Purchaser hence the cashback fails? Or will it be To use Cashback sites will people use your tool to find the cheapest then separately go to quidco -> Direct to sellers site {Hence missing out your link}?

Thanks & thank you for providing and investing in this tool for people to use

CLLC

russell07

CLLC wrote: »

I was just asking a Question by the way , No offence if any

I just noticed it seemed like affiliate links hence my question , I also know and acknowledge it's not free to build something like this. I'm just wondering how we could use Cashback like Quidco

For example I go through Quidco {affiliate cashback link} -> Search and go to purchase music through your tool {go through another affiliate link] -> To the Seller of the Music.

So basically is it going from an affiliate link to another affiliate link to the Purchaser hence the cashback fails? Or will it be To use Cashback sites will people use your tool to find the cheapest then separately go to quidco -> Direct to sellers site {Hence missing out your link}?

Thanks & thank you for providing and investing in this tool for people to use

CLLC

It would be the latter i.e. go to tunechecker to identify where to purchase your song, then go via a cashback provider directly to that supplier.

Martin's point is that if you chose a more expensive supplier over a cheaper one on the fact that that it gives cashback (where the cheaper one doesn't) then it is unlikely you will be better off than if you went directly to the cheaper supplier (i.e. via tunechecker).

russell07

Anyone interested - a tunechecker press release has now hit the web at the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/dec/07/music-price-comparison-challenge-itunes

payless

quote from article -

We have seen our sales go up faster than the market. With people like Tesco, HMV and Play in the market, the monopoly that iTunes has enjoyed may not last that much longer," he said

someone who needs to look up what a monopoly means

MSE_Martin

russell07 wrote: »

Anyone interested - a tunechecker press release has now hit the web at the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/dec/07/music-price-comparison-challenge-itunes

Actually we havent press released it yet (and I think guardian wouldn't like it being called that - its an article) though we've got lots of coverage - many journalists spotted it and liked it. Good news all round.

payless wrote: »

quote from article -

"We have seen our sales go up faster than the market. With people like Tesco, HMV and Play in the market, the monopoly that iTunes has enjoyed may not last that much longer," he said "


someone who needs to look up what a monopoly means

Just to say of course that wasn't a quote from me... I would have called it an 'oligopoly'

payless

never intended to attribute that quote to you Martin.

Yes it would be classically called an oligopoly, and although whilst one could identify the major attribute of such being barrier to entry being seen here in the "legal" world... I do wonder if it really does apply given the illegal download avenues available!- it would be interesting to see what persentage of downloads are from each route and/or provider.

Itunes is dominant in market share , but does not seem to use this dominance to knock out other players using price - instead it is happy to be higher charging and still claim the market share!

Its possible that the current (Nash) equilibrium could be upset further by an explosion of comparison sites ( interestingly funded by the providers themselves = self destruction ?? If I was in control of a marketing budget of a supplier I'm not sure I would like that model )

equilibrium_2

Brilliant new tool – already saved £'s.
Thanks Martin

davethorp

Do all of the providers on the site count towards the official download chart?