Daniel Jalkut in his recent blog discusses a generally positive review of a useful Mac utility that closes with the suggestion that it “should be free.” The crux of his piece seems to be:

In short, if the product were free as in charity, would the product even exist, and be good enough to mention on MacBreak Weekly, where Leo could wish that it was free?

People have different motivations for making good software¹ but I think it’s fair to say that the most polished software usually has some form of income stream, whether that’s a licence fee, banner adverts or something less direct.

Of course one problem about selling software is piracy, but fortunately Brad Wardell wrote a great blog entry about just that and the effect that it has on his games company:

It’s irrelevant how many people will play your game (if you’re in the business of selling games that is). It’s only relevant how many people are likely to buy your game.

How, you might ask, is this connected with Jalkut’s argument? Well, the simple truth is that reviewers of your software are not paying customers. Their needs and desires and value judgements are not the same as yours². Of course reviewers can raise the profile of your program but unless it results in more sales and not just more usage of your software then adding features or lowering the price only to please them is a waste of time.

If you want to sell software, your first priority should be keeping your customers happy, not reviewers.

1. Jesper notes his reasons for offering his software for free. His argument makes complete sense but does not invalidate Jalkut’s complaint.↩
2. I’m reminded of the comparative reviews of word processors that you got before there was little alternative to Microsoft Word. No matter how fully featured the program was, disregarding how user-friendly it was and regardless of the quirky or unique innovations it had, no word processor would ever get an unreserved recommendation without a decent word count feature. How many people even use a word count?↩

This is the second of a two-part article about YoPhoto’s photo book printing service. Previously I wrote about the authoring software and the ordering experience. Here I will go into more detail about the finished product.

I placed the order on Saturday 8th March. The dispatch notice arrived at lunchtime on Tuesday 11th and the book arrived on the next day. After waiting two weeks for some of the previous photo books it is refreshing to have this one in my hands less than three working days after placing the order.

Of course getting the book quickly is no good if it is of poor quality. So what is it like?

It arrives in a brown card sleeve, with glue so strong that you practically have to destroy it to get in. Or maybe I’m just clumsy. Either way everything inside was in perfect condition.

Immediately inside the sleeve is the book carefully wrapped in tissue paper. First impressions are good. The linen binding feels good and the “black bean” colour is deep and attractive. The only external indication of what is inside is the small, silver “yophoto” branding on the back.

Opening it up you find white paper, vellum and then the book proper. The photographs generally look good and most of the comments that I have made on the other books appy here too. The images are very good, but at a lower resolution than normal photographic prints. The colour — which has varied considerably more than most other variables — is muted but accurate. As with any hard copy, the images sometimes show the imperfections of the original in ways that you can’t really see on-screen. Of course this is hardly a criticism of the printing process.

Speaking of on-screen representations, it turns out that their editing application did a great job of rendering the finished product. The book arrived with no surprises which, is just as I like it.

My sense is that all the vendors must be using very similar technologies as it’s very difficult to distinguish between them simply in the quality of the pictures. And the good news here is that they’re all very good; most people would be happy the final results from any of the companies that I have tried.

Then there are the little extras. I like the vellum sheet that YoPhoto (and MyPublisher) places before the first page; I appreciate the tidy folding of the tissue paper — it shows a commendable attention to detail; and I prefer the way that they include the delivery charge in their prices; but none of these things are likely to push you towards one supplier above another.

Given that the finished books are very similar, the two things that I think matter are the ordering process and the delivery times. YoPhoto do well on both counts. Their delivery was the quickest of all those that I have tested — a full ten days ahead of the slowest — and the ordering process was helped by a powerful yet fairly simple to use application.

My only hesitation in using them again is the fact that they do not offer a Mac version of their application. But the vast majority of people who are stuck in the Microsoft world should certainly consider them next time they want a photo book printing.

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My first reaction was to hate it.

Actually, no. My first reaction was what a cute, almost-square book. My second was to hate it. It’s only a few pages into it and Levy is already discussing his great taste in music and disparaging mine (”… a pathetic Pet Shop Boys tune, the sort of thing that Nick Hornby would listen to on a bad day.”)

It wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. But — step back — what was I expecting? Well, the blurb on the back tells you that you can learn how the iPod became the defining object of the 21st century. Having read most of Steven Levy’s previous books, the obvious point of comparison was “Insanely Great,” the story of the Macintosh. But while the Mac took several years to put together, the iPod took only around six months. In hindsight maybe it’s pretty obvious that it’s not all the trials and tribulations of putting the machine together.

So what is it? In some ways this is the technology version of Alain de Botton’s “The Art of Travel.” It doesn’t so much talk about the making of the iPod as discuss the experience of owning and using one.

For example, one chapter is on the idea of “shuffle” and how people use it and attach super-human abilities to its ability to select the most appropriate mixes while theoretically being entirely random. Even when he talks about the design it’s more along the lines of how it makes people feel. One interesting observation was that when people speak about the iPod, they invariably reach into their bag or pocket to retrieve their machine and start touching it, pressing the controls, polishing the screen. How many other gadgets evoke this kind of sentimental reaction?

Certainly much mirrors my own experience. I remember sitting on the tube on the way home from Tottenham Court Road after buying a first generation iPod, the tiny cube¹ that it was packaged in sat on my knee, and thinking, “I can’t believe I just spent £350 on a Walkman.”² Yet when I got home and started using it, any doubt vanished and quickly it became my most prized gadget.

In fact, as I type this my fifth generation iPod is on the blink. The emotional impact of this neat pile of components being on the verge of failing is quite unlike almost any other gadget I own.

Anyway, I was writing about the book “The Perfect Thing” and not my own experience, so let’s get back to the point. If you’ve ever read any other Levy books (or his column in Newsweek) you’ll know that he has an easy, engaging style and this book is no different. He covers all the bases, touching on everything from the design to downloading music from the Internet (and the fun that Apple had making iTunes) to Podcasts.

Given that it’s more about the experience of owning an iPod the fact that it’s already dated — there’s no mention of the iPhone, the Touch or the current range of Nano’s — is less of an issue than I initially expected.

Overall it’s much more of a “fluff” piece than most of his other books, but that does not make it any less entertaining or complete. Worth a read, just not as highly recommended as “Crypto” or “Insanely Great.”

1. I suppose 2001 was when the G4 cube still held the promise of being successful.↩
2. In fact I was lucky to get away with that. A number of shops, having just one machine left, wanted to charge me more that list price. I knew I wanted one but not that much.↩

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