I posted this as a response to someone's thread, but I thought it deserved it's own thread! I wrote this quickly so I hope I didn't ramble too much, but here are my thoughts about the club.

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Ok, I have to make some comments... I am tired of the 'club sucks' postings so let me just point out a few things. I have been a member since the very beginning of year one.

My first point is downloads vs. CDs. Based on overwhelming CUSTOMER FEEDBACK (Year one live club chat, e-males... etc.) the club changed it's download model to CD delivery. On top of that... NPGMC changed it's download format throughout the year based on CUSTOMER FEEDBACK. If you were around for early year one they had a proprietary player which was difficult to use, so they moved to MP3 format.

Now for my personal feeling on this topic. Personally, I prefer downloads for a few reasons. It is easy for NPGMC to post an electronic file without having to worry about packaging and distribution, other than putting up more servers etc... to support the download site. With that said, i am not surprised AT ALL that we have issues with CD delivery. P is a perfectionist and is not going to put out a CD-R with a few songs on it... he is going to make sure it is a properly packaged asset. We all should know that this is a long process and involves time, resources, money and various poeple/groups/ So.. could they have added some more downloads for us? Sure, but were members going to cry because they couldn't access the files? sure.

My second point is Concert Ticket purchases. Some of us seem to forget that NPGMC had an agreement with Ticketmaster to purchase P tickets at a 'preslae'. Well, this was an absolutely horrible process and there were NO members in the first five rows for the Chicago ONA concent I attended. So, BASED ON CUSTOMER FEEDBACK, NPGMC changed the process to allow members the opportunity to get choice seating for all remaining shows of the year.

My overriding point on this post is this. I am NOT a Prince lemming (as someone has posted elsewhere), but NPGMC has always listened to it's consumers and implemented changes based on overwhelming customer feedback. I would much rather spend my money with a company/service which listens to it's customers and implements changes based on that listening. It also goes to say that ANY COMPANY who changes a process will encounter glitches with the new process. I work for a HUGE hardware/software company who has been around for 100 years and we STILL have glitches when we change a process, even with all the knowledge we have from the past 100 years. NPGMC is learning with us, noone is perfect, but if they make changes based on their customers, we will be able to make this club work for us.

Now, get to work and start providing constructive customer feedback to NPGMC!

Thanks

Classic Prince Lemming

Prince changed the format because he started cheap and had bad security and anyone could crack into the site and get the downloads.

I love my Chicago people!! I am glad you posted this thread. I am so sick of people calling me a Prince fanatic because I happen to be happy with the club, although I did prefer the downloads from year one. I agree that things seem to change when feedback is given to the club. I also attended the Chicago shows and my seats were crappy, even when the tickets were bought through the presale. I hated seeing the people in the first few rows who had probably never heard the new album and were waiting to hear "Purple Rain". Later on, the tickets could be bought through the site for members only and they got better as the tour went on. Actually I got pretty jealous reading about the great seats they got in other cities...but if our constructive critcism made it better for others, then good.

RomeoMustDie said:

Super
bum
bum
lickin
lemming

MzCadillacLady said:

The benefit of the mp3 were that they came on a regular basis. There were no delays.

But with mp3s there is a loss of sound quality. To most people its negligible but for audiophiles or Prince collectors, a tangible CD with complete packaging is a nicer experience.

To be honest, running servers to host all of the MP3s, as well as the high amount of bandwith, would be much costlier than producing and mailing out CDs. You can pay upwards of $500-$700 per month for just one dedicated server. Even with a modest number of people signed up for NPGMC, I'm sure they would need at least a few servers. Then figure that downloading several megabyte files all day hogs up much more bandwith than viewing pages, so thats gonna jack up their costs as well.

On the flipside, CD's can be mass produced relatively cheaply. Where I work at we have a few hundred promotional CDs made from time to time for under 1000 dollars. Postage to mail them would be less than $2-$3.

I completely agree. I think NPGMC stands as an example of outstanding customer service.

And to reply to recent criticisms of my character, I make far too much money to even THINK about smoking crack.

Crack is whack.

RomeoMustDie said:

LOL

**** But even still... you can do that with CDs too... sooooo what are you saying
[This message was edited Sat Dec 7 17:56:44 PST 2002 by MzCadillacLady]

stymie said:

Thanks, stymie! I love us all too

Yes, the people in the front rows KILLED me!! I am completely jeolous of those members who have had the front rows. But... IF IT WEREN"T for US providing feedback You all woulda been there in the back too.....

Nah, i'm not jealous LOL!!


**** Dang forgeting words in my responses. I must be
[This message was edited Sat Dec 7 18:07:14 PST 2002 by MzCadillacLady]

Tom said:

I don't agree about the costs being more expensive. In the short term, maybe... but the return on ivestment would come back to him within a year or two. So, I'll do an ROI study on the e-biz side, you show me a ROI on the CD side... Let's get some numbers together to start with

Aw hell, gimme a job NPGMC

I just thought of something else to add to this thread...

Yes, so, if it's cheaper to press CDs, It's probably WAY cheaper to produce WAAAY more CDs than there are members... So, what to do with the extra? Why not put them out to retail...

Maybe MP3s are not the right format... Why not release SHN files... They maintain higher fidelity and higher quality playback...

Ah, whateva... **** I guess what I am saying is that if NPGM implements the right system we could all be happy
[This message was edited Sat Dec 7 18:20:54 PST 2002 by MzCadillacLady]

This is what I like to read, constructive criticism of the Club, but with a decent acknowledgement of what they did right. There's so much negativity here sometimes and, worst of all, it can be infectious for the rest of us.

I wrote a long appraisal of this year's club to the NPGMC and I advocated year 3 being a mix of downloads and sent CDs. I believe this is a good model for 2003 and I do hope they implement it.

MzCadillacLady said:

Educate me please. What happened in the earlier concerts with seating?

The first few concerts seats sucked for members. I don't know what happened with the members only presale, if people told all their friends or what, but it wasn't like it has been now where you can buy passes directly on the website for the first few rows. When Prince came down into the audience during the soundcheck in Chicago, he asked where were we were all sitting. Everyone pointed in several different directions, but for the most part, there weren't very many members sitting up front.