The thing is...

5 Ways my iPad has changed my life...in one week

Having spent the last several months working out of my home office---and driving my family crazy--I needed to buy a computer. I was using my iMac, which I love, but it's pretty stationary.  

 

So I was faced with a choice:  Laptop or iPad?

I did some research, spoke to a bunch of friends and boiled the choice down to the following premise:  

"A laptop does laptop things but no iPad things.  An iPad does iPad things and a whole mess of laptop things."  

 No contest.  The iPad wins.  

 Less than a week ago, my iPad2 (32GB, refurb, WiFi, from the Apple Store) arrived from China.  Then I rigged it up with a wireless keyboard and a great case from Targus.

The thing is...Since then, this device has changed my life.  Read how.

Rhapsody...the good, the bad and the video

I am a huge fan of Rhapsody and of my SONOS system; together they give you access to MILLIONS of songs.  I haven't listened to a CD in 6 months.

The thing is...the combination is great for parties.   But it can result in these kinds of incidents.  The inevitable karaoke session.

Amazon will kill iTunes

OK, so maybe not but Amazon’s new music service has the potential re-structure the digital music industry that is currently dominated by Apple. 

SAVE PANDORA

Readers of this blog know I am a big Pandora fan, so I was upset when I read about the potential negative impact of a recent decision by the Copyright Royalty Board in Washington, DC to almost triple the licensing fees for Internet radio sites like Pandora.

The thing is...Go to SaveNetRadio.org and sign the petition. 

Continue to read the full statement from Pandora.

Check out Pandora podcasts

If you are a music fan and you haven't checked out Pandora yet, go. Now.  The site is a product of the Music Genome Project, an effort to analyze all musical styles and create a taxonomy--a genetic code--of hundreds of musical attributes.  It's one of the best things out there. 

Now Pandora has started a podcast series and a blog that discuss in detail some of the basic  elements that make up the music we listen to, such as "Guitar effects" and "Drums and Drumming."  Each podcast is about eight minutes long.  Subscrbe here.

The thing is... boy, it's refreshing to see a company understand what is all about, isn't it?  Pandora has it down cold.  The blog and the podcasts are great extensions of their overall mission.

It's about the "music" not the "industry"

The infrastucutre of the modern music industry is screwed.  We know that.  And we are all causing it by creating Napster, Kazaa and other file sharing sites.  We are causing it by demanding that we get the music we want, when we want it, how we want it  and usually for little money (iTunes) or no money in exchange (podcasting networks or places like Pandora). 

...the music industry, such as you could define it, has only been around for a hundred years or so and even then it was for a handful of musicians and composers who were paid to please the king. 

Long before the industry there was the music. There was sound and there was the beat, the stuff that stirred souls.  People always made music, for themselves, their families, their friends.  It's only recently in human history that anyone thought you could make a living doing it.  Then the industry got in the way.

Back in the day you could rely on tastemakers like the pioneers at Stax, Atlantic, Motown, Chess, Arista and a host of other labels to bring the best music to us, because they had the skills and the infrastructure to do it.  But then the corporations took over and started lining the wallets of a few honchos.  Now, who needs them.   

So yeah, we are seeing the destruction of a music industry that was always  a house of cards.  But we are also seeing a liberation or a re-democratization of music itself.  Now that each of us has the tools and the distribution to make and share whatever music we want music is being returned to the people. Ironically, with all this technology, we are going back to the past when anyone who wanted to make music, could make music.

By the way,  once upon a time, The J.Geils Band just ROCKED!

What’s the difference between “corporate” vs “company” culture and why should I care?

I’ve had this discussion with a lot of folks over the years and I’ve created the following distinction.  Whenever you get two or more people together in any organization, those people will create methods of communicating and interacting among each other that help organize time and effort.  These methods could include the way desks and workstations are positioned, where people go to lunch, after work activities, dress codes and annual parties.  These things make up “Company” culture.  When you hear people say “At our company, we work hard and play hard,” or “It’s a family atmosphere,” that’s a company culture they're talking about.

..all organizations have a “company” culture.  When people get together, they create one.  It just kind of happens.

Now “Corporate” culture is very different.  A “corporate” culture is a combination of systems and processes that are put in place specifically to drive competitive advantage in the marketplace.  Encompassing such things as work flow processes, infrastructure, training, communication and commitment to a well articulate mission statement (there are lots of others), a corporate culture is deliberate, difficult to build, hard to imitate and results in consistent returns to the organization in product quality, service delivery, cost controls or a combination of those. Corporate culture can’t easily be imitated.

 ...very few organizations have a corporate culture.  It’s hard to build, and even harder to maintain, despite the benefits. 

You can name the powerful corporate cultures out there including GE, Dell, Southwest,  Amazon, Wal-Mart,Digitas, IBM, and the New York Yankees…each of which has a track record of producing consistent results.  Even BB King’s touring band has a corporate culture—don’t show up late or it will cost you.  That’s why every time you go see BB and his band you know you are going to get a solid show.

Why should you care about the difference?  Take a look at your organization.  You know you have a "company" culture already.  But what is your "corporate" culture?   The second one matters more.