Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Circuit City to be a lost city

Chapter 11 in the dreaded book for Circuit City. The no. 2 electronics retailer in US filed for bankruptcy on Monday. That's Fortune 499 for the moment then.

Of the 566 stores operating 155 are planned to be closed. Quoting from the CNN website, CC has said that they would "We remain committed to doing a better job of taking care of our guests, and making it easier to shop at Circuit City." So they would still be in the business temporarily. Translation: bigger better bargains in the coming few months. But i guess that is moot: will the people have enough money to buy that 53" HDTV?

Bob Dylan for the soul:
Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'

ps: Somehow I feel the worst is yet to come :|

Blu-spec - Sony's new CD format (Floptastic!)

Aren't CDs dead? To be honest in the last 2 years the only time I used a CD was a month back to install drivers for my FSG (oh yea the Ubuntu installation last week too). I hear you say DVDs, well that's another story.

Still remember during engineering Biju had come over with a spindle of 25 blank CDs for burning MP3s :)

*Note to self: Must stop digressing*

Sony has plans to launch a new CD format - Blu-spec CD. People are still mourning over Blu-ray. Why won't Sony give it a break? Apparanetly they have perfected the art of the 'Blue laser' and wants to bring out audio CDs. Not much information is available at the moment, but the company says it will have over 50 titles ready by Christmas eve, in Japan that is.
The new way of creating CDs apparently would be extremely close to the master plate. Sure we'll have audiophiles queuing. Remember MiniDisc anyone?

My two questions to Sony:
1. What DRM plans? Now, now, you can't have anyone and everyone making copies, can you? ;)
2. Why go to such extreme length to create the "perfect" CD when my ears (pardon me, but yours too) won't distinguish any of this!

Another monumental flop for Sony I'm predicting. Bring back Blu-ray, change the pricing model, but please refrain from confusing the all too confused folks.