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Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
09/18/09
Damn, your CDs are going to get ripped. Yeah."
09/18/09
So many people are completely uninterested in learning how to do this, afraid they will do it incorrectly, or simply don't want to spend their time doing this themselves.
My future mother-in-law uses technology all the time, but she is a serious techophobe. She really has no idea what she is doing. She gave me her camera so I could take the pictures off and email them to her. With people like this, they just don't want to put the effort into learning how to do this.
Yeah you go try telling an older person with no tech experience how to rip their own music. You'll start by telling them to download itunes or some ripping program, and once you realize that you lose them at that step, you will see that telling them about ID3 tags and different formats is way above their league.
To us, this appears like Geek Squad is taking advantage of people. In reality, this shit takes time and requires a level of understanding that a lot of people don't have. So, it makes sense to offer a service for those willing to pay for it.
09/18/09
I could see this service making sense if they are purchasing an iPod at the time and having their library loaded on, but that would be a rather silly hing to do, what happens if you buy a new CD?
It's easy enough to walk someone through an iTunes install, go to apple../itunes, click download, wait, double click, done. To rip cd, insert cd, click import at bottom. Wouldn't it be better to just show them how to do this in the store? Apple does this for free. That's why this service reeks of a bad deal.
09/18/09
The thing is, some people just don't care. They don't want to bother. Maybe the want their library loaded up for them and after that they'll hassle their son in law to help them.
Just cause they don't have any tech knowledge doens't mean they don't want an mp3 player.
Also, if they are willing to pay for the service, who cares? They are big people. They know they can figure it out if they want.
09/18/09
The internet's here for a reason. And google is here for a reason too.
I learned how to translate base-16 to binary code all through google x_x and i did that for my computer science class. Now i know some people might not be able to do that even though it really isnt that hard once you understand the whole concept
there are just people who are oblivious to doing things themselves. My father thinks everytime his computer slows down its because his computer has a virus. We can't forget that people like that still exist and will forever exist as long as there is technology. Maybe not the same way but people who just are incapable of doing things on their own and dont actually try to find a solution on their own.
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09/18/09
I could make myself a sandwich for lunch, but sometimes I like to purchase the delicious alternative at the local deli. All of this discussion is just basic economics and opportunity cost, where should I spend my time and money? Right now I think I am spending my time constructively commenting online, instead of working where I could be earning money.
09/18/09
It's 'their', not 'there'. Looks like you should of been not commenting on Gizmodo articles when you were in school as well. Get back to work.
09/18/09
The difference is that Geek Squad are just there to exploit those that don't know better. To take your sandwich analogy Geek Squad would be an overpriced sandwich shop that made substandard sandwichs at substandard speeds. Their target demographic is people that don't know how to make sandwichs and are therefore forced to pay for Geek Squads sandwich services despite how easy sandwich making is.
09/18/09
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09/18/09
This is one of those Giz "fails." No story here, except a minor service offered for an even more minor price.
09/18/09
Do you know why milk costs more at a 7-11 than at the supermarket? Convenience. People are often willing to pay more for conveniences. If you don't like it, don't buy it.
Why should BB provide any service for free? They're a business, they exist to separate people from their dollars and make a profit. If you know how to rip music, great! Why don't you lease commercial space next to a BB and offer to do it for people for free.
/rant
09/18/09
I worked for GS
09/18/09
Let's say I am an M&A lawyer who bills out at $1000 an hour. Naturally I can afford a large CD collection and have amassed 3000 disks.
Now what makes more sense for me? Do I write contracts for 3 hours or swap CDs for two month?
09/18/09
Not to start a class war, but I guess you're saying this service is for assholes?
09/18/09
Should she not be allowed to have her pictures thrown on a thumb drive because she hasn't had any real reason to learn the basics of using a computer before? Given that ripping a large CD collection into .mp3s is one of the first things customers ask about when they buy their first player, and given the fact that doing something that seems simple to you and I might be an incredibly frustrating act for someone else, and given that it requires an employee's time to do the ripping, I think $1 a disc is a relatively small profit margin.
I understand everyone wants to rip on the big guy, and many of the things that Best Buy offer as services are things that people with technical knowledge can easily complete on their own, for free, but if 1% of Best Buy's customers are more than willing to pay for a service that is hardly thrust upon them in the first place, that's something that's worth doing.
09/18/09
I wouldn't be surprised if this is exactly the scenario at geek squad.
09/17/09
I kid you not when I say Geek Squad offers an invaluable service to the masses, of whom I see every day. If you like, you can call it a "necessary evil" but I put this forth to you...how many of you have had a call from a parent or family member asking you how to turn on their computer, or how to switch users, or even how to connect to the internet? If you can say yes to ever doing inane tech support to friends/family you now know what people who don't have a "you" in their family do - Geek Squad.
Oh, and we (a) service computers under manfucaterer's warranty and all you have to do is drop off/pick up (b) eliminate viruses, which even many of you cannot do if you tried...fresh os loads don't count (c) branch out into areas most of us never touch, like car install, home theaters and appliances.
I personally love working for Geek Squad and really think you need to switch from a one-sided perspective of it.
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09/17/09
Say on average you got 20 cds done per hour...there are many people who feel their time is worth much more than $20 an hour and would gladly pay what's honestly a nominal cost.
I saw this whole post earlier today on Consumerist and am a little confused as to what the big deal is?