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Apple Businesses

Apple In-Store Software Burning 40

Posted by timothy from the copy-kiosks-of-a-different-breed dept.
jarrettwold2002 writes "This seems to have escaped notice, however it's fairly significant. Apple has partnered up with CompUSA to offer in store electronic software distribution. According to the site it takes about four minutes from purchase to burn. It's bundled inside a dvd case, with color packaging."
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Apple In-Store Software Burning More

Apple In-Store Software Burning

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  • First dupe complaint? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Otter ( 3800 ) on Wednesday April 16, 2003 @08:41AM (#5743372) Journal
    This seems to have escaped notice...

    Except here [slashdot.org]. Still, it's worth mentioning that it's up and there's a site to check out.

  • Now that everyone has pointed out that it's a dupe (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Randolpho ( 628485 ) on Wednesday April 16, 2003 @09:17AM (#5743567) Homepage Journal
    ... we can get on with the discussion. I missed the first article, so I get to comment on this one, and my comment is this:

    Potentially a great way for small-time developers to get their software to the masses. It reduces or even totally eliminates the need for a publisher. There are no upfront costs, you just pay a portion of your sale to Apple / CompUSA.

    Daddy like. :)
    • Ummm.... We've had a "great way for small-time developers to get their software to the masses" which "totally eliminates the need for a publisher" and has almost "no upfront costs" for over a decade.

      It's called the Internet.

      (Sorry, it was just too easy. I know, I know, there are apps that are too big to realistically be downloaded by most people, and this greatly increases the number of Mac titles "on the shelf" in your average CompUSA.)
    • What about documentation? What about user's manuals?

  • Three words: (Score:3, Interesting)

    by awtbfb ( 586638 ) on Wednesday April 16, 2003 @09:26AM (#5743636)
    Music from Universal

    • Re:Three words: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Raskolnk ( 26414 )
      Being able to get music legally burned directly from the source would be great. I hope this is a preparation step for getting this type of on demand publishing working. If the Universal deal works out (not that I'm betting it will), this would make a lot of sense for Apple. However, the real benefit would be in making available rare and out of print material. I doubt such material is available digitally at all. Probably tens of thousands of masters on various types of media filed away in various baseme

  • um (Score:2, Informative)

    by jjshoe ( 410772 )
    umm [slashdot.org] if it went un-noticed then what's this?

  • Good Software Served Fast (Score:3, Funny)

    by jpsst34 ( 582349 ) on Wednesday April 16, 2003 @09:36AM (#5743696) Journal
    Mmmmm. Software To Go! Can I get fries with that?

    Will this include the option to biggie-size your Tonka game's liscense to, say, 100 users for just 39 cents more?

  • Cassettes... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by rasteri ( 634956 )
    I remember they used to do this kind of thing with Data Cassettes back when the C64 et al were popular. Ah.... memories....

    • Re:Cassettes... (Score:3, Interesting)

      by byolinux ( 535260 )
      I too remember this...

      A popular system here in the UK was EDOS [google.com] (Electronic Distribution of Software) - I remember the tapes having a skull/crossbones on them, and a handwritten label...

      Mmmm.

  • Inferior!!! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 16, 2003 @09:59AM (#5743852)
    What!

    How will this replace the Copy-from-store-machine-to-ipod distribution model that Apple already has in place!
    • I'm just curious if this still works....Do they have he machines locked down more now or something?

      I'd like to have keynote :)

      • Re:Inferior!!! (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Alex Thorpe ( 575736 )
        Hopefully, they don't stick extra commercial software on their demo machines anymore, which they shouldn't have done in the first place. Who the heck put $500 copies of MS-Office on the Macs to steal?

        Back in '98 or so, when I was working at OfficeMax and they still sold Performas, I put the shareware screen saver Eclipse on the main Performa, and had it display screen captures of Maelstrom, Aperion, Escape Velocity, Warcraft II, and established a password. This showed off some of the fun games you could

        • Re:Inferior!!! (Score:2, Insightful)

          by MoneyT ( 548795 )
          The whole idea though being that you can actualy play with the computers at the apple store and actualy try the products and how they handle doing the things you normaly do. You know, treating your customer like a customer and not a criminal.

  • Apple partners with an abusive company? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 16, 2003 @10:03AM (#5743879)
    It's unfortunate that Apple picked a company with whom to partner that is so aggressive toward its customers. For example, CompUSA often doesn't answer the telephone. It's usually necessary to fight to get rebates. CompUSA often advertises a sale when they have a very limited quantity available at the sale price. Does Apple want a bad reputation?

    • Comment removed (Score:4, Informative)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Wednesday April 16, 2003 @10:39AM (#5744080)
      Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re:Apple partners with an abusive company? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by dbrutus ( 71639 ) on Wednesday April 16, 2003 @10:46AM (#5744114) Homepage
      No, they just want distribution which is hard enough to get. At least with CompUSA it's *possible* to get Mac software. Try doing that at Best Buy or Circuit City and they just look at you funny. Anything that they carry that's useful to you is strictly an accident (ie they stock a Windows software title and the mac version comes in the same box).

      With this particular method, you end up with a lot of titles available in very little square footage (ie low cost of distribution) and if they require you to swipe a credit card before they burn the title (which would be a smart move) you quite possibly would be out of there *faster* than if you just yanked a box off the shelf and waited in line.
    • CompUSA isn't a pleasure, but basically all the big box stores are about the same for customer service. Try calling Best Buy and getting an answer. They all use "loss leaders" with limited stock to get people in the door. You get better customer service from sites online, really.

      Apple's had a relationship with CompUSA for years now where CompUSA keeps a conspicuous Mac section open, so this is the natural place for something like this to happen. There's nothing new about the connection.

      (And judging by a

  • with all the hullabaloo (Score:2, Interesting)

    by BortQ ( 468164 )
    Hmmm, on the off chance that Apple actually bought Universal music, this would be a ready-made distribution channel for letting users make their own mix CDs.

  • Specific details on Software-to-go (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 16, 2003 @11:34AM (#5744424)
    The posts in this thread are a bit off. This isn't an Apple venture, nor is it
    a Compusa venture. Software-to-go is an independent company that has
    struck a deal to put these kiosks in Compusa stores. They've brought Apple
    in on it to help get more products available in the system. We're going to use
    them, it's actually very nice (Software-to-go sent me a sample).

    Depending on the size of the store, the plan is to have a couple kiosks in
    the PC section and one in the Mac section of each Compusa. The customer
    browses the kiosk, picks a product they would like to purchase and out pops
    a receipt. When they go to the checkout and pay for the item, one of several
    output stations cuts a CD, prints it with graphics and also prints out a cover
    insert and an internal insert. The attendee assembles the pieces into a
    standard DVD-type package and gives it to the customer. That's supposed
    to take less than 5 minutes. If demand is high enough, they will install more
    cutting stations in the store. The developer delivers a CD image to Software-
    to-go and they turn it into a disk image in their format.

    The system handles Win, Mac, and Linux software, there's really no dependance
    on platform. I can't disclose pricing because of NDA but you can contact softwaretogo.com
    to get details. They seem very nice and quite competent. It's a well thought
    out system and it's got a good chance of doing well. It's a great way of
    getting a boxed version of software from small developers into the hands
    of Compusa customers, which in the past has been all but impossible unless
    you belong to the publisher oligarchy.

    And forget about downloading music products via this system. It's not what
    they are concentrating on right now. Maybe if this takes off, we'll see it in
    the future. Again, this project has little to to with Apple specifically.

  • What!?! (Score:2, Funny)

    by MacOS_Rules ( 170853 )
    Ahhhh! Put it out! Put it out! The software is _burning_! :)

    (Or at least that's what I initially thought it meant---silly technobable, burning is for 1337-h4x0rs.)

  • ...no excess copies to liquidate through the bargain bin.

  • Games (Score:2)

    by _iris ( 92554 )
    I know games are less than abundant on the Mac, but I wonder what game publishers think of this. I see this getting popular. Publisher's release-to-sale time is cut dramatically. Stores maximize floor-space utilitzation and only "ship" the number of units truely needed. I can only assume this will move into the PC arena if it is executed successfully.

    If this happens, will these burn-on-demand systems offer CD copy protection? If so, which technologies? Who will pay the licensing for the copy protection tec

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