Why The Public Radio is sixty dollars (2018)
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Why The Public Radio is sixty dollars (2018)
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Re: Why The Public Radio is sixty dollars (2018)
#2The price is a good conversation about globalizing supply chains.
But what's really cool is they have a way to program radios which are sealed inside a cardboard shipping box, without batteries installed.
https://wp.josh.com/2017/03/18/capacitive-coupling-casestudy...
Re: Why The Public Radio is sixty dollars (2018)
#3This is an interesting post from the perspective of logistics operations for a small scale consumer electronics product.
I'm fascinated by the idea that one of the features they chose to cut from their initial release - arbitrary tuning - has ended up significantly constraining how they can manufacture their product at their scale.
I'm guessing that there's a deeper philosophical reason for not building an end-user tunable radio that isn't simply "it's a feature we decided to cut so we could ship on time"
Re: Why The Public Radio is sixty dollars (2018)
#4This product just seems... like a throwback to the first decade of this century.
A time when we rebelled against over-advertised, and over-priced Gillette Fusion cartridges. Not by growing beards (that would come in the 2010's). But rather by shaving with $100 German double-edge razors, badger hair brushes, and artisial shaving soaps instead.
This here is a cheap pocket radio, like you could find at Walmart for $5. Except that it is built to tune into only one frequency, it has no headphone jack, and its form-factor is a old-timey mason jar. It's "artisanal", and "locally-sourced" and all that, and it does look like a pretty conversation piece. But do people still gravitate to stuff like this?
I'm asking from genuine curiosity, because I'm not sure whether the "hipster" era faded away, or if it's still there and I just grew a little too old?
Re: Why The Public Radio is sixty dollars (2018)
#5I'm an avid radio listener, literally every room in my house with a power outlet has one or more tabletop radios in it. Why would I want a radio that only tunes to one channel?
I tend to use vintage (80's era) clock radios at home for my tabletop radios, because of their decent pricing.
Re: Why The Public Radio is sixty dollars (2018)
#6This product just seems... like a throwback to the first decade of this century. A time when we rebelled against over-advertised, and over-priced Gillette Fusion cartridges. Not by growing beards (that would come in the 2010's). But rather by shaving with $100 German double-edge razors, badger hair brushes, and artisial shaving soaps instead. This here is a cheap pocket radio, like you could find at Walmart for $5. E…
In business school we have a framework for understanding customer needs.. jobs to be done (functional, emotional, social).
In this case the "job to be done" is probably not really to listen to news/music (there's a million better things for this).
Likely it's emotional.. decoration, nostalgia, "toy"
Therefore alternatives to this product are not other radios but other fun decorations, throw back items, or simple electronic devices.
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For modeling I think this is similar to "the light phone" that also did well on crowd funding. So I think there is a trend here.
Re: Why The Public Radio is sixty dollars (2018)
#7This product just seems... like a throwback to the first decade of this century. A time when we rebelled against over-advertised, and over-priced Gillette Fusion cartridges. Not by growing beards (that would come in the 2010's). But rather by shaving with $100 German double-edge razors, badger hair brushes, and artisial shaving soaps instead. This here is a cheap pocket radio, like you could find at Walmart for $5. E…
As wonderful as my smartphone is at accomplishing a billion different tasks, occasionally I want something that does exactly one thing and does it well.
For many years I listened effectively to just one radio station, and something like this would have indeed been delightful.
I could see using this to rekindle my love for public radio.
Re: Why The Public Radio is sixty dollars (2018)
#8I'm an avid radio listener, literally every room in my house with a power outlet has one or more tabletop radios in it. Why would I want a radio that only tunes to one channel? I tend to use vintage (80's era) clock radios at home for my tabletop radios, because of their decent pricing.
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Re: Why The Public Radio is sixty dollars (2018)
#9I am impressed if this business works. You're selling something for $60 with the same functionality as something I can get on Alibaba $0.30-$1 per unit. And the people are buying it because of all the artificial restrictions.
Re: Why The Public Radio is sixty dollars (2018)
#10For those confused as I was, you can switch the current station but it's not convenient or meant to be done often. You can basically disassemble the radio and press a button to cycle through available FM stations and leave it on the one you want.
Why this button isn't just available on the lid is beyond me. While I do appreciate simplicity I really don't understand the value of a single station radio either.