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What I learned selling 2,500 MIDI recorders: Hardware is not so hard

chipweinberger.com

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Re: What I learned selling 2,500 MIDI recorders: Hardware is not so hard

#61
Very happy JamCorder customer here. I've started playing in improv shows since I bought it too, and it's nice to have those on record!

It's rare that I come across a product I have literally zero complaints about, or any feedback to offer. Even my concern that it was tied to an app that might disappear one day is of course covered by the fact that it's all just MIDI files on a card.

Thank you so much for making this, it's basically a perfect product for me and I love it. No notes.

Re: What I learned selling 2,500 MIDI recorders: Hardware is not so hard

#63
Inquiring minds want to know: what is your anti-counterfeit strategy or is the fact that you're keeping it under your hat part of the strategy?

Also, pretty cool that you set up your website real fast. Would you mind adding your Twitter link onto the site?

Re: What I learned selling 2,500 MIDI recorders: Hardware is not so hard

#64

Very happy JamCorder customer here. I've started playing in improv shows since I bought it too, and it's nice to have those on record! It's rare that I come across a product I have literally zero complaints about, or any feedback to offer. Even my concern that it was tied to an app that might disappear one day is of course covered by the fact that it's all just MIDI files on a card. Thank you so much for making this,…

This is very flattering. Thank you.

Re: What I learned selling 2,500 MIDI recorders: Hardware is not so hard

#66
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> now that LLMs removed most of the fun of programming Never understood this, was the "most of the fun of programming" the literal typing for you? For me it was about solving problems and building things, and I get to do that more now than before, and without all the literal typing.

I reject the idea that programming is „just typing“, so we are very unlikely to understand each others. Writing the code and thinking about the exact logic you want to apply and all its implications are part of the same problem solving process in my mind. You can for sure plan things at a different layer of abstraction but putting things together in code is a very satisfying and IMHO is the actual building part of th…

> I reject the idea that programming is „just typing“, so we are very unlikely to understand each others.

I'm sorry if I gave the impression I think programming is just typing. For me "programming" is the whole activity of creating software with code, you can do programming without the literal action of typing.

> Writing the code and thinking about the exact logic you want to apply and all its implications are part of the same problem solving process in my mind.

That's really interesting perspective to me, as these two activities for me are two completely things, and "thinking about the exact logic" happens way before I actually write any code at all, sometimes weeks/months even.

> putting things together in code is a very satisfying and IMHO is the actual building part of the job.

I agree that it's satisfying, but I guess "putting things together in code" still for me is more about being able to mash two concepts together in an elegant way, and none of that actually requires actual typing still.

> LLMs move me away from the implementation, which is more a managerial role, something I personally have zero interest in.

This is also interesting, because it feels like LLMs give me the opportunity to do more implementation, and not get stuck in the minutia so much, but rather focus on how the design and architecture actually fits together. Refactoring no longer is "I want to but also I don't want to spend the time nor get stuck in more rabbit-holes", so being able to focus on architecture/design more feels like it lets me care more about the implementation than before.

Re: What I learned selling 2,500 MIDI recorders: Hardware is not so hard

#68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> now that LLMs removed most of the fun of programming Never understood this, was the "most of the fun of programming" the literal typing for you? For me it was about solving problems and building things, and I get to do that more now than before, and without all the literal typing.

Did solutions to problems just pop into your head when you were programming before LLMs? Did you not pause and think about the code you were writing before?

Most of the time by the time I reach the problem, the solution already been thought of, yeah. The literal typing and editing was behind compared to where my mind wanted to go I suppose. But also I spend long time considering the design/architecture before even attempting to write the code, so most of the time when I was literally typing code I'd know pretty much how it should be. Unknowns-unknowns being explored as separate prototypes before solidifying on any design choices, and so on.

Re: What I learned selling 2,500 MIDI recorders: Hardware is not so hard

#70

I'll be sticking around in the comments so feel free to ask questions. AMA!

>>> Have a strong anti-counterfeit strategy. Don’t overlook this.

Can you expand? What counterfeits do you see (literally someone selling boxes labelled jamcorder? How do you handle that? Lots of scanning amazon and sending cease desist letter?

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