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Audiblegate

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Re: Audiblegate

#331

Post by imwillofficial »

IgorPartola wrote: post #305
imwillofficial wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You must be a troll

I can see how you can think of me that way based on this discussion. I studied physics in undergrad and in classical dynamics we covered “rocket science” in these terms. The term is more or less a misnomer as science implies trying to understand how the universe works. Building rockets is engineering but studying their motion does rely on both the equation I gave above and also on fluid dynamics. From the point of vi…

You simplified to an absurd level that does not reflect reality in the slightest. You did that to sound smart, and refused to concede when actual domain experts showed up to slap you down.

I worked on a ballistic missile tracking software that would calculate areas of uncertainty given coverage of various defense mechanisms.

It very much involved rocket scientists from JPL.

You are wrong in every measurable sense of the word.

Re: Audiblegate

#332

Post by ShakataGaNai »

ALittleLight wrote: post #27

I worked on a tool at Amazon once that incorrectly calculated royalties, not because Amazon was greedily trying to steal from publishers, but just because of general incompetence (or, lack of sufficient competence maybe). Basically, of the people who wrote the tool, tested the tool, and used the tool, none of them knew exactly how royalties should be calculated and none of them could tell whether or not they were bei…

Hanlon's razor states ... "never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

Re: Audiblegate

#333

Post by dogleash »

jboy55 wrote: post #322
a2800276 wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm always amazed that people can't see this as greed. If the CEO of a medical equipment company said: "screw all these expensive software engineers, physicists and testers, I have a 14 year old niece who can code up our radiation therapy machine for nickels" no one would be blaming incompetence of devs. I don't see how all the lack of solid requirements, software development process, testing and means of recourse ar…

Its not just company greed, you can't get any engineers to agree to maintain a service in Keep the Lights on mode. Its not in their interest, let me explain. First, there's 0 chance at promotion doing maintenance work, so L4 (jr) engineers will bounce after a year or so as they have a clock running and have to move up or out. L5 engineers will stagnate and they will at risk for URA as they are supposed to keep improv…

>you can't get any engineers to agree to maintain a service in Keep the Lights on mode

...and then you go on to explain in business terms that only apply to the handful of companies that have cargo-culted similar dev team designs and incentives.

I started writing a comment here about how my current employer structures and incentivizes maintenance but I've deleted it and decided not to give it away that info for free.

Re: Audiblegate

#334

Post by michael_michael »

Tepix wrote: post #285
michael_michael wrote: post #103

I feel like the Twitter thread—for all its focus on royalty math—is missing some crucial context for people not immersed in the sausage-making of audiobooks, specifically Audible's ACX platform. I worked for Audible some years ago, so understand this context a bit better than most, and can explain for those who are interested. I left Audible not too long after ACX launched, but remember many meetings about it. To be…

> It's a gamble for everyone except Audible. The gamble is this: you will spend thousands of dollars producing an audiobook. In exchange you will get distribution on the biggest audiobook marketplaces in the world: Audible, Amazon, iTunes. Audible and Amazon are the same thing. iTunes: Can't everyone get his/her audiobook on iTunes? I don't think producing content and then getting 13% of the proceeds is appealing. Ne…

> Audible and Amazon are the same thing.

I'm acutely aware of this having worked there. They're the same thing to you, but not to most authors. Seeing their [audio]book come up in an Amazon search is distinctly different, even if it all leads you to the same place.

> iTunes: Can't everyone get his/her audiobook on iTunes?

No. At least not when I worked there. Audible was the only way to get into the audiobooks section of iTunes. That may have changed.

Re: Audiblegate

#335

Post by capybaradive »

gambiting wrote: post #149

I'm honestly curious about this statement, maybe someone can explain - the author seems to be upset about this part: "where the consumer could return their AB whenever they pleased, and the PRODUCER shouldered the cost." ....as opposed to who? When you return an item to amazon within their returns policy, who do you think pays you back for that? Is the author assuming that when their book gets "returned" for any reas…

i believe the issue is that audible is marketed as allowing returns at _any_ time in the future, which is a pretty extraordinary return policy that leads to more subscribers. but then the producer has to shoulder the costs of this incredibly lenient return policy.

Re: Audiblegate

#336

Post by jboy55 »

dogleash wrote: post #333
jboy55 wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its not just company greed, you can't get any engineers to agree to maintain a service in Keep the Lights on mode. Its not in their interest, let me explain. First, there's 0 chance at promotion doing maintenance work, so L4 (jr) engineers will bounce after a year or so as they have a clock running and have to move up or out. L5 engineers will stagnate and they will at risk for URA as they are supposed to keep improv…

>you can't get any engineers to agree to maintain a service in Keep the Lights on mode ...and then you go on to explain in business terms that only apply to the handful of companies that have cargo-culted similar dev team designs and incentives. I started writing a comment here about how my current employer structures and incentivizes maintenance but I've deleted it and decided not to give it away that info for free.

I don't think the culture I designed is a 'cargo-cult', but more of the result of a first order solution to designing engineer incentives. "We want to encourage engineers to get better over time, be entrepreneurial and feel in charge of their promotion" leads directly to "Maintenance work does not allow me to succeed".

Re: Audiblegate

#337

Post by pc86 »

imwillofficial wrote: post #331
IgorPartola wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can see how you can think of me that way based on this discussion. I studied physics in undergrad and in classical dynamics we covered “rocket science” in these terms. The term is more or less a misnomer as science implies trying to understand how the universe works. Building rockets is engineering but studying their motion does rely on both the equation I gave above and also on fluid dynamics. From the point of vi…

You simplified to an absurd level that does not reflect reality in the slightest. You did that to sound smart, and refused to concede when actual domain experts showed up to slap you down. I worked on a ballistic missile tracking software that would calculate areas of uncertainty given coverage of various defense mechanisms. It very much involved rocket scientists from JPL. You are wrong in every measurable sense of…

Two unrelated things:

1. If HN had a friend system/social graph, you'd have a pending request from me based on this comment alone.

2. Fantastic domain name in your profile.

Re: Audiblegate

#338

Post by imwillofficial »

pc86 wrote: post #337
imwillofficial wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You simplified to an absurd level that does not reflect reality in the slightest. You did that to sound smart, and refused to concede when actual domain experts showed up to slap you down. I worked on a ballistic missile tracking software that would calculate areas of uncertainty given coverage of various defense mechanisms. It very much involved rocket scientists from JPL. You are wrong in every measurable sense of…

Two unrelated things: 1. If HN had a friend system/social graph, you'd have a pending request from me based on this comment alone. 2. Fantastic domain name in your profile.

Thanks Shoot me an email to keep in touch

Re: Audiblegate

#339

Post by mark-r »

slantview wrote: post #291
1970-01-01 wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It takes sixty-five thousand errors before you are qualified to make a rocket. -Wernher von Braun

Because they are using 16 bit unsigned integers?

Didn't you know that 87% of statistics are made up on the spot?

Re: Audiblegate

#340

Post by chrispeel »

frosted-flakes wrote: post #314
chrispeel wrote: post #14

I used to use Audible, then I got a few public library cards (they're easy to get), and now use Libby on mobile and desktop

My library has a crappy selection though. Not Hardly even worth even checking if they have a book, because they won't.

I live in California, where I can get a card for the SF and LA public libraries, in addition to those where I live. I'm sure it's not that way for everyone...
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