Last Great Internet Bubble Auction 432
jlouderb writes "At least that's what they are calling it. Cowan Alexander is getting ready to auction off the assets of MP3.com (now owned by CNet) on March 10th and 11th. The items up for sale include lots of those dumb Herman Miller Aeron chairs that were so popular, along with servers and notebooks that are probably hopelessly out of date. The best part, though -- a 1997 yellow hummer and a 1994 "Fat Boy" Harley. Plus, they've got pictures!"
Those Dumb Chairs (Score:5, Insightful)
It seemed to me that MP3 went due to the lawsuits and harrassment from RIAA, not because they had a particularly flawed business model (aside from the music sharing thing), though a Hummer, Harley, Pool table and other junk does suggest an overeagerness to burn through capital.
The items up for sale include lots of those dumb Herman Miller Aeron chairs
I'd still like to get one of those, but with the price of shipping and gas being what it is, I'm better off looking for one around where I live. I could certainly use a new laptop, but there's piles of those around for cheep.
I've tried the Aeron chair out and it seemed like a decent chair, are they not all they appear?
I had one of those swedish (or whatever they were) chairs you kneel in and found my upper back became very sore, so that didn't last.
Aeron Chairs... (Score:5, Insightful)
Aerons "Dumb"? (Score:5, Insightful)
same old story? (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm just really skeptical about these auctions. I found that it really wasn't worth the effort of getting registered, calling in, etc.
Exactly why.... (Score:5, Insightful)
This is exactly why I want to see first hand any startup company that I am interested in investing in. Field trips aren't just for grade schoolers.
Re:Those Dumb Chairs (Score:2, Insightful)
i used one for 3 or 4 years and it was very comfy indeed. i think the rap that they sometimes get has to do with the idea of paying so much for a chair or possibly envy on the part of commentators who had the misfortune to work for companies with more utilitarian views of office furniture.
I'd hardly call MP3.com a victim of the bubble... (Score:5, Insightful)
Then they got bought out by Vivendi-Universal, and suddenly dropped completely off of the radar, only to be quietly shut down once they were forgotten.
Hmmmmm.
Re:Those Dumb Chairs (Score:5, Insightful)
Well worth it-- but you *have* to spend the time to adjust it to make it work for you. They don't feel much different when you're just sitting in it-- you notice the difference at the end of the day when you're not sore from sitting in a chair. But everybody's different, and I'm sure as many people dislike them as like them, even after adjustment and extended use.
Re:Exactly why.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Anyone who invests in a start-up company or OTC stock without checking it out first deserves what they get.
On a more insightful note do you this was part of the tech bubble or the more recent trend towards corporate corruption? Why the hell would anyone waste limited start-up funds on hummers unless they weren't serious about seeing the company succeed in the first place?
Re:same old story? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:the MP3.COM database.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Would this even be illegal? If I sell you my old paper journal that I wrote in with ball-point pen (after ripping out the pages I've used) and neglect to rip out the first few blank pages and you color them in with a pencil and recover my private thoughts is that your fault or mine?
Likewise, unless you sign some sort of "I won't try to recover data from this device" agreement, how would it be illegal? Even then it would be civil -- not criminal.
Re:Sad Sad Sad (Score:1, Insightful)
We ALL knew during the bubble that these companies were frauds, but we didn't care because we were ALL playing the market like a casino. The only people to blame are ourselves, the investors.
Re:It's a shame. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Video games... Couldn't do better than Galaga? (Score:5, Insightful)
Frankly, if you interview for a position with a company and they show you *any* video games (or other dot-com trappings such as a "coffee bar") and tout them as employee benefits, I think it should serve as a red flag. Those kind of amenities are there for one reason: to convince employees to work for a company that they would normally run the hell away from. It's almost always compensation for some other business shortcomings (i.e. excruciatingly long hours, zero job security, a paper-thin business model, etc).
"I work 80 hour weeks, no overtime, the phones went out for 4 hours yesterday because we didn't pay the bill... but we've got free video games and lattes in the break room, and my boss is so cool, he drives a Hummer. This place is great!"
You know what? Just give me a boring old cube, a desk, a decent computer, and a steady paycheck with a company where I don't lie awake at night wondering if the doors will be open when I get there tomorrow. Oh, and some old curmudgeon of a boss who's been in business for 20 years and actually knows how to run a company.
Re:the MP3.COM database.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Exactly why.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah but there are better ways to get it then Hummers. I'd rather have flex-time then a chance to take the company Hummer out for a spin once a month or so. I'm sure 95% of the /. readership would agree.
That's just common sense.
Get over the post-bubble snobbery (Score:5, Insightful)
Indeed, frankly, a lot of it is still justifiable.
A good chair means that 100k/year coder is gonna be able to work out their inspiration without the distractions of an aching back or sticky ass. For a $500 more then the standard office crap-chair that's a good investment, especially as a capital depreciation and defense in an bad-ergo disability suite.
Similar for food, drink, and toys. It keeps the crew in the building, talking to each other. It means they're not taking their hour off to troop to the local lunch hole where they'll be sitting at the table next to the competition spilling your plans. Figure $arcade-game = $day-at-teamwork-camp, not a bad value amortized.
Furthermore it's amazing the kinda allegiance baubles and amenities like that will buy. I've seen folks turn down 30% larger paychecks for a trendy office space, free fruit juice, and a tres kewl atmosphere. Multiply that by a full of staff and per-person it comes down to a great value with the improved recruiting and retention, costs a fraction the headhunter, interview, and training costs.
Lastly, cars and motorcycles? Promo costs. Tax code is nice to 'em and they get your name out there. Check around your current employer and you'll probably be amazed at some of the trophies and gifts and banners and other paraphernalia that they're purchasing as a matter of course.
Particularly for .com's half of the "product" was name and buzz, scoring the next VC round. Flashy toys things were standard, indeed de rigeur. Getting an article in the local paper, your logo shown at a rave, instant PR and cheap at the price. It's easy to be snide afterwards but then those were the rules of the game and what got you your paycheck, sensible or not.
Re:Those Dumb Chairs (Score:2, Insightful)
Perhaps one might develop some intestinal fortitude along with the intestinal physical support.
KFG
Re:Freaking Stupid Excess (Score:4, Insightful)
dot com ponzi schemes (Score:5, Insightful)
You look at these pictures of perverse excess and luxury that seemingly had little to do with their business model but you are ignoring the fact that "appearing" to be wildly successful to the point of wasteful spending was THE most substantive part of these companies' business models.
The scheme involved inflating the value and impression of the company long enough to snag another greedy investor or corporation and then hand the mess off to them. It was inevitable that at some point, the pyramid scheme would collapse in on itself. The trick is to just make sure you get out before it does, or more appropriately, make sure you're not stupid enough to let your sense of greed lull you into believing any of these people know what they're doing.
When I see things like this, it makes it a lot easier for me to live with myself knowing that while I could have over-hyped my dot-com and made a bundle, it was not the right thing to do, even though I admit that any individual or company dumb enough to purchase or pump capital into a business with no tangible revenue stream deserves to get ripped off.
Re:same old story? (Score:3, Insightful)
With online auctions its not as bad, because people can take their time and research the item.
Re:A bunch of stuff! (Score:5, Insightful)
In it's heyday MP3.com claimed to have about 100,000 songs in its database. So 100,000 x (4 minutes avg song) x (1MB/min at 128kps mp3) = 400GB. That's just to store the songs.
Then you have to deliver that content to several million users and maintain their accounts. Also you might want to bill them automatically as they buy instead of sending them a paper bill each month. So you may want to set up a B2B relationship with Visa, MC, Amex, Discover.
On the web site, you might want to host your own site rather than pay someone to host it for you since your content may change dramatically every day and you may want the most flexibility in terms of control. Also with serveral million users, your bandwidth bill if you pay another company to host may be huge. Hosting your own site may be the way to go.
Since mp3 is your product, you might want to rip and encode your own rather than get a copy from your brother/neighbor/friend. It would help too to complete the ID3 tags and grab that data from cddb.com or somewhere else.
Oh, by the way, all those functions above need a backup server just in case. Throw in an email servers, a Windows Domain Controller, a few file and print servers and that only leaves finance, HR, payroll, accounting, marketing, and code development to buy computers and set up infrastructure.
Re:same old story? (Score:1, Insightful)
they'll all be wiped (Score:3, Insightful)
Well, since professional IT people clean hard drives before they give them away...uh, no. Do you seriously think they're that stupid?
They may not be able to focus a camera to save their lives(it's so bad, you'd almost think it was intentional), but I strongly suspect every drive has been completely(for all practical purposes) wiped clean, and I mean more than just "zap the partition table". Further, I guarantee the music files were the least of their concerns. Financials, emails, etc...
Speaking of the photos, did anyone else notice a lot of the photos(harley, Hummer) were very obviously on someone's private property, and further, were rather lacking in mp3.com logos? Someone was getting some free vehicles for personal use on the company dime.
I tried that. (Score:3, Insightful)
Working for myself is excellent. My boss isn't bad, the pay is good, the hours are a bit much but that is my choosing, and the only person I have to rely on for security is myself!
Re:the MP3.COM database.. (Score:2, Insightful)
I for one had to do a mad scramble to download and archive all my stuff off of mp3.com
I also got screwed out of like 20 bucks from them which I email bickered with them for 2 years over (on principle). Both mp3.com and cnet get two thumbs down, booing AND hissing.
e.
worth whose money? (Score:4, Insightful)
The problem isn't that any of these items such as the Herman Miller chairs, the Hummers (although I could be convinced on that one...) or the Harleys aren't good, but that they're bought with someone else's money. Like the Tyco and Enron folks now, the dot-com people spent their investors' money as if it was given for their personal enjoyment rather than to fund a business intended to succeed. Items such as the above are good products, but their costs to individuals are not in most cases worth the benefits to the individuals. On the other hand, things like this are good if the money is someone else's; then the only comparison required is whether you could buy something else with which you would be happier with the money.
Bottom line - if these items are worth your money, buying them makes sense. If it isn't worth your own money to buy them, however, than it certainly isn't the job of your investors or companies to buy them for you, and they are ultimately counterproductive to the missions those people intended to achieve (because the money could almost certainly be used for things more likely to achieve their ends). When companies buy these things, someone else almost certain got ripped off to buy them - whether it is their customers, investors, or others in the company. Their presence says that the people running the show treat other people's money as their own personal piggy bank, and such people aren't to be trusted (at least not with my money).
Re:Video games... Couldn't do better than Galaga? (Score:4, Insightful)
Just give me a boring old cube, a desk, a decent computer, and a steady paycheck with a company where I don't lie awake at night wondering if the doors will be open when I get there tomorrow. Oh, and some old curmudgeon of a boss who's been in business for 20 years and actually knows how to run a company.
I might recommend that you try working for the government. The non-shooting parts are pretty much like all you describe, besides the "competent manager" bit, but you can't have everything.
Man did they go through some big money (Score:2, Insightful)
Something seems wrong here. I run a small business and we don't throw money around like there is an infinite amount - we are responsible. Why, when it's "other people's money" is it ok to go hog wild? When I was in a dot-com in the boom years they were spending like a drunken sailor also, and when I asked why the response was that the VC people wanted it to look like a winning company, with lavish offices and everything so that they had a good cash out strategy. All the top people knew it was insane but they had to play the game.