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dumb Herman Miller Aeron chairs that were so popular, along with servers and notebooks that are probably hopelessly out of date.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!"
the MP3.COM database.. (Score:5, Interesting)
Although that Axis Systems (now part of Verisity Design) machine [cowanalexander.com] looks pretty nice. Hm, $1M initial price.. I wonder for how much it'll go now. We could use one at work for various things.
Re:the MP3.COM database.. (Score:5, Interesting)
i suppose this would be of questionable legality, but say you got permission from the original music creators- then what?
Extra stuff (Score:3, Interesting)
But if these machines have hard drivers still hooked up, then there might be lots of interesting stuff lying around on those (maybe mp3s too!)
Re:Those Dumb Chairs (Score:5, Interesting)
why pick on the Aeron? (Score:5, Interesting)
lots of those dumb Herman Miller Aeron chairs that were so popular
You got something against the Aeron? I'm sitting in one right now, I've been using it everyday for years, it is hands-down the best chair I've ever plopped my ass down in.
I used to have back pains every morning after sitting a lot, and discomfort after long coding sessions, even with an alarm that I set to tell me to stand up every 30 minutes. But all that went away with the Aeron, it is a "life changer".
It got popular during the boom, like every expensive luxary item. How come you don't say "big dumb Hummer trucks", it seems like every dotcom CEO had one.
Just sticking up for a good product. I have several other Herman Miller products, including a *very* nice Eames lounge chair, they are worth the money.
Re:Video games... (Score:2, Interesting)
I'd proably bid on a couple of the machines, but crating and shipping to the east coast would cost more than they're worth.
Re:Extra stuff (Score:3, Interesting)
I wouldn't be suprised
Though as much personal information they had, between artists and listeners, I hope they at least gave the HDD's a once-over formatting.
The Hummer (Score:5, Interesting)
-N
Re:maybe they sold other things.. (Score:1, Interesting)
Loads of techie interesting stuff (Score:3, Interesting)
Some of the stuff is teenage oriented.
However, if you look at the photos from the link in the article, there is
and other goodies for those who live near La Jolla in San Diego.
A bunch of stuff! (Score:4, Interesting)
I see two problems.
A) People have dumb ideas and think "the Internet" and more computers will help them make money.
B) Some other idiots loan the idiots in problem A more money than is required.
They've got a bunch of cool stuff though.
It's a shame. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Those Dumb Chairs (Score:5, Interesting)
They also take a bit of time to build up the necessary muscular structure. People who sit in standard chairs have woefully underdeveloped trunk muscles, since the chair is explicitly designed to use as few muscles as possible, as seldom as possible.
It becomes a feedback cycle. The more you use a standard chair, the more you need one.
If you're willing to adapt your desk to the chair, rather than the other way around, a simple and common Japanese meditation bench will replace the sort of kneeling chair you are talking about. The trick for comfort with these is to place the bench on a zabuton, not directly on a hard floor.
What I like to use though is a simple platform, about 30"x36" on which one can sit crosslegged, move around, change postion constantly, etc. These can be built at normal chair hight for use with a standard desk.
Once you get used to these and build up a certain amount of supporting musculature you'll be loath to every go back to a standard chair. No matter how "ergonomic" a chair is it just isn't designed to hold a person in a position for which human body was designed. The old Greek and Roman benches on which one relined were far more suitable for human use.
Good luck getting one into your office though.
KFG
Re:the MP3.COM database.. (Score:3, Interesting)
Are they actually gone forever? Are the new owners going to delete the database? I know when my agency acquires another company I convert all of their data to be compatible with our system -- but I don't destroy or delete the original data. Even if we no longer need it.
DVD-Rs/tapes and hard drive space is cheap. Why would you delete anything?
Maybe we'll see it reappear a few years from now. Doubtful but you never know.
Re:It's a shame. (Score:2, Interesting)
Deserved to go bust! (Score:2, Interesting)
I mean really, does any company need giant lava lamps and stupid toys.
And how could they ever justify buying a harley?
Re:The Hummer (Score:2, Interesting)
The Hummer was designed and built for military use. This does NOT include going 100'000 km a year w/o a visit to your local mechanic, but it includes reliably travelling 150 km over rough terrain at high speed with a broken wheel. AFTER THAT, of course, you'll have to see a mechanic, which - in a military environment - is something you will do every 1000 or so km, or after using the car in the field, whichever comes first... the original Hummer vehicle needed a new set of wheels every 10'000 km, and a new transmission every 40'000 km.
After all, it was never designed for the average home user...
that desk! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:same old story? (Score:3, Interesting)
We found an 'old looking' horse coach model and bought it for 5 dollars that day. He put it up on ebay and said that "we found it in the attic. It must be comething that my grandmother bought back in the day. It seems really old but overall it looks like new."
5 days later it sold for $25.
Re:Those Dumb Chairs (Score:2, Interesting)
Problem: as an ergonomic chair, the Aeron is a piece of kaka. It's expensive because they put a lot of money into a kewl physical design and high-tech materials. But the adjustable parts don't adjust easily, and tend to wear out quickly. At one job, I had an old Aeron where the lumbar support was so worn, it wouldn't stay on the chair! I think you're supposed to replace parts of it as they wear out, but of course nobody does.
Frankly, I think it's all marketing. When the Aeron was developed, people were just beginning to realize that computers meant RSI and other ergonomic issues. HermanMiller wanted to tap into that, but they decided branding and kewlness counted for more than actual ergonomics. Judging from the continued popularity of this pseudo-ergonomic beast, they were completely right.
When I worked at the Java division of Sun, the standard chair was this very ordinary-looking but extremely functional ergonomic task chair. (I'm not certain, but I think it was a Global Granada [globaltotaloffice.com].) Everything on that beast was adjustable -- you could even tilt it forward so you could squint at your screen without straining your back. That is a real ergonomic chair -- one that's designed to be used, not as a prop in a movie.
MP3.com personal music streams... (Score:1, Interesting)
This was a really cool feature and enabled me access to my 100+ CD's from any net connection. If only the RIAA gave a damn about improving life for consumers. An innovative company who stepped in to an empty market with great ideas is now being evicerated on the auction block.
Now we have DRM and the new Naptser, "cheap" $13 CD's, DRM iTunes, blech.
Were it not for copyright capitalism might be healthy... Instead all we have is oligopolies all over the fucking place thanks in part to intellectual property.
Re:Exactly why.... (Score:2, Interesting)
Would you feel better if it was a Bentley or something?
Why are slashdotters so personally offended by all this.
Yeah, having money means buying some cool shit. They had over 400 million in capital, not just start up capital. They were making it had over fist, they had no idea Universal was going to sue them for everything they had, and win..
Big deal, business fails.
Re:Slashdot: home of expert furniture critics? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Exactly why.... (Score:4, Interesting)
But if they have a flashy business plan, and all sorts of things that "break the corporate model," then they can say that they're going to "create a paradigm shift" and "change the laws of business."
Otherwise, they get no more venture capital. A venture capital funded company is usually trying to get more venture capital, so all that junk is basically marketing for the moneybags.
"See! We're revitalized the employee-work relationship! Standard notions of economic production do not apply to us! We'll make it up in volume! Buy now!"
Note that the smaller venture firms are very rarely heard about, until they become big successes. They play their cards right, unlike LittleFeet (next door to us), who burnt through 25 million in just over a year. They had thousands of items of their product, but no market. So I got a laser printer, a torque wrench, and a table for pennies on the dollar at the auction.
Vive la vulture capital!
So didja have time (Score:4, Interesting)
Not to mention the pool table and dart board. And were the games so exhausting that you needed to do your laundry at work (what's with the washing machine and dryer)? =^)
Seriously though...what was it like working there? Inquiring minds want to know...
Re:Video games... Couldn't do better than Galaga? (Score:1, Interesting)
Wrong. The company I work for (for almost 11 years) has a pool table and dart board in the staff area. They weren't here when I started, and if they were suddenly removed, nobody here would quit.
It's almost always compensation for some other business shortcomings (i.e. excruciatingly long hours, zero job security, a paper-thin business model, etc).
We've been in business for over 15 years, everybody here works 8-5 (or 8-4:30, if you only take 1/2 hour for lunch, instead of a full hour) Job security isn't an issue (with the exception of one salesguy, everybody has been here for longer than 5 years), and our business model is pretty good.
Same as Mpls Federal Reserve "sale" (Score:3, Interesting)
Anyway, they were selling a bunch of junk office stuff for astronomical prices. It was amazing to see what they were charging. I couldn't get anyone to give me a price on the raised flooring system in one of the data centers, either...
They didn't open the *whole* building officially, but we figured out pretty easily how to get to the roof (unlocked access door, had heliport). I regret to this day not stealing the sign from the door to the top-floor weapons range -- yes, there was a gun range on the top floor with a great large engraved sign that said something like "FIREARMS TRAINING FACILITY, AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY. EYE AND EAR PROTECTION REQUIRED."
My guess is that any time you have a bunch of "DEALS", you get the class of idiot that's pennywise pound-foolish and willing to pay $1 less for used than new even if it's otherwise inferior. These people always end up paying *just* under new retail for used, and are attracted to "auctions" and "surplus sales" like flies to shit and will always drive up prices.
Re:So didja have time (Score:3, Interesting)
Laundry- that was locked in a closet, and was used for washing the towels from the exercise area. They'd planned on putting in a gym for a long time, and when they finally did, we couldn't justify the cost. So we shared it with another local company.
Working at MP3.com was pretty cool. Young, driven individuals (mostly male and single, no surprise there). I maintain that MP3.com died because it lacked a cohesive business plan- but the software engineering was top-notch.
MP3 had a lot of the dot-com things (nerf guns, aeron chairs, free soda), but there were some pretty legitimate things going on too.
Re:So didja have time (Score:4, Interesting)
Most of the fancy furniture and stuff was in the tech building. The business, HR, legal, and music types were in the building next door, and it wasn't dressed up quite as much. It still had some pretty cool things in it, though.
The techs were in 1-, 2- and 3-person offices. This was very nice, compared to cubes. I miss it. Some of the higher-ups had argued and managed to get those for us. I miss the care of employees that the whole tech organization had- it certainly helped motivate employees, or at least keep them from being demotivated (read Good to Great).. a lot of time was put into making sure the techies were kept happy, even through low-buck things.
Re:the MP3.COM database.. (Score:3, Interesting)
They are not "lost".
a) Thousands of people have hundreds if not thousands of copies (heck I downloaded 600 MB of songs from them the day before they turned it off, that's 0.5 percent of everything they have right there),
b) The original artists still have their own copies and can go on to do what they want with them, case in point - G.O.T.E. [guardiansoftheearth.com] (at one point a couple of these songs broke the top 10 on the Trance chart on mp3.com).
Disassembly of an Aerons (Score:1, Interesting)
MP3 com platinum artist that got scammed (Score:2, Interesting)
Terms and Conditions does not permit it (Score:3, Interesting)