Paula L Kozak

I wouldn’t be surprised if this became popular based on the Dre Beats model. While Dre Beats were not the first headphones to offer that level of quality audio, and there are other brands that make an even better headphone, they were able to market them in a hip way that made the younger generation desire them. This sounds like it will essentially be the same thing as Spotify, as there are not too many other directions you can take streaming music, but since it is endorsed by a pop icon I wouldn’t be surprised if it became successful. Young generations will pretty much hop on any trendy item and if Jay-Z aggressively promotes this I bet there will be some serious pushback on the current streaming options.

I definitely believe that Tidal can will overtake Spotify and Pandora and claim the role as the lead online music streaming service. Similar to what Tyler said, Tidal has many of today’s biggest music stars behind it such as Jay-Z, Usher, and Nicki Minaj. Tidal also holds many advantages for the consumer over the other online stream services. For one, Tidal streams music from FLAC files that are CDQ while Pandora and Spotify play use MP3 format which is a lower sound quality format. Tidal also allows user to connect to social media and share music with friends through Facebook. Tidal includes over 75,000 music videos and promises to obtain new releases before any of its competitors. Lastly, Tidal cuts out the middleman and eliminates advertisements and commercials while users stream. Instead of subscriptions going to the companies that usually advertise through Pandora or Spotify, the artist is directly paid instead. With all of this being said, I believe that Tidal can be hugely successful because it identifies itself with some of the world’s biggest icons, is the first high fidelity music service, and eliminates annoying advertisements.

The best way to survive a major disruption is to become a part of it. Tidal is a definitely a strategic step to compete with Spotify, Pandora and other music services. I personally think Tidal would overtake other services due to several reasons, first it has support of big names in the entertainment industry which adds credibility, second the monthly subscription which is quite similar to the Spotify and Pandora which eliminates any ambiguity. Last, concept to minimizing advertisement would make it more desirable than the competition. But the main selling point association of top music artists that were deprived of any compensation is the main selling point of Tidal, as this can cause psychological connection with customers.

I personally do not think Tidal will completely over throw competitors such as Spotify and Pandora. While many for the features mentioned are appealing some, such as social media sharing, have already been integrated into the existing platform options. The main concern I have with Tidal is that there is no “free” version – this for many is the main appeal of Spotify and Pandora. A lot of talk has focused on advertisement disruptions in listening to music but if you opt to pay for competitors services you can eliminate this also. Without a doubt, Tidal is going to take off simply due to the artist backing it has and media buzz currently going on but I feel that requiring a pay service Tidal is closer to iTunes or Google Play. The one situation I feel that could greatly catalyst Tidal’s adoption is if artists begin to with hold their releases from competitor services. There are already a handful of artists who do not release their content via Spotify and an increase in that behavior would definitely cause Spotify and like services to suffer.

I don’t think Tidal will be able to beat out rivals like Spotify, Pandora and even Itunes radio. As Jada pointed out, one of the biggest draw for Tidal competitors is that their is a free version available to consumers. One of Tidal’s advertise feature is high quality audio that isn’t compressed like other services, unfortunately I don’t think that the regular consumer will be able to tell the difference between the Tidal’s high quality audio vs the compressed audio of spotify/ pandora especially since many of these music streaming users are using mobile phones which isn’t a device capable of outputting high quality audio like dedicate music players.

Paula, I really liked this article. At my internship at QVC, managers would hold, or were supposed to hold, monthly one-on-one meetings with their team member. This would have been a better time to raise these topics than during a performance review. So, to answer your question, I do not think raising these issues during a performance review would be a great idea. Discussing them during a more “relaxed” time would probably be better. The nature of the questions the article raises, where the employee is basically reviewing the boss is, I think, a great idea. Relationships and performances within a company should be a two-way street. Unfortunately that’s not always the case, so I think some of these questions they suggest asking your superiors are a little far fetched. If you develop a good relationship with your boss and that individual is a little more “down to earth”, you might have a good chance asking these questions “off the record” maybe during a more personal time like lunch.

I really enjoyed this article and found it very interesting! Ideally, I think it is a great idea to address all 7 aspects in a performance review because I think it would help the boss-employee relationship. This method gets everything out in the open so the boss knows the employee’s goals and vice versa. As a professional that will be in this situation in less than a year, I know I’d love to collect all this feedback. However, I cannot see this type of in depth performance review if it is done more than twice a year because this type of review sounds extremely timely.

This was a really interesting article to read. I enjoyed it because it made me think about performance reviews that I’ve had in the past. However, to answer your question, I think that it’s really important to talk to your manager or boss and present them with some ways they could improve. I’m sure a lot of us have been in a leadership role at least once in our lives. As a leader, you want to best effort and the best performance from your team. If you were leading your team in the wrong direction, you would want them to speak up and let you know. This would only enhance the performance of your team and even the leadership abilities of yourself. I also think it’s important to think of how these people are in these positions. A lot of times, you don’t just step into a leadership role. In order to get there you have to face much criticism and be able to respond in a good way. I think by offering your opinion to your boss on some ways they could improve shows that you care about the direction the team is heading and you also care about the well rounded abilities of them as a person.

I think it is important to commuixcate with your boss as opposed to saving that conversation for a single performance review. It becomes near impossible for a manager to truly provide the amount of though and effort a employee deserves when trying to better themselves in the work environment. There are most likely other employees your manager is trying to evaluate at the time of a companies performance review and this will only detract from the amount of attention they can provide you. With constant communication of your goals with your manager it becomes a much more likely situation of receiving the attention you deserve.

This is one of the most interesting articles that I was able to read. The article introduces a new topic, “catalytic innovation,” that goes very well with the recent class discussions. Catalytic innovation can be defined as the phenomenon of using technology or innovation in general to improve the life of people and have a social impact. I totally agree with the author’s concerns on the limited resources for creating things that would benefit the world. I also agree with questions raised by Paula about the role of technology giants in creating products and services that would improve the lives of people.

I believe RadioShack is in a dying industry. There are many reasons why, as the internet has expanded and more and more online business come along, companies like RadioShack, BlockBuster and Circuit City has demished. Think of it this way, people don’t like to waste time. Our lives depend on how fast is the process and is there a quicker way. And now with the internet there is a quicker way. Technology is in our hands. Cell phone has really hurt the industry because people can buy stuff from there phone in seconds. I also believe people buy stuff from online because they can compare prices and see review on product. I would rather save time and order something online and with good reviews rather than go to RadioShack and pay double the price for a product that might die the next day. I feel RadioShack needs to invent a new way to market themselves. Like Best Buy has price match, I feel like RadioShack needs to go in that route. I would only go to RadioShack when I needed something urgently. I feel RadioShack has missed there opportunity and they will die out soon because they have nothing new to offer. Amazon and other eCommerce companies will continue to increase while stores will continue to decrease.

I think digital dependency is definitely an issue that will only get worse as time goes on. I can already see it affecting social norms at parties and other events. People rather surf Facebook/ Twitter/ Instagram/ etc than make small talk and enjoy real human interaction. As we become more connected with our devices this will probably become worst. I somewhat understand being constantly connected for a job, but when it comes to personal life a line has to be drawn. Digital timeout’s are an awesome solution that I personally employ, it is refreshing to get away from your device and the urge reach into your pocket. At first you may suffer from technology withdraw but after a while it becomes liberating. The timeout allows you to reconnect with yourself and your actual social circle.