Recently in Miscellaneous Category

Occasionally, it's good to take a break from talking about streaming media recording solutions. Here's a story of something we encounter more often than you think.

Every once in a while, we get people with marginally valuable domain names to sell contacting us and asking for an excessive amount of money. Here's one guy with a somewhat relevant three letter domain we had some fun with. (The domain name and author's name have been changed).

"Bob" wrote:

Hi Bill,

We own site XYZ.com and were looking to sell it.

We would much rather sell it - previously we were entertaining offers in the high 5 figures - let me know your highest bid and maybe we can work something out.

Thanks
Bob

My reply:

Hi Bob - Your site and domain will require a lot of work. Google says you have 1 outside link, and a 2 page rank for the home page, and your Alexa rank is 600,000+, which means you have very little traffic. If you were me, how would you justify a 5 figure price were I to present this to my partners? Thanks, Bill

Bob writes back:

Hi Bill,

It all comes down to supply and demand - we are only interested in getting the current market value.

eg. a similar 3 letter domain sold for $195,000 last week => MCC.com

See the link below:
http://www.dnjournal.com/domainsales.htm

In my opinion, XYZ.com is a much higher quality domain with much more potential...

Try searching XYZ vs MCC on google.com it generate results for 62,100,000
"Results 1 - 10 of about 62,100,000 for xyz. (0.05 seconds) "

The XYZ.com domain is clearly more valuable than other simple 3 Letter dot com domains e.g. MCC.com

With the right promotion & development this domain can easily be turned into an 8 figure/year operation.

Due to the current economic situation, I would be willing to let it go for under $195,000 - but it must be a competitive offer...

Thanks
Bob

And my response:

BOB -

IMO, WTF? LOL

- BSD (CEO)

I've always been a gadget hound. So, no surprise that I waited in line all day to be one of the first to grab an iPhone. The Apple iPhone is the ultimate convergence device. Sure, it's pricey, but I'm loving the fact that I have a phone, iPod , camera and email/internet device that fits nicely in my pocket. Plus, it is without a doubt the most beautiful device I've ever owned.

Replay AV, Replay Media Catcher and Replay Converter make great companions for the iPhone. Use Replay AV or Replay Media Catcher to capture online media. Use Replay Converter to convert your audio or video to a format suitable for playing on your iPhone. It's really easy. Replay AV will even transfer your newly recorded and converted media to iTunes automatically. Next time you sync the iPhone your recordings will be there ready for you to enjoy or show off to others.

Video that can be played in iTunes will sync with the iPhone. Use Replay Converter to convert your home movies to iPod video format and take them with you on your iPhone.

For me, the iPhone was worth the wait. It's functional and beautiful. This morning I heard that the Apple store I had camped out at still has a few in stock. My first thought was Ugh! You mean I stood in line all those hours for no reason??!! But actually, I'm glad I had the experience. It really was fun and exciting to be 9th in line. I proudly earned my geek badge on iPhone launch day.

Maximum PC has an interesting article about the quality of compressed MP3s. While not totally scientific, the results nonetheless indicate that a 160 Kbps VBR MP3 file is often indistinguishable from the original. If you have friends who are audio snobs, tell them to go read the article!