Unique Information Good
The unique information good I chose was internet radio. I thought of it when I hopped online to check the site of my favorite radio station, 93x. I noticed that you could click a link that said, "Listen Now!" I was intrigued, so I followed it, and I found that the live radio station was actually streaming through Windows Media Player on a tiny new browser window. When I realized that they were providing this service for free I started to look at the various aspects of it. I found almost immediately that the service is truly a great idea for 93x to host. To begin with, listeners hear all the same advertisements that normal radio listeners hear, meaning that source of revenue may be slightly more valuable. The stream also has links to other popular aspects of the station's website, making the online experience more complete. Most striking, however, is one particular link. The window has a box that displays the artist playing, the title of the track, and what album it may be found on. Just below this information is a link that says "Find it at Amazon.com". I used to pull my hair out when I did not know the information of a track on the radio, and now I can even purchase the CD the track is on with no more than a few clicks! This is by far the most impressive part of the service.
The one problem I have with the service is that it streams at 42K bits/second. This is very low audio quality, and I personally prefer my music to be much higher quality than that. My suggestion, then, would be that 93x could look into expanding their service to stream at up to 128K or 192K bits/second, and then charge a price for higher quality levels. People may be adverse to paying for the radio, but I used to love listening to this station, and in my dorm I could not manage it because the signal is too weak. In addition, as I go on to buy a laptop or PDA I would be able to stream the radio station at that quality, and I could enjoy the service in many different ways. Given the option and several portable devices with wireless internet connectivity, there is a good chance I would subscribe.