Square

I jumped on the smartphone bandwagon a few months ago; it was either June or July. I know, I’m a few years late to the race, but I don’t feel like I missed too much. I held onto the old resistive type touchscreen and the physical keyboard buttons; they worked much better with guitar nails. And, of the new phone options, very few had those nail-friendly screens or buttons… Eventually, though, I was several years overdue for a new phone and the old phones I was using were dying on me left and right (mostly due to old age, not misuse or neglect).

But I wasn’t about to pay for a phone with comparable functionality to its predecessors, roping me into a 2 year contract. It was time to enter the smartphone era.

So I tried a few out and opted for the HTC One. I thought about jumping in with Apple, but the screen wasn’t big enough for me to text with the guitar nails. Seriously, if you’ve got ‘em grown out, you need more room. And several of the phones I burned through prior to this were Samsung, housed in a cheap plastic case, so I was turned off to that (If you make a high-end phone, don’t house it in cheap plastic!). The HTC it was.

But I’m not here to pitch you a phone. It’s a phone; I’m happy that I can talk, text, and get on facebook and craigslist. I’d be just as happy with an iphone or the latest Galaxy or even a Nokia. It’s a phone.

And mostly, I’d be happy with a phone that didn’t do the internet, too. That is still not synonymous with phone, for me at least.

But… what I would miss, and what pushed me towards the smartphone, is the era of the smartphone credit card swiper.

I first heard of these probably about 2 years ago, in a Lefsetz post. It was back when the Square Card was pretty much the only option. Before it was in stores, you could email them and they would send you a Square Card reader for FREE! I almost emailed them just so I would have it for whenever I would make the smartphone jump.

Instead, I waited. For both; the smartphone came a few years later, followed shortly thereafter by the Square Card. And I had to pay $10 at Target, but Square Card credits you $10 with a card you get. And you can still just email them through their app in order to get a free one, but I didn’t know that until after I made the purchase.

And at this point in the game, it’s not just Square Card. There are 3 or 4 other options: intuit, paypal, payanywhere, and probably a few others I’m forgetting. Portable credit card readers are now accessible. And they’re affordable; Square Card, at least, will pay you back for your purchase, has no annual fee, and charges 2.75% on CC purchases, without any hidden fees.

Over the past several months, I’ve started to see more and more of them in public; everywhere from mini golf to cafes to musicians. They’ve become the quintessential tool of the mobile small business. I’ve even seen some craigslist ads saying that they take credit card via smartphone card reader!

Because who carries cash? Cash is bulky, has more liability, and is dirty. A card has insurance, rewards points, and isn’t bulky. I saw someone pull out a checkbook at the grocery store the other day. What the heck??

In this day and age, most people just expect to pay with a card. Sure, it’s led countless Americans into staggering debt, but if you’re not spending beyond your means, it's the preferred convenience.

Historically, this has been a downfall of the small business owner, the mobile business owner, and the musician. Unless people plan on being somewhere where they’ll need cash, a lot of times they’ll only keep a limited amount on them. And if someone like that stumbled into your small business or happened to see your show, you were out of luck. Maybe it doesn’t happen often, but the number of times I’ve heard “sorry, I don’t have cash,” have certainly added up through the years.

Since I’ve gotten my own card reader, that issue is a thing of the past. And the few CD sales and tips I get from cards actually ads up to be able to pay for my data plan most of the time. That is income I would otherwise have not gotten.

But here’s the thing: I only do this part time. Part time as in, with my next few shows, my show count will be 11 for the year.

It got to the point to where it didn’t make sense for me to not have a smartphone anymore. And it was primarily because of this capability. I couldn’t afford to lose potential fans because I didn’t have a way to accept money from them. If I see someone, regardless of how great they are, I’m much more likely to follow up with the artist if I have something tangible in my hands leaving the show.

You may never have a second chance to make a fan or make a customer. Every additional way you can accommodate others will make them more likely to repeat your story.

And as a small business owner or musician, you can finally do that in a way that monetarily benefits you! At the price of a handful of small fees.

It makes sense. The entry level for old credit card readers was something like $250; that’s a lot of sunk cost for a small business. And on top of that, you still had the card fees. Now, for the cost of a phone data plan, which you probably already have, you can have the same thing.

But some people don’t get that. Businesses, especially around where I live (Central Pennsylvania), can’t see past the fees. Kelly and I had to turn around when we got to the front of the line in a very well established ice cream parlor down the road from us because they didn’t take cards. The soft pretzel lady at the grocery store was lucky I had cash after taking my pretzels and finding out that they didn’t take cards. And there’s a sandwich shop in my hometown that directs you down the street to an atm…

It’s a disservice to customers and a disservice to yourself to not utilize technology so readily available.

Plus, the smartphone swipers act as a sign that you actually know what you’re doing trying to run a small business or make a career out of music. I’d much rather my business go with the well-informed entrepreneur with an up-to-date business model than to the one stuck in the past.

New Headphones

Switching headphones. Not a big deal, right? I mean, it’s more a thing of comfort and style, right?

False. In this day and age, yes, comfort and style tend to take precedence over functionality, but what a shame it is that the main focus has fallen from the music. What a wonderful society we live in…

In reality, for those who care about music, the audiophiles to whatever degree you can afford, it’s about the sound quality. Always. Comfort is a thing of functionality, not to be wrapped up in the guise of style.

So you have headphones covering a vast gamut of the function/comfort/style continuum. I’d take studio monitors any day of the week, in an isolated room, but that’s not practical in all cases, unfortunately. So I’ve been stuck with a pair of original Apple earbuds for quite some time. You know, the ones that came out with ipods back in the day.

I’ve wanted a nice pair, maybe Sennheiser HD600s or 700s, for a while now. I heard some rave reviews from some audiophile icons, but I shouldn’t afford stuff like that. $400-$1000 for headphones? One of those things that you could do, but really, really shouldn’t. So I’ve resisted. But if you’re not going for gold, then what’s the point? I don’t like to upgrade in multiple iterations; I prefer to go for the best and then wait a long time until whatever gadget is more or less obsolete. I was the one who waited until a few months ago to hop on the smartphone bus, remember? I’m slow to change, but go all in when I do. So, while I’ve thought about an incremental step, something like Beats (of which I've heard mixed reviews for the price point), it just doesn’t make sense. And in that time, I’ve been stuck with earbuds.

When Apple came out with the ipod/earbud package, it was all about delivery. The sound quality wasn’t quite there and the earbud quality wasn’t quite there, but the package deal offered accessibility that was contagious. I waited a bit on the ipod, until I could buy a used 5th gen (better sound than those that followed) for $50 from a friend. And I got the earbuds to match. And, while I’ve upgraded the ipod to a bigger one (60GB up from 30GB, which still isn’t enough!), the earbuds have remained. Seriously, these things are like 8 years old!

But I recently got a smartphone. The HTC One, to be exact. And they came with headphones/earbuds; the nice kind with the silicone pieces that conform to your ears and act as passive noise-cancellers. Allegedly, these are, more or less, Beats, resembling them in nearly every way. However, they stayed in their package until last week …because I had my earbuds.

Then last week I opened them up to give them a try. I listened for an album or two and was impressed, but they didn’t fit right, so I left them sit. Well, today I just got out the other silicone ear pieces and found some that fit.

And the sound?! Oh my! I knew the earbuds were bad. I knew that I had been doing a disservice to good music. Maybe I was in denial? Maybe I was numb after seeing the $1000 price tag of the HD700s? Actually, that’s probably pretty close to it.

The difference is similar to the background noise I spoke of only days ago. I didn’t realize the richness I was missing. I mean, I knew, but I didn’t understand. It’s like a veil has been lifted.

The bass response is so much more defined. The thump of the bass drum and the low roar of the bass are resonant as never before. The highs are crisp without being tinny. They didn’t even sound tinny before, actually; now, in comparison, they do. And the mids are balanced. You can hear everything nearly as intended.

Which got me thinking… I mean, I did just release a new album. And, to be honest, I reviewed most everything on either my old earbuds or in my car. Rookie mistake, but, again, I didn’t want to pitch for the $1000 headphones to do the job “right.” But now I’m listening to the album. And …dang. The intricacies coming out are unbelievable. The fact that it’s a live recording is so much more apparent with the little artifacts founds throughout the background. This is nuts!

So I've followed with some of my other favorite albums/bands: Portishead's self titled, Between the Buried and Me's latest, This Will Destory You, Trevor Gordon Hall, and the list will go on. It's almost like rediscovering this music.

Yes, I could still pick these apart. They're still not quite the same as live, but that's not the point. The point is that these were so accessible and right under my nose! And these came with my phone, at no additional cost!

Which is making me think… how much better is the real deal? Yes, I’ll probably stick with these for the foreseeable future. And it will be without looking back. Seriously, it’s only been a few albums worth of listening so far, but I can’t see myself going back. And I’m more anxious than ever to move forward.