This comes across to me as an introduction to the brand.... noooo! Doesn't come across very well to me if i was new to the brand, try agin! I spent two hours loading loading loading loading whilst watching tv, wasn't interesting enough to keep loading!

Great to see the BS5 of course, but am i the only one who thinks it looks awkward on it's floor pole?

I totaly agree with Lee,

as working with TV-productions I find the narrators/actors NOT go through the lens as all.

It´s all about credibility...

But I really like the interior and graphic design... although my iMac froze a couple of times... and I will go back....

To me the aim of this site is:

- to be able to remove the old forum, as I this it was giving exactly a good picture of B&O. If a potential customer was going to visiting them, he would have been quite scared!

- to provide a "virtual shop" experience. The experience and the message you are getting in the Beolounge is what B&O would like you to have in a real shop.

With the number of B&O shops going down, I think it is a really good idea. If you are talking to a friend or a work colleague about B&O, it is easier to get him to have a look at a website if he wants to know more, rather than going to a real shop.

There is no reason that they are collecting more or less info than in the previous version of the community. And as you are encouraged to visit the whole lounge, I doubt they can infer what you are interested in. The worst that can happen is that you receive an email from time to time that is targeted to you.

p.

Are we all using Apple ???

I have to say the cinema room is very good. Quite informative....

PhilLondon:

To me the aim of this site is:

- to be able to remove the old forum, as I this it was giving exactly a good picture of B&O. If a potential customer was going to visiting them, he would have been quite scared!

It could just be me, and my simplistic outlook on life, but I would have thought the way forward, especially in these difficult trading times, was to actually address the reasons why the old community was full of complaints and demonstrate real interest by taking part in your own forums, giving real answers and committing to solutions. In the longer term correcting theses issues would have reaped huge dividends.

Removing the complaints and replacing them with a glossy, overly graphic-laden site is pretty much symptomatic of what they have been doing in recent years.

A demonstration of substance and intent would have been reassuring, this I'm afraid is in my "airline magazine" category.

Just re-visited this morning as I assumed I must have missed something.......I didn't, it's still boring. Why did they bother?

Just out of interest I wonder if LEE can give us an indication what percentage of Beoworld traffic is to the main site for product info etc compared to forum traffic with specific questions/comments etc?

joeyboygolf:

Just re-visited this morning as I assumed I must have missed something.......I didn't, it's still boring. Why did they bother?

I don't think there's any doubt they've expended a lot of time and effort, it just it would have been much more appreciated if it had gone into addressing customer service issues rather than yet another glossy catalogue - surely thats what the main website is for.

nicely presented but not at all informative on any product

typical b+o only interested in the very wealthy not really bothered with the enthusiasts or the technically aware consumer

just like there magazine always show a fancy room full of speakers half of them not even connected up

If you choose the guy, he is a bit more technical. The lounge not to replace the main site which show the specs.

It would be good that there is a place to ask questions and get personalised answers.

p.

It's a mindset thing at B&O - trust me, I know. The focus is on the looks over the substance.

That was the point of my reference to the silent grand in the first room, or the silent speakers. I'd love it to be more performance oriented, less attention to surface and more substance.
But then we should maybe accept that B&O knows their preferred customers better than most, and that what they are saying and writing is relevant to them. As such, those of us here at BeoWorld may not be representative.

I think that if they put more focus on the actual technical performance of their products, then they would get better sales, as gradually the claim that B&O is all looks and no performance would disappear. There's been too much focus on the furniture aspect of B&O, now they can change. If you click the tech-spec's link, you see that there's some real thinking that's gone into the product, but how many people bother with going through that pdf?

That information, and the implications, should be front and center. The lounge will probably develop, also as a result of feedback. But I am naturally skeptical of sites that harvest, and let's leave it at that.

Tell the story behind these spec's, instead of the colour range, and you would shut up any critic:

I like the little details here and there. Like the fact that the tray of the BV7 can be used by children to pull themselves up (by designing it to widthstand 28kg pull)

Cheers,
Frank

PS: Only at 5% at the moment.

hebo:

But I really like the interior and graphic design... although my iMac froze a couple of times...

The "house" itself is quite stylish, even though when you've lived in a contemporary / international design house for a few years, you don't pay that much attention to it anymore. It reminded me of the time I watched older James Bond movies for interior design ideas, villains always had the best cribs...

Personally, when I'm buying something, I look for:

• Concept - what the product is all about
• Tech specs - what it is, on paper
• Images - I'm visually oriented
• Reviews - favourable or not
• Pricing - internationally & locally
• Alternatives - what are my options within the same brand

And, last but not least, a comprehensive, detailed catalogue. This is important. Even though I have a very bad habit of going for top-of-the-line products whenever it's financially feasible, I want to see the whole product line at a glance. Integrating something like this to Beolounge shouldn't be that difficult. I see the point in scattering products around the "house", in terms of placement and context, but if this is supposed to be a virtual showroom for B&O, it doesn't quite live up to expectations.

Close, but no cigar.

Mine would have got a 28kg kick up the backside if they had tried to pull themselves up on the DVD loader!!!

I agree that more time should be spent on the little 'stories' that show just how much thought goes into the products.  It's the little details like that which can be told to friends and impress them - it sets B&O apart from the crowd.

Imagine looking at a Sony Bravia casing and saying - well, that used to be 457 milk cartons, 1238 Dustbin bags, and a whopping 12380 empty crisp packets.  It's also designed to withstand the weight of 3 layers of dust before toppling forward.. etc etc

Lee

I only had time for a quick look but I thought it was OK for a sales pitch. Everthing loaded really quickly on my company XP laptop which only has the standard low-end built in graphics, but I am on the company network of a large ISP!

It's a shame if all the community stuff has gone though.

Simon

9 LEE:

Mine would have got a 28kg kick up the backside if they had tried to pull themselves up on the DVD loader!!!

I agree that more time should be spent on the little 'stories' that show just how much thought goes into the products.  It's the little details like that which can be told to friends and impress them - it sets B&O apart from the crowd.

Imagine looking at a Sony Bravia casing and saying - well, that used to be 457 milk cartons, 1238 Dustbin bags, and a whopping 12380 empty crisp packets.  It's also designed to withstand the weight of 3 layers of dust before toppling forward.. etc etc

Lee

LOL, the other one I found notable, was on the direction of the brushing of the Aluminium on the frame of the BV7. Designers wanted it to be in one direction, but that was not possible, so B&O created a machine to do it (we invested a small fortune...).

Frank

As some has commented: You really need broadband to get a nice experience. Tried at home on my iMac this morning and a 6 MB/s connection. Slow and boring. (Not the quickest of iMacs either)

At work this afternoon at a 100 MB/s connection. Very nice experience. 

Have another 90% to experience

/C

Actually another 30%. The maximum you can get to on line is 40%.

Luke :

Are we all using Apple ???

Not yet, but B&O certainly does not make it easy for Apple users like me.  B&O insists on using "flash" technology for its sites, for instance, and it is known that "flash" is a deprecated technology in the Apple world and utterly incompatible with iPhone and iPod Touch, for instance.

With regards to the BeoLounge, I spent some additional time with it last night.  The good news is that it only froze my internet browser once.

The bad news is that BeoLounge is the new interface for the community!  Meaning that if I want to download manuals (as I usually do before acquiring new B&O kit), I must:

1.  Greet the store manager

2.  Take one step forward

3.  Choose a B&O avatar to guide me

4.  Bear through her introduction, as she reads the teleprompter

5.  Take one step right

6.  Finally jump into the manuals area

Net/net, what used to be a 20-second routine to get to a manual is now a 10-minute tortuous process.

Look: let B&O maintain this thing, if they wish.  But give me shortcut access to the community features!

Nice idea, not so good implementation. The highlight of the lounge is Grace Summers imho. I am an MCP, I know.

btw.. I learned the expression MCP when I was studying English in London in 1983. I hope it's still in use.

To get the user guides in a faster mode, please try this link: http://www.bang-olufsen.com/page.asp?id=119

Am I to understand that, even if you register, there is no way to bypass all that Barbie & Ken nonsense at the front end everytime you login? - surely even B&O's web designers can't be that lame!

I'm sorry people if I'm coming across a little sceptical here but I'm struggling with the whole concept of this site - If I wanted to find out about products and specs I would expect to find them at the main site, if I wanted to speak to like minded people (OK - maybe not in this case)  I would head toward a enthusiast community like this one. The lounge is neither one nor the other and is dressed up like some CBBC adventure game.

Oh btw.............schatzoy, yes you are a MCP

Puncher:

Am I to understand that, even if you register, there is no way to bypass all that Barbie & Ken nonsense at the front end everytime you login? - surely even B&O's web designers can't be that lame!

In my experience, the salesman is now welcoming me back to the store (so they know I've been there before), but is still asking me to choose a B&O guideperson.  This might be a rational programming decision if they did not create any other vehicle for changing from the gal to the guy.  But it is a poor choice vis-á-vis consumers.

Thanks to Jocke08 for the link to http://www.bang-olufsen.com/page.asp?id=119

Pray tell, what is an MCP.

Puncher:

Am I to understand that, even if you register, there is no way to bypass all that Barbie & Ken nonsense at the front end everytime you login? - surely even B&O's web designers can't be that lame!

Yes there is, a "Skip Video" button on the right-hand side of the screen. A lifesaver.