My Disappointment with Kickstarter

I’m a kickstarter junkie. I love buying new and cutting edge stuff, and i like supporting people building cool stuff.  I find items on Kickstarter that are often ahead of their time and i usually sign up to support them.

However, my last three big purchases from Kickstarter all turned out to be disappointments.  Not because of what i received but because of how and when they were delivered.  Let me explain…

Pebble Watch

Why I was interested – a watch that integrates with my smartphone!  All updates come to the watch.  I also liked the Runkeeper integration where i don’t have to look at my phone when on a run.

Why I’m disappointed – I like the watch (my post about it) but i ordered it May 2012 and received it over a year later.  By the time it hit the market, there were better options available – such as the Samsung or Sony watch.  Ordering it on KS didn’t give me the option of exploring the market nor did it give me a watch before it hit the market.  It just locked me into a solution.

Narrative Clip / Memoto

Why I was Interested – I love recording my life.  The thought of something taking photos every 30 seconds sounds awesome. I was super into it.

Why I’m Disappointed – Again, it took FOREVER for this.  I order November 2012 and received it almost 15 months later.  Even worse they kept sending emails about how close they were – even though they weren’t actually close at all.

Veronica Mars Movie

Why I was Interested – I love the show. I was excited there’d be a movie and wanted to support that effort.  They’d give me a digital download that i could watch at home instead of going to the theater.  That alone was worth the price.

What I was Disappointed – The digital download was only available in this crappy Flixster player which couldn’t, unlike every other movie file i own, be played on my television.  Thus, i had to rent the movie anyway, essentially making me double-pay for the film.  Again i was disappointed.

To sum up, i love Kickstarter. I think it’s a great company.  However, my enthusiasm for backing projects has gone way down. I’ll probably do more but will only do it if i don’t need the product in any specific timeframe and only if my desire to support the project outweighs my desire to actually get the product described.

 

Paranormal Activity

Paranormal Activity is a clever little horror film that scared the crap out of me.  Not because of big surprises but because it’s just eerie.  Let me explain:

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A girl is continously haunted by noises and strange occurances.  Her boyfriend, Micah, buys a camera and becomes obsessed with it.  Like any guy, he wants to get all of the strangeness on film.  The genius of the movie is that he places this camera on a tripod and films them sleeping to see what happens in the middle of the night.  And things happen.  When you see stuff occur, you see it happen through a static camera while their eyes are closed.  You feel for them and are legitamitely scared.  As Ebert says, “for extended periods here, nothing at all is happening, and believe me, you won’t be bored.”

If you like being on the edge of your seat, go check it out

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