I paid for my first PowerBook G4 this way. I didn't buy the built-in SuperDrive because I knew I'd burn it out in a few months, so I got a Sony FireWire DVD writer.
I had my PC setup with all the file sharing programs, hammering my cable modem 24/7, downloading movies and music. DVD's were $10 and audio CD's were $5.
My main competition was bootleg movies on regular CD's that you could buy at flea markets, gas stations and party store but they had terrible quality. Not just because they had to fit on a CD but many of them were shot in the theater with a handheld video camera, not rips from IRC channels. They were only $5, though.
It was way too much work driving around dropping discs off and I couldn't use my laptop for learning Cocoa, so I stopped doing it after a few months.
I have more respect for hustle than intelligence. Love this story.
My friend and I also hustled bootleg rap albums in the early 2000s, but in our case, we were two white kids selling the explicit versions of the albums you couldn't buy at the nearest music store, which was a Wal-Mart. Lots of our customers already had the album, they just wanted the version with the curses left in.
It was also (to us) INCREDIBLY expensive to buy a CD burner, so before either of us could get one, we made cassette tapes of the albums, and sold those.
The weirdest thing for me to think about looking back on it is how many of my peers still had cassette tape players in the year 2000.
We also had two $5 CD hustlers in my high school in the Napster days. I can attest - The demand was insane. Retail price was really high and $5 seemed to be the sweet spot of affordability.
If you’re a man of your word and people can count on you, it cuts across all lines.
This was a pretty inspirational story, I really enjoyed it. He seems like a smart guy, and I am sure he enjoys playing ball, obviously a very successful guy. He picked an avenue and followed through going pro. If he had more opportunities it would be interesting to see if he turned out as an academic or entrepreneur or if having to fight for everything he had is what made him so great.
By the time i hit highschool, it was easy to find music and movies online, but modding the hardware to play it, PSP, DS flashcards, chipping xbox, PS1, was ripe. esp. because no-one else knew how to use a soldering iron, and the whole bricking your device warning turned people off.
I made dozens of dollars by running across the street to buy 5c candies only to sell them for 10c each. Good times.
Really clear writing. Sweet story.
This is an engaging story, but that's one of the worst, most distracting websites for reading I've ever seen. Random page animations? Fuck off.
It's a good read, but I don't know what it is teaching. Ethics anyone?
The song "Black Boy Fly" on Kendrick's Good Kid Maad City talks about how he was jealous of Afflalo.
https://youtu.be/BPAxrGT2emw