Is the MakerBot Digital Store the iTunes of Digital Designs?

[Razorette3D]

For those that didn't hear already, MakerBot has announce their digital store - https://digitalstore.makerbot.com/

They allow you to purchase items or entire collections, for download and print.

Do you guys think this will end up being an Amazon or iTunes of digital designs? It only seems like we will eventually see stores open up that sell digital designs ready for printing, rather than only having FREE designs available on sites like Thingiverse.

[Eddie]

For now it looks like only MakerBot will be publishing items on the Digital Store forsale. However, it's quite conceivable that in the future they will open it up to approved designers. It would only make sense, and it would give them a head start before Amazon or other competitors can jump in.

[Geoff]

For those that didn't hear already, MakerBot has announce their digital store - https://digitalstore.makerbot.com/

They allow you to purchase items or entire collections, for download and print.

Do you guys think this will end up being an Amazon or iTunes of digital designs? It only seems like we will eventually see stores open up that sell digital designs ready for printing, rather than only having FREE designs available on sites like Thingiverse.

It will come down I think to who pays the best for the designs. No one is going to want to upload a design only to have that company print it and make money off it, so there needs to be a royalty system in place, or a system where they buy the rights to your design. What I see at the moment is an absolute boom of people jumping on the bandwagon in a desperate race to become the next 3D printing "one stop shop".

From filament suppliers coming out of every little hole in the wood work, to a plethora of forums about 3D printing, to people trying to replicate Thingiverse in their own rip-off site..To the poor Joe who just opened up his first Retail outlet for 3D printing,.. who is most likely going to go broke paying rent because the profits on these machines is so thin thanks to international competition... it's becoming another .Com boom almost. While it's awesome to have the amount of people using and talking about 3D printing, there is also the danger of saturating the market (with everything).

I mean, how many kickstarters are there now for 3D printers? I have honestly lost count. Some are doing well, some not so well.. but that's just kickstarter. Then there is the companies that are making them outright now and selling them, of which there are just too many to name..

[Solidabble]

Geoff, I don't think it's a matter of having the company print it and make money off of it. The way I suspect it to work is that you will upload your design, and people will be able to purchase that designs from you directly using the MakerBot storefront. MakerBot would take a commission off all sales, but won't be doing the actual printing. Instead the person that downloads the design can print it however they'd like; either at home on their own printer, or via a 3D Printing service. I would suspect other companies will be opening similar marketplaces.

Amazon.com and Walmart stores are two that I see doing this. However, just like distributors of toys, games, books, kitcheware, etc can sell their products in multiple locations, the same can be said about these 3D designs. Now they just need to make a way to copyright protect these designs, so that someone can't buy them and redistribute them via warez websites.

[Geoff]

Geoff, I don't think it's a matter of having the company print it and make money off of it. The way I suspect it to work is that you will upload your design, and people will be able to purchase that designs from you directly using the MakerBot storefront. MakerBot would take a commission off all sales, but won't be doing the actual printing. Instead the person that downloads the design can print it however they'd like; either at home on their own printer, or via a 3D Printing service. I would suspect other companies will be opening similar marketplaces.

Amazon.com and Walmart stores are two that I see doing this. However, just like distributors of toys, games, books, kitcheware, etc can sell their products in multiple locations, the same can be said about these 3D designs. Now they just need to make a way to copyright protect these designs, so that someone can't buy them and redistribute them via warez websites.

Well, if you were to make a percentage of each sale and they make a percentage I guess that's fair, at least they cover all the overheads.

[3dfilemarket.com]

The 3dfilemarket.com will be a file hosting site for anyone. They can allow free downloads or charge a small nominal fee. The designers will take 80% and the rest will go to maintaining the site. The aim of this is for designers to get recognition for downloads e.g thingiverse has had millions of free downloads. This high volume of downloads made the site extremely valuable.... This made the owner of makerbot very rich when he sold up to stratesys. All the content uploaded by designers was capitalised on by someone else. If you get a thousand downloads for a popular design you should be recognised for it!!

[Hands0n]

I think that 3D printers, like games consoles, will become commoditised in time and that will see the initial proliferation of makes and models, followed by a period of attrition down to a relative few manufacturers of the hardware. Where the money will be is in the designs available for consumption. But we have some way to go yet before that happens. in-the-home 3D printing today is like the earliest VCRs, where the machines are pretty much just getting started. Machines in a few years will barely resemble what we can buy today. And they will have to become much more automation and thus simpler to use. The mass sales market will not stand for printers that need to have their print beds levelled using scraps of paper and thumb screws, for example. All of the mechanics of printing that we fiddle and faddle about with today will have to be made near-invisible to the end user. Then, and only then, will we see mass adoption.

The same goes for the raw materials. Filament that needs to be carefully stored, protected against moisture, will have to be replaced by much hardier stock. Multiple materials also, plastics, metals, conductors, so much that is necessary to produce working products. These will all have to be incorporated by some means.

Once the machines become capable then the on-line stores will begin to pay for themselves by being able to sell products that people actually want to buy.

Right now, as I cast my gaze across Thingiverse and other sources, and witness the quality of the product printed, I feel we are some way off the "big game". But I am absolutely certain that we will get there. 3D printing, by whatever name it ultimately becomes known, is here to stay and established industries are going to be disrupted a sure as the media industries have over the past several decades.

[JohnA136]

The MakerBot digital store you get is not a .stl. It is already sliced and has all the preferences set for the Replicator 2. If that is not your printer, save your .99.

[Newbie101]

Not sure why everyone is calling it the iTunes for 3D designs. It's not even close. It's files for Replicator Printers that are made by MakerBot themselves. They don't have an option for designers to submit designs or anything else similar to iTunes. It's just a store where MakerBot sells designs.

[ImaginationProgress]

Not sure why everyone is calling it the iTunes for 3D designs. It's not even close. It's files for Replicator Printers that are made by MakerBot themselves. They don't have an option for designers to submit designs or anything else similar to iTunes. It's just a store where MakerBot sells designs.

Everyone is calling it the iTunes of 3D Design because everyone is hoping that a big company like MakerBot or 3D Systems comes out with a marketplace like this. There really are no popular 3D design marketplaces out there. I think the best option would be for Makerbot to utilize Thingiverse for a marketplace. Simply give designers the option to charge for the download of their designs.