Comments on: Busted red handed using cracked plug-ins.

By: Johnny Seven

Johnny Seven — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:40:31 +0000

The problem is that people think it is their god given right to own any piece of software or music they want. But if the creator/copyright owner decides to charge for it and you can’t afford the price they put on it, then you can’t have it.

And if the company charges too much for it and sells none, then they will soon learn to charge a lower price.

I’m sorry if comes over as a bit of an ‘old man’ comment (I am 33), but that is how I see it.

And if people actually saved for a piece of software and bought (for example) something every 6-8 weeks then they would have more time learning the features and how to get unique sounds from it.

People installing 10 programmes a week onto their machines and just using the first few presets that sound good has had a terrible effect on electronic music.

By: pg-13

pg-13 — Wed, 13 May 2009 15:18:59 +0000

yah i am now dealing with a virus infected computer because i finally gave in to the friend who has been trying to get me Komplete forever. not worth it. i dont even like NI stuff that much anyway.

By: Oliver Chesler

Oliver Chesler — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 20:28:51 +0000

Hi Lee. You can name names if a company did your wrong. Then again I don’t think your hiding anything heh.

By: Lee

Lee — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 15:32:28 +0000

I generally agree on pirating, but there’s a select few companies out there that have it coming due to the totally shitty manner in which they treat their customers. Things like not allowing license transfers and hiding that fact in fine print, charging exhorbitant fees for license transfer, and offering no upgrade price after only two or three versions, as well as ridiculous gate-keeper registration methods. There’s one in particular that burned me so bad that I would actually encourage people to not reward them with their business, if not rip their stuff off “Kompletely”. Not naming any names :)

I’ve learned my lesson, and don’t spend anymore on software now than I’m willing to lose.

By: regend

regend — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 02:09:57 +0000

beautiful! – “got some open-source stuff, bought some non-open source stuff that’s not outrageously priced. ( http://www.renoise.com if you’re interested. ) Never been happier.”

Definitely agree, there’s plenty of free VST’s and low cost options…Reaper is finally available on OSX!!!!

trying before you buy is ok but most people refuse to buy and that’s when developers lose.

By: Datascraper

Datascraper — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:50:58 +0000

The one really nice thing about purchasing your software is that you get some individualized attention from the dev’s. So far, whenever I have a question about any of the software that I use, Ive just emailed the dev and they have gotten back to me. That makes the price of admission worth it for me.

By: jason_md2020

jason_md2020 — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 20:59:33 +0000

I got tired of paying outrageous loads of money for music software too. Hell, I can’t even afford to upgrade Windows to Vista much less buy a Mac. My solution? Switched to Linux, got some open-source stuff, bought some non-open source stuff that’s not outrageously priced. ( http://www.renoise.com if you’re interested. ) Never been happier.

By: andras!

andras! — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:53:15 +0000

all i can say is the discussion about this seems way more constructive than the ideas the actual companies are having. they are loosing because they dont want to think outside the box. (or maybe they do but dont act on it)
hopefully more discussions like this will accelerate change.

By: Pete

Pete — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:33:44 +0000

That is indeed an interesting solution re the Cloud Computing.
Another point from a Devil’s Advocate, however, is that if someone has an extensive hardware collection and is endebted to the bank for this gear, when they have analogue synths that must be recorded in software, and when they have MIDI controllers that do nothing but control software, then how can it be said that they are unsupportive of the music industry?
The biggest illegal movie+music downloaders I know also have the biggest DVD, CD and Collectables collection of anyone I know – are they unsupportive? As I said, I don’t necessarily believe that, just playing devil’s advocate.
As for compensation, there was a web comic somewhere to the effect of: “Real World Business: sell the coffee and give away the sugar & cream. Internet Business: give away the coffee and charge for the sugar & cream”. As musicians, if you can combine enough “sugar & cream”, such as paid production+remixing+mastering work, paid live performances+DJ slots, guesting for other bands live + in the studio, even having a sponsored blog, then that could compensate.

By: Oliver Chesler

Oliver Chesler — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:04:28 +0000

Hi Pete. Thanks for the honesty. It’s definitely part of our culture. With more of our universe becoming digital new methods of compensation will have to be thought out. Blame the rich and elites for raising prices on life so much no one can afford anything! One way I could see this all heading is cloud computing where no one owns any software apps… you just have to rent to use them off a server each time. Of course that thought makes me worry but just like dongles it may end up our future.