2 questions and 1 suggestion.

[kjasant]

i've been using dbpoweramp for some years (since v8 and i first bought v10 power-pack in 2004) and am very satisfied with the program. one thing i particularily liked was the free upgrades for life policy. then in january i noticed v12 was released. i was a bit dissapointed that there was now a cost to upgrade from power-pack to reference, but i did anyway thinking that now i can at least always upgrade to the newest reference version.
just today i noticed v13 had popped up on my favourite torrent site, so i decided to just come get my legit free upgrade instead. needless to say i am once again disappointed that what was once my free upgrades for life agreement isn't exactly being upheld.

so here's my 2 questions:
1) the free upgrades for life policy is what originally made dbpoweramp one of the few programs actually worth purchasing, but if it's now going to cost me $12 everytime i want to upgrade to the latest version it's not worth it for a casual user like me anymore. why has the upgrade policy been downgraded?
2) when i upgraded from v11 to v12 i was OK with purchasing it again, i considered the multi-CPU and batch capabilities to be worth it, so what exactly makes v13 worth $12 more than v12.4?

and here's my suggestion:
if it's now going to cost to upgrade versions from now on, why not just have an unlimited upgrades for an annual fee? it could be optionally tacked onto the AMG access fee, how about $10/year for AMG and any upgrades? i would be much more open to that.

[Spoon]

Re: 2 questions and 1 suggestion.

People hate the subscription model more than the traditional upgrade model. Reference has never offered a upgrade for life, the Power pack no longer does (for R13). Your Power Pack order number allows you to get R13 Power Pack, it will allow R14 Power Pack.

[kjasant]

Re: 2 questions and 1 suggestion.

thanks for the reply but i still need some clarification. so what you're saying is my old power-pack order from v10 will allow me to upgrade to v13 power-pack and future power-packs, but my new v12 reference order doesn't? i guess when i purchased reference i was under the impression it had the same upgrade policy as my power-pack did.

if that's the case, then what makes v13 reference worth $12 more than either v13 power-pack or v12.4 reference?

i realize a subscription model isn't for everyone, but it would be a nice option to have. what if i had purchased v12 reference 2 weeks ago? i'd be pretty pissed right now. i (and i'm sure many others in my position) would be willing to pay a yearly subscription of $12 or so for AMG and upgrade protection.

[bhoar]

Re: 2 questions and 1 suggestion.

thanks for the reply but i still need some clarification. so what you're saying is my old power-pack order from v10 will allow me to upgrade to v13 power-pack and future power-packs, but my new v12 reference order doesn't?

That is correct. That way, spoon keeps his promise to existing customers and continues to not charge them for power-pack updates.

i guess when i purchased reference i was under the impression it had the same upgrade policy as my power-pack did.

That's not how Reference was advertised. Reference has never been available with free upgrades.

if that's the case, then what makes v13 reference worth $12 more than either v13 power-pack or v12.4 reference?

IMHO: The Batch Ripper and Perfectmeta features. These are powerful enough to use as the core of a commercial ripping operation *and* priced at about 5% of the price point of existing software on the market that has these capabilities.

If you don't need those, you can stick with powerpack and free upgrades for life as promised.

-brendan

[kjasant]

Re: 2 questions and 1 suggestion.

thanks spoon and bhoar, good to get it cleared up.
i guess i'll stick with v12.4 reference for now and only upgrade every 2nd or 3rd version, or until a reasonable subscription option is available

[Jeff Flowerday]

Re: 2 questions and 1 suggestion.

thanks spoon and bhoar, good to get it cleared up.
i guess i'll stick with v12.4 reference for now and only upgrade every 2nd or 3rd version, or until a reasonable subscription option is available

The scanning and PerfectMeta features are worth the $12 upgrade from 12 to 13.

[Jeff Flowerday]

Re: 2 questions and 1 suggestion.

The only thing I suggest is a small grace period of say a month for people who purchases new or upgrade and another major release comes out.

[LtData]

Re: 2 questions and 1 suggestion.

Also, r13 Reference will include the CD Ripper and Sveta, when fully released for r13.

Also, as Spoon said, for clarification (if I'm understanding him right):
People that purchased the PowerPack at r12 or earlier still get free upgrades for life, people that purchase the PowerPack at r13 (or greater) only get r13.x versions for free, basically moving to the Reference upgrade model (minor versions free, major versions have an upgrade fee).