In our blessed free-market system most of us believe we should pay for what we get, right? Well here's something to consider for your business model (which is entirely your business - this is just a suggestion to ponder). How about charging for major upgrades?One drawback of the free upgrade policy is that GoldWave depends almost exclusively on new users to stay in business, so sometimes a change has to be made to make the program easier for new users.
Another of my favorite apps, Music Collector, from collectorz.com just did that - with the hearty approval of the geezer crowd. Why? Because if we occasionally pay for upgrades then we are important to the business. Otherwise we're just a bunch of amiable whiners.
The way collectorz did it was to grandfather the old-timers: if we bought the product prior to 2006 we could still get free upgrades forever. For the newer folks, it's US$19.95 per MAJOR upgrade (not small incrementals).
Along with many others, I volunteered to pay the $19.95 in order to thank the developers for a great product and to insure that my voice would be heard when I made a suggestion.
Chris, I think this would get a lot of support if you considered it.