Lifetime upgrades

GoldWave general discussions and community help
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TinPanFan
Posts: 49
Joined: Mon Feb 07, 2005 1:48 am
Location: Texas

Lifetime upgrades

Post by TinPanFan »

Chris said:
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.
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?

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.
Gauss256
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Joined: Sat May 21, 2005 2:35 pm

Post by Gauss256 »

You said it well, TinPanFan. I'd be happy to pay a reasonable price for an upgrade. We all know how the economics of software works. If Chris stopped improving the product that would be a different matter, but he continues to make it better and we want him to continue doing that.

Bruce
gerskan
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Jan 10, 2008 2:27 am

Please charge enough to continue supplying a great product!

Post by gerskan »

I use goldwave infrequently but it has been invaluable when I use it. I've tried a lot of software and for my purposes I'd likely never exceed the usage limits on the shareware versions. I appreciate the opportunity to use this versatile and friendly software. You earned my loyalty and hence the licence was purchased. Small and reasonable charges for major improvements would not be unreasonable or offensive to me. Your generosity and quality has made a loyal goldwave user out of me. Thank you!

About a year ago I found an excellent echo removal plugin somewhwere that was useable with Goldwave. Anyone know where it's gone?
jkowtko
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Post by jkowtko »

How about an "Advisors Circle" subscription where you could pay the $10/yr or 20/yr and be on a selective list of users who are given special perks, most notably of which would be heavier weighting of their input on product features?
DougDbug
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Post by DougDbug »

I don't think Chris is "complaining" or saying that revenues are drying-up. He's just saying that sometimes changes have to be made that make the program more user-friendly for new users. And, these changes may not be welcomed by some long-time loyal users.

But in reality, new customers are important to any business model, because some of the current customer base is going to fade-away.

There is another huge advantage to the free upgrades. Chris only has to support one version. Support becomes much more difficult when you have several versions to support, and it might be impossible to maintain the excellent support that we now receive.

Of course I would be willing to pay for an upgrade if it has a feature that I needed, or if it was required for a new operating system. But, GoldWave has been so good for so long, that even with free upgrades, I don't upgrade every time a new version comes out!

Another option would be to create a "Plus" or "Platinum" version at extra cost. Some things I'd be willing to pay extra for are multi-channel surround-sound editing and a fully-licensed MP3 encoder (and maybe it should include GWVoice and any other new extra-cost plug-ins).
Lipus
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Location: France

Post by Lipus »

I would rather agree to pay for new upgrades. I am transferring my Lps to Cds and I do not know how I could do without Goldwave. If I divide the cost of Goldwave by the number of files I've processed, the result is ridiculously small!

May be a fee every n upgrade ? (5<n<10).

Why not also a free donation from time to time ? There should be such a link on the GW Website as many other developers do. May be there is a tax problem with this, I do not know.
Gauss256
Posts: 22
Joined: Sat May 21, 2005 2:35 pm

Post by Gauss256 »

Lipus wrote:Why not also a free donation from time to time?
DougDbug makes some good points. The simplicity of the current business model has a lot going for it. There seems to be a lot of good will in the user base, so maybe the donation idea would work. Chris could choose to weight the opinions of donors more highly than others or not. But keeping it informal keeps it simple.
TinPanFan
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Location: Texas

Post by TinPanFan »

DougDbug said:
I don't think Chris is "complaining" or saying that revenues are drying-up. He's just saying that sometimes changes have to be made that make the program more user-friendly for new users. And, these changes may not be welcomed by some long-time loyal users.

But in reality, new customers are important to any business model, because some of the current customer base is going to fade-away.

There is another huge advantage to the free upgrades. Chris only has to support one version. Support becomes much more difficult when you have several versions to support, and it might be impossible to maintain the excellent support that we now receive.
Can't disagree with your points, but mine was very simple: there should be some mechanism by which we legacy users can contribute to GW's bottom line - or else we're just legacy baggage, not part of Chris' business plan.

I used Collectorz' example because it's recent and it worked - it's not the only way to do it.

As for the multiple version issue, that really wouldn't change. Chris can limit version support in any way he chooses. Even now there are those who use a non-current version because of some issue with the latest product.

My bottom line: I would like some way to be a revenue-generating asset to GW. The details of how it's done aren't important.
donrandall
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Location: Denver, Colorado

Post by donrandall »

Goldwave is a superior dollar value.

Other low priced editing/processing software is weak and puny by comparison. Some editing and processing programs that cost more than Goldwave really do not look so good in a side be side comparison.

I greatly admire Chris for quickly and effectively spotting things that do not meet his high standards. I greatly admire Chris for making improvements and corrections without fleecing the public. I don't know about anyone else, but I call that good business - and I commend Chris for his integrity.

Other digital audio applications do charge for every upgrade, sometimes this happens when a new version becomes available. Some even charge for upgrades, patches and fixes on a current version. Why in the world would a customer, someone who paid good money for a product ever, under any circumstances, be required to PAY the developer to fix his mistakes, errors, omissions or other defective product? Does anyone really think it would be wise for Chris to be like them other guys?

I have suggested Goldwave to others - folks that I know have become Goldwave users - partly because I was able to tell them that once they buy the license, they do not have to be nickel and dimed for every little revision or even new versions which have genuine and useful improvements. That is a very good marketing strategy and a very persuasive reason to buy Goldwave.
Stiiv
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Location: Fallentown, PA

Post by Stiiv »

I've been getting the free upgrades for about ten years now...frankly, I feel guilty. It'll pass, though. :wink:

A friend actually accused me of proselytizing for The Church of Goldwave....I said, "So what's your point?"
Stiiv
TinPanFan
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Location: Texas

Post by TinPanFan »

donrandall said:
Why in the world would a customer, someone who paid good money for a product ever, under any circumstances, be required to PAY the developer to fix his mistakes, errors, omissions or other defective product? Does anyone really think it would be wise for Chris to be like them other guys?
Maybe I just made my point badly (or not at all). donrandall's quote speaks to exactly the opposite of what I was trying to convey, so let me do it ... one ... more ... time.

Everybody hates the leeches - Symantec and Intuit come to mind as vendors who purposely break their products to force paid upgrades. Even Microsoft isn't that greedy.

What I'm trying to say is that Chris should have a MONETARY reason to make us long-term users happy. Personal satisfaction can only go so far.

I don't care how it's done - if people just hate to open their wallets to pay for a upgrade (note: I said UPGRADE, with new and improved features, not bug fixes), then something like "version 9.99 is now out with multitrack editing, support of all audio formats, free Sennheiser headset and also makes coffee! Please click on the Donations link if you care to contribute to GoldWave development."

That's all it's about.
GoldWave Inc.
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Post by GoldWave Inc. »

There are some interesting ideas here, but GoldWave is doing well enough that I have no plans to change the upgrade policy or consider other options for now. In recent years, the company has been able to make some modest donations to charities (OLPC being one of the charities last year). If anyone feels guilty about getting years of free upgrades, I'd prefer you make a donation to charity than to GoldWave Inc.

One thing that I did not anticipate with the free upgrade policy is the problem of people losing their licenses. Having to set aside some time every day to run searches on the database to resend licenses to people that lost them is not exactly productive work. If people had to buy a new license every time they lost one, that alone would result in a large increase in sales, but that is a very volatile subject for some users (it's not really their fault their hard drive failed, Windows crashed, their computer was stolen, etc.).

When all is said and done, I still have a considerable obligation to all customers (old and new) for being honest enough to pay for the software and for giving me the privilege of having my own business.

Chris
P.S. The playback cursor debate should be fully resolved in the next update.
DewDude420
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Post by DewDude420 »

The great thing about the last 10 (i think it's 10) years that I've been a registered Goldwave user is that I always know I'll be able to get that back with no problem; I wouldn't have to go searching for an old version. And, in my early days..I crashed my PC so many times I still have my old password memorized from the name/password license days (I still have the registration information Chris sent me..via snail mail...at least last i knew i did, it may have winded up in the trash by now).

anyway, the point i wanted to make before i started going all nostalgic, is the free upgrade policy is a major selling point compared to all the other editors out there on the market...like, i've seen goldwave literally transform and it's always been there...where as the last evolution of AA ran me $300 (and while you think that might come with some vasaline...it didn't)....and that's a major reason Goldwave has spread like it has. Granted I use AA a bit more than Goldwave these days, it's the first program i recommend to people who need to do audio stuff...and it's usually the first non-security program i'll install on my own systems after a reformat...and i almost lost the reassigned license info once...but i survived the 2 hour hold with tech support and the 20 minute procedure to reset my ISP email password. :)

oh, and don't forget, Multiquence has a major-version upgrade fee.
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