Loopcloud

Loopcloud could have been a great service using great technology, but instead the brand chose a literal bait and switch (they changed contract details after I paid them up front for 12 months).

The Loopcloud desktop browser interface and DAW plug-in, if you are a sample-heavy musician, can offer a powerful and useful UI and workflow, as well as helping you keep track of existing sample libraries. It has BPM and key matching and speeds up sample digging IF (big if) you are willing to pay their constantly drifting prices.

When I first signed up for a trial account and early in my paid plan, I found that I was able to acquire many samples individually or in packs that felt competitively priced against other sample sellers. However this changed 2 months into my 12 month subscription.

Each month Loopcloud gives you "points" to spend on samples, and the average cost of singles and packs of samples varies over time, including bizarre peaks and valleys in prices not connected to sample quality or length. Over time my monthly allotment in points seemed less and less valuable, with more content creeping up to 5-10 points each, or forcing you to buy entire packs when you only wanted a couple samples.

Additionally Loopcloud gave you a budget of free samples each month. These samples would be in the "free" filter on the website or browser. Each paid plan had a certain budget of these free points that you earned on top of the premium points. 2 months into my plan, all mention of the free points and samples disappeared, costs for majority of samples and packs went up, and my own plan details (paid up front) changed. I contacted Loopcloud about this and they agreed - yep they bait and switched my contract. So they gave me some "free samples" to placate me, even though we both knew I had a legal claim against them at that point. I chose to end my relationship with Loopcloud at that time.

Side note: after a few months of sample digging, on top of the other issues above, I noticed I started having more trouble finding useful samples. It felt like I had gone through most labels and categories, and I was finding less and less. Not sure this would ultimately be of value after 4 or 5 months anyway, even without the bait and switch.

This exceeded my expectations immensely. I just wanted something to help me sort out and access my sample collection and was quite dubious about it's ability to do this whilst synching with my DAW.
The whole subscribe & install process was quite simple too. I had the whole thing up and running sorting out my sample bank in no time. The included LoopCloud Drum has turned out to be a very useful addition to my work flow, and, coupled with the freebies I'm finding my productivity is going through the roof.
I wasn't especially planning on subscribing after the trial period initially but I soon changed my mind, even though most of my music production is non-loop based.