Propellerhead introduces Subcription

[festeringheap]

https://shop.propellerheads.se/subscription/

Plans ranging from 9 to 29 dollars a month.

[antic604]

For rack extensions.

[Sailor16]

Sounds good! But we probably need to read the fine print as well. For example, is there a minimum required subscription period?

The "Large" subscription cost €29 /month. For this I'll get:

— €3000 value to "buy" Rack Extensions for
— Build my own customized Pack
— Exchange products every month

This is the way to go, and I wish more companies offered subscription models besides their regular "buy once, own forever" sales.

Now of course one can be perfectly "anti-subscription" for various reasons. But the way I see it, as long as PH offers both models there's only more freedom to the end users to choose according to their personal preferences and needs.

Overall, this is another great move forward from PH.

[JonSolo]

Since this is not a discussion about DAWs I created a discussion here (in Instruments):

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=492495

[Grumbleweed]

Since this is not a discussion about DAWs I created a discussion here (in Instruments):

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=492495

It's a discussion about the "instruments" appertaining to a particular DAW and not a particular instrument. (Plus compressors, limiters, reverbs, delays, and a multitude of other REs aren't instruments).

Grum.

[gas pump]

A creative attempt to boost Rack Extension revenue due to lack luster sales, especially with the new addition of VSTS?

I've never understood the "Reason" to subscribe to software you can't afford.

[Scotty]

Simple, you subscribe to Time Magazine and CNN cable so you don't have to own Time Warner corp in order to read the magazine or watch their news. There are plenty of logical examples where people subscribe to services. Provided the software subscription terms allow you to render the files and monatize any creations without penality even after you have cancelled the subscription AND you value the service at their asking price, there are compelling reasons to consider the option.

A creative attempt to boost Rack Extension revenue due to lack luster sales, especially with the new addition of VSTS?

I've never understood the "Reason" to subscribe to software you can't afford.

[Sailor16]

Ernst's perspective is expressed in this official PH blog post:
https://www.propellerheads.se/blog/plug ... done-right

Makes a lot of sense IMO, again great move forward by PH.

The only "technical" issue I see here is this: what if you change RE's in the current subscription pack, then what happens to your previous saved Reason song projects using RE's that are now "out"?

I guess the solution is to render everything to audio files, but still... Maybe there is another solution we'll learn about from PH later on?

[starflakeprj]

Now just give us the possibility to sell Rack Extensions second hand

(I know this will never happen, even with e license transfer fee involved. I say never because I want to challange the Props)

[starflakeprj]

Ernst's perspective is expressed in this official PH blog post:
https://www.propellerheads.se/blog/plug ... done-right

Makes a lot of sense IMO, again great move forward by PH.

The only "technical" issue I see here is this: what if you change RE's in the current subscription pack, then what happens to your previous saved Reason song projects using RE's that are now "out"?

I guess the solution is to render everything to audio files, but still... Maybe there is another solution we'll learn about from PH later on?

Yes, you will probably get the "not available", or what the message now use to say
So yeah, export the song or, even better, every track in each song as separate audio files.

[Aloysius]

Subcription ... Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahaha

[gas pump]

Simple, you subscribe to Time Magazine and CNN cable so you don't have to own Time Warner corp in order to read the magazine or watch their news. There are plenty of logical examples where people subscribe to services. Provided the software subscription terms allow you to render the files and monatize any creations without penality even after you have cancelled the subscription AND you value the service at their asking price, there are compelling reasons to consider the option.

You're comparing apples with oranges. You own the magazine once it's delivered to you and cable television is a service not a product. That's why I used the word "software" specifically.

Renting software makes zero sense to most of us without GAS.

[JonSolo]

It IS a "service" subscription!

You are being rendered the service of using certain products. There is no physical product here. But if there were, it would still be similar to leasing a car. You don't get to keep it, although you can extend your lease, or even choose to buy the car for its current value at the end of the term...with the service you can extend the service or if you choose, pay what the going rate is for it at the end of your term.

The proof of this is in the concept that what is contained in the subscription can change from month to month. What you have access to can be different.

You don't have to like it, but going back and forth about what it means is what is nonsense. It IS a subscription for a SERVICE. Plain and simple. Again, you can hate it, find it repulsive, even think it makes no sense.

But really renting or leasing houses and cars makes no sense either...unless you really can't afford to buy...and then it is the only thing that makes sense.

To each their own.

[Scotty]

The comparision is appropriate but you can call it apples and oranges if you want to... I'll make it more concrete and get out of the analogy business. I not sure just how physical a software plugin is... last time I checked I couldn't suck a real moog out of my ethernet cable and was quite content that my plugins were bits of code with no real physical dimension. We could go back and forth on that all day and lose the central point so I won't do that. I'll make my point with concrete examples.


You assume that someone who is interested in subscription has less control over GAS than those that don't... that is just assertion with no basis in fact. It may well be that they can afford say $40 to $100 a month and like the flexible options to cancel and are quite comfortable printing tracks like how it was done in the not so distant past. You know when you would hire an orchestral section for the afternoon but you didn't get to keep them after the session was over. There are laws against that sort of thing.

I can give 3 cost effective subscription services examples in which I participate and get great value for the monthly outlay. That is if I decide it is worth my while to be billed that month.

Example 1: Subscribe to East West Composer Cloud and calculate how many decades it would take you to purchase the software outright at the subscription rate... Yes... decades (more than 3)... Purchasing the software outright hardly makes good business sense.

Example 2: Subscribing to knowledge based content sites instead of purchasing the courses makes a lot of sense. (MacPro Video... Ask Audio). Yes, you can buy the courses but once you purchase, they are frozen in time. Subscribing to courseware sites can be cost effective if you are in a heavy learning mode and are working across software platforms. The courseware is continuously developed and your subscription gives you access to the latest courses and updates ... (Maschine MK III, Kontakt 5x etc. Some downloadable content doesn't age all that well... I have a shelf full of old Macintosh programming manuals, Cubase 4 and 6 books etc. and some purchased courseware on Battery 3 and Guitar Rig 3 ... all "owned"; some physical in dimension and most nearly useless other than for historical purposes.

Example 3: If you produce your own music videos and routinely work in Premier, Adobe Photoshop, After Effects (that's me) or web design, game development (that's not me) you can get an affordable monthly subscription to the software and work with the latest versions of all of the Adobe software suite (which costs thousands if purchased outright) and if you were stuck you could watch one of the videos that I mentioned above to come to terms with the latest features (the kind you subscribe to where the content is developed routinely).

Maybe you need to put a few kids through University so you don't have $8000 kicking around but you still want to express your music visually...subscribe for a five months and keep the change (all $7800 - or more if you need more than Premier, Adobe Photoshop, Indesign, Audition or After Effects ).

My point is not that all subscription services are worthwhile. Quite the opposite; some are extremely poor in terms of value. But having a closed mind to it on the basis of ownership prejudice may be unwise.

I live these examples and they are well and carefully considered from a business point of view. YMMV. - Scotty

Simple, you subscribe to Time Magazine and CNN cable so you don't have to own Time Warner corp in order to read the magazine or watch their news. There are plenty of logical examples where people subscribe to services. Provided the software subscription terms allow you to render the files and monatize any creations without penality even after you have cancelled the subscription AND you value the service at their asking price, there are compelling reasons to consider the option.

You're comparing apples with oranges. You own the magazine once it's delivered to you and cable television is a service not a product. That's why I used the word "software" specifically.

Renting software makes zero sense to most of us without GAS.

[incubus]

Just wow.