What makes you buy or not buy music software / Plugins?

[CrystalWizard]

... what factors influence you?
For me, need is the biggest factor...

...Superiority includes not only sound (which is absolutely essential, but superior in reliability, function, features, price, etc...

I don't need any instrument or FX but i desire (and only have interest in):
Innovative,
Flexible tools
such as Madrona Labs, Dawesome, U-he, new to me Aqueel Aadam, and some others.
Inexpensive is nice but if i can afford them i don't mind paying.
Reliability is a must for many of my tools because i do live gigs where crashes or freezes are not OK. I don't need everything to be 100% though, just my live rig, most importantly my DAW. I don't use new (to me) synths or FX in the live setup.
Most new (and many old) plugins sound fine for my needs.

Another thing for me, is copy protection. In my eyes, the ideal copy protection, which does indeed exist, and is used by several developers, is the kind that is not vendor dependent...

Watching developers (and corporations) get sold, reorganized, or just fold has made me much more interested in c/p that will not take away anything that i have payed for.

Another thing that determines whether I buy from a developer or not, is their customer service and their interaction with the customer. I would much rather buy from a developer that interacts with me if I have a concern—if he tries to help solve my problem. I want to be able to trust a developer when he says something. I want a developer that is open and honest in his business dealings.

I don't buy or download software when it first released. Small developers can't do extensive QC and compatibility tests, larger organizations don't bother to any more it seems. So, if i need help and contact developer support i would like her to respond within 48hrs (unless it's a DAW, then ASAP) and certainly i would expect to trust what she says.

.... ....

Further, developers that take your rightful upgrades away, and only allow you to download the update for a short limited amount of time won’t win any points with me. ...

Oh, BS to that.
Phoning home? BS to that also.

[razornaut]

As I'm now a hobbyist, I don't strictly need anything. I treat my plugin purchases the same as some do their Steam library. I'm not a gamer, though; my games are audio tools (I'm not as much of a bore at dinner parties as that may imply). My stipulations are:

It must be fun.
It must be clever.
It must have a pleasing and elegant UI.
It must be priced reasonably.

I don't care about copy protection as long as it stays out of my way.

I am undecided about vibe coded products. I'm a software engineer (not DSP) for my day job which means that I'm all too aware of the dangers - of which there are many. However, if it means an interesting and unique concept would otherwise not exist and it meets my stipulations, I'll give it a go.

I will never purchase a subscription plan. Bug fixes -which include OS compatibility updates - must be free, but for major version upgrades, I have no problem with being charged. Brownie points if the developer doesn't, but no ill will if they do.

[cryophonik]

I have a ton of plugins, so I don't buy software very often, but my reasons for many of my recent purchases have varied widely and includes:
- Something that filled a need or substantially improved upon something I frequently use
- a favorite developer released something that I found useful or fun or interesting or whatever and I wanted to support them
- it simply looked interesting, useful, or fun and the price was right
- it was expensive, but offered something that makes tedious or mundane tasks go quicker
- it was a summer sale for a bundle upgrade that has some useful items and I bought them for what worked out to be like $8 each or something

FWIW, I don't care about copy protection - I think I've used every method under the sun over the past 25 years and none have been an issue for me - hell, sometimes I don't even think to look at it before buying.

[KBSoundSmith]

1) Does the developer seem to actually understand DSP?
2) Does it actually sound good?
3) Does it have compatibility problems with anything else in my setup?
4) Does it provide enough unique capabilities while having strategic overlap with other things I own?
5) If I decided to migrate DAWs, OS, etc, can it migrate with me?
6) Is it a fly-by-night operation or are they likely to be around in the next few years if I have a problem, such as licensing after needing to replace a computer?
7) Does the interface slow me down? Or does it just look so fugly I don't want to use it?
8 ) Has the developer said or done anything that makes me actively dislike/distrust them? (no, I am not one of these people who need to be buddies with a developer -- that's a far different thing than what I'm saying)
9) Is the price reasonable for what is actually on offer?
10) Does the company have fanboys, and if so, how annoying are they? Not under the developer's control, so I give a lot of leeway for this, but yes there are some companies I won't buy from just because I find the rest of their userbase too annoying. Annoyance by association.

[jamcat]

1) Does it model a real instrument (acoustic or electronic)?
2) Does it model it accurately?
3) Can it stand in for the real instrument convincingly?
4) Does it provide a transferable familiarity with the real thing?

[Chicken Drummy]

In my eyes, the ideal copy protection, which does indeed exist, and is used by several developers, is the kind that is not vendor dependent. I expect to be able to buy my software, archive it on a backup drive, along with the authorization, and use it at a future date to install that software on a new computer, even after the company is no more, or the product has been discontinued. I’m against piracy as much as anyone else, and support the use of copy protection. But when it limits or hassles me more than the pirates, I draw the line.

Hear, hear!

[JsinOwl]

The thing I look for most is whether or not a piece of software resonates with how I think. It's not the same thing as it being intuitive, or having a nice workflow; not sure how to describe it really, but I know it when I find it. ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯

I don't mind iLok, at least I know I'll be able to easily move licenses around. I do have a strong distaste for plugin managers, and won't use them unless I really, really, want whatever it is. The only plugin I've ever walked away from because of their terms is Gullfoss, f that. -_-

[Chicken Drummy]

@CrystalWizard I'd not heard of Aqeel Aadam until you mentioned him in this thread but after checking out his site and downloading a few of the demos, he does have some nice products. So thanks for introducing him!

I'm liking his newest effect Coastline. Weeping Wall is also really cool and set at a very fair price. I haven't gotten round to trying out his other plugins yet but I do hope to get to them soon enough.

Great stuff! I'm surprised I've not seen this dev mentioned here before.

[Dunbar]

First thing I look at is the copy protection.

If an internet connection is required at any stage of the install or activation, I won't buy it.

I've had my wallet singed twice by internet dependent software; I'm not going to let that happen again.

[Essent]

They all do the same, so I don’t buy them.
Or it are hybrids, which is useless.
Or they have lots of FX, which is useless as well.
1 sampler + 1 VA synth is all you need