Who do you think is going to attempt Subscription-Only next?

[Bunny_boy]

It's not in the same spirit as perpetual subscriptions, but I think a Hire-Purchase system would work. The company could have a huge markup over outright purchase if spread over a number of years, and after a while, the stuff is yours. Don't pay, and the software is locked out; but also you can restart payments?

Edit: I think perpetual subscriptions are a race to the bottom, and it's a shame that they even exist.

[i need Help]

HP CEO Says Goal is To Make "Printing a Subscription"

Not music related but at this point, sure why not…

[foosnark]

It's just about the only way HP could make their user experience worse. But I don't think they're the only ones who wish they could force a subscription...

I have a Brother laser printer, the cheapish one everyone says to get because they're super reliable and you can use them for years withiut refilling the toner. Amd yeah, so far it has been great. But the driver likes to pop up occasional ads for their "ink" subscription anyway.

[CrystalWizard]

Computer Music Mag, SOS...

[ghettosynth]

It's just about the only way HP could make their user experience worse. But I don't think they're the only ones who wish they could force a subscription...

I have a Brother laser printer, the cheapish one everyone says to get because they're super reliable and you can use them for years withiut refilling the toner. Amd yeah, so far it has been great. But the driver likes to pop up occasional ads for their "ink" subscription anyway.

Yeah. I have a brother laser too. I was sick of buying ink to have it dry out by the next time that I needed to print something. I still print enough, but nothing like I used to. I remember buying paper by the case, I don't need that anymore. But, they're not going to make a lot of money off of my buying one toner cart every two to three years.

I'm not sure what I'd do if it came to having to subscribe. I mean, I wouldn't do that, I'd probably just buy an older printer and deal with the lack of features and slow printing.

[bitman]

AirWindows.

[_leras]

Luckily audio is too fractured to really allow any long term subscription process. Too many options and people expect some ongoing value.

There are plenty of near annual updates, but these are not mandatory. Companies need to show that they have made enough improvements to get customers money.

For professional media companies with e.g. teams doing post production audio, there could be some benefits to having a subscription if staff levels changed.

For KVR people, I'm not sure it works long term, except with one exception...

If you could subscribe to a daw and a decent set of tools e.g. a super synth, and a good set of mixing tools, it would actually be a really great way to get started with making electronic music on a computer. A pretty low risk outlay compared to buying a DAW, and trying to find gems in the sea of options.

[kritikon]

HP CEO Says Goal is To Make "Printing a Subscription"

Not music related but at this point, sure why not…

I recently got an HP printer and it's pretty good for the price. But obvs I passed over the subscription for ink and any other subscriptions they thought I was stupid enough to go for. And if they broke it enough so that I couldn't use the printer, then for the price of it - it would go straight in the bin and I'd buy a different printer. It makes no sense whatsoever for small time users like me to subscribe for that. I would lose way more than I gained.

Same goes for audio sw. If there really was a concerted push for it, then I could happily take the final plunge and go complete hw and give the ripoff devs a middle finger. Don't need/want/use your sw enough to make me throw free money at you. Now if they did that with DAWs I'd have to consider my options. I doubt I would fall for subscription even though it's a PITA without a DAW. But one would hope there'll be enough companies that stay with one-off purchases (and of course they'd sell well if all the competition went for ripoff sales. Or freebie DAWs - I could live with them, just about. I don't think I could live with going back to hw sequencers though, but I would consider it.

Ultimately there's very little that I NEED enough to be ripped off for. Most of us WANT stuff but in reality we can do without it, so companies would find it very difficult to force the model on us IMO - we don't need most of it enough to have to rent it, sales would tank. We only buy shitloads of stuff because it's cheap enough to do so. Make it so much more expensive with subscription and I think a swathe of companies would go tits up - and good riddance to them.

[vurt]

behringer. subscribe monthly and get one piece of hardware with a magazine. first issue in shops now!

[kritikon]

I'd consider Behringer subscription if only because they'd probably only charge 5p/month or summat ridiculous. They'd certainly undercut all the others.

[vurt]

I'd consider Behringer subscription if only because they'd probably only charge 5p/month or summat ridiculous. They'd certainly undercut all the others.

if its anything like those old magazines though, it would disappear after a few issues, before you actually get the model you wanted most in the collection

[ghettosynth]

As long as we're talking about subscription. I wonder if there's any good info on whether there is a trend of temporary subscription with media subscription, and, if so, how that trend is impacting the bottom line. This is what I do. I have max for a couple of months to watch a few things then I'll drop it. I had disney a while back for two months to watch the star wars things. I can see people getting a subscription for one month to master a project and then dropping it. In fact, I would see people using it as a longer term paid demo and it could backfire for firms in that people realize sooner that they don't need all of that crap.

Quoting myself here because I just saw a short news blip in the mainstream media about this. Customers are cutting the virtual cord this way. Companies, e.g., Apple, are responding by not releasing episodes all at once so that people can binge. Jokes on them, as far as I'm concerned, I just won't watch stuff.

We finished Silicon Valley, gave up on GOT after 1/4 episode, and Max is gone. Did I want to keep Max for half price for three months? No thanks, just unsubscribe me please. Was it worth $30 to watch all of Silicon Valley and about a half-dozen to a dozen movies, sure, why not.

[pekbro]

Just a note, the subscription thing solves the issue of prohibiting resale of software (for developers) in the EU. You should probably expect anyone who might be able to get away with it, to do it... eventually

E.g. you cannot resell a subscription. They wouldn't even really have to do anything beyond changing the terms. Say it's MSRP for a yearly sub and the first 9 years are free. Effectively,
they lose nothing and the customer only loses the right to resell.

It really only depends on the goal.

[bungle]

I'd consider Behringer subscription if only because they'd probably only charge 5p/month or summat ridiculous. They'd certainly undercut all the others.

You are kidding right, Behringer have a worse record actually delivering products than Hermes at this point.

[kritikon]

No, not kidding at all. Depends on what you call subscription. I call it rental for existing products. If anyone would be prepared to pay subscription for stuff that doesn't even exist yet, then more fool them. I wouldn't touch that with a ten mile long bargepole, ever. In terms of existing products, Behringer have shitloads. They deliver product more regularly than most hw companies. In fact they have a huge catalogue that dwarfs any other analogue synth manufacturer, and then they make shitloads of other stuff too. I suspect you conflate them early on announcing development with actually delivering those developmental products. Behringer deliver products extremely well. Aside from COVID/postCOVID issues they deliver multiple analogue synth per year. Korg are probably the next most productive and they release in fits and spurts. TBH it quite surprises me the discrepancy between the opinion of Behringer in some quarters and what Behringer actually do.

Behringer is no angel at all, but his company is extremely productive.