Renting Software???

[ct43]

Ive just been thinking...

Would it be good to have the opertunity to rent software instead of buying it because...

1. Sometimes you use a plugin / instrument for a bit, then you decide you dont like it anymore & the resale value on software is crap

2. Some software is really expensive

3. There would be no upgrade fee, you just keep on renting

There are probably other reasons as well, maybe the company could give you the option to buy after youve paid up to the RRP (say for 25% of the normal price??) ..... BTW I think samplitude was available to rent at some point..

[john gordon]

you can rent samplitude

[AdamJay]

yea i like the idea of a rent to own thing where if you've rented it month after month until the point that you've paid the complete retail price = its yours!.

it would fit in the space between a demo and a full version, and how many people do we see complaining about the limitations of demos?

there would be some minor annoyances of having to reauthorize every month or two, but thats less of an annoyance than dropping down $500 at once when you can't scrape it up.

right now i'd love to rent DSP Quattro for just a month or two (i know i cant scrape the $149, how pathetic), but i'll have to settle with the liter version from Computer Music Mag right now.

good idea carl!

[Hypomixolydian]

Renting kind of sounds good, though piracy would probably run rampant. Plus I would hate the fact that I didn't really own the thing, though I guess you never really do anyway seeing that when you buy software you don't technically own it but only have a license to use it (as far as i know).

[sweetjesus]

digidesign let you rent some of their plugins...

[noisetonepause]

I like the idea of subscribing to software. It'd help avoid situations where companies just add features instead adressing bugs. I'm quite sure a change in business model is needed for the music software sector to survive.

-Paws

[sweetjesus]

I think music software is at the highest rate of adoption than it ever has been.

Not only do more people have computer, but more people around the whole world have access to computers and these programs.

I think eventually music software will be free and it's components will be charged for.

You get ableton, but if you want all the plugins, you pay $10 a year or if you want midi, another $20 ... or if you want Operator you pay xx... so on and so forth.

From reading Mixerman, in LA each engineer/studio has some general equipment of their own and if you want some unique elements which not everybody neccessarily needs or can afford, you pay extra and rent it.

[MrYellow]

ASP (Application Service Provider)

From my experience writting and selling software it's the best route to
take. DEPENDING on the product.

If for example the product needs constant database updates (not
software) to keep it up-to-date. Then the ASP model allows the creator a
steady income on which to focus on content/data updates. However if sold
on a once off fee then there will come a time when sales volume doesn't
live up to the needs to looking after existing customers.

If the creator doesn't need to focus on database/content updates then
generally they'll put "head down ass up" and focus on the next major
update and adding enough features to make it marketable. Sometimes in
music software this kills the product.... Like we might buy Live version 16
because it has added VJ tools.... but what if those VJ tools make it run
like a dog and ruin the experience. Before long in music software the
creators often try to make it do everything. There is countless software
out there that started as a nice simple synth or sequencer and has ended
up as a DAW, Midi, Synth, Rack blah blah blah.... and now runs like crap
compared to the originals.

For music software generally I'm unsure..... one thing I know is I hate
buying a new version of everything each year. Still haven't got Live 4
cause I know Live 5 isn't all that far away.

-Ben

[sweetjesus]

I want a realtimesynthesizing3dmodellingaudiomidivjrastervectortranscribingeffectsandpluginswithsomewordprocessingthrowninforgoodmeasure program.

I can't wait for my Intel Mach2 Quantium time machine CPU to arrive so I can run this thing!

[ct43]

yeah, I mean if a company like Ableton was renting the software maybe they wouldnt feel the need to update the features as much to get the upgrade income in.... didnt think about that point...

I think companies dont have a choice but to update their software all the time at the monment.. look at Cubase, what can they add next?? Id rarther it was as stable as Ableton Live, than have some fancy feature im never gonna use...

dont get me wrong, I love inovation & new tools... but we all know the motivation behind a lot of the updates that come out...

[sinosoidal]

Imaginando is offering rent-to-own options for all desktop products, which include:

- DRC - Polyphonic Synthesizer
- FRMS - Granular Synthesizer
- K7D - Tape Delay
- VS - Visual Synthesizer

More information available at: https://www.imaginando.pt/products/rent-to-own-plugins

[jestermgee]

Sorry captain, party in this room ended 17 years ago so not sure your advertising will have a real big impact if you can't be more relevant.

[sinosoidal]

Sorry captain, party in this room ended 17 years ago so not sure your advertising will have a real big impact if you can't be more relevant.

Yeah, I noticed the date of the last post before posting. But that is actually the power of search engines and of the internet in general!

That also made me think how old I'm becoming. I was still studying in 2005!

Anyway, the rent to own topic is fresher than ever. Why not a little revival in the topic?

[jestermgee]

Well it may be more impactful if at least 1 of your posts since 2013 wasn’t advertising links to your software, and if it was engaging users from at least the last decade and not just the first google result you find on the topic that helps your advertising.

[[jur]]

It's hard to not look at this as coming here just to sell your stuff. You're not and have never contributed to the forum.
Unfortunately the For Sale/Wanted sub-forum is currently closed, so I'm moving this to the Lounge, but I'm on the edge as considering this as spam.