I see the subscriptions suggestion has come up again. Am I the only one who absolutely hates having to have software subscriptions? Don't you hate it when a software that when you buy a license you can use it indefinitely (at least until it either stops working with a newer operating system or the if license keys are involved the company itself goes under) suddenly decides to switch to a subscription model? TeamViewer and Malwarebytes come to mind here, previously you could buy lifetime licenses for both then they phased out the ability to buy a lifetime license and switched over to the subscription model.
At least with JRiver Media Center versions you buy it once, and you should be able to use it for years to come. Yes, like with companies with subscriptions there is still an uncertain future with operating system compatibility and if JRiver went under and you couldn't activate MC anymore, but generally thus far older versions of Media Center tend to work fine on newer operating systems like Windows 11. macOS and various Linux distros are less backwards compatible with software due to various reasons unfortunately. And yes, I know Windows will eventually start doing the same and start phasing out 32-bit and switching over to 64-bit.
With Media Center there is no requirement to purchase upgrades. If you're happy with the version you're using now and there's nothing in the new version that interests you, just skip it and use the version you're happy with. I'm sure there's users who skip a release cycle, maybe they skip a few of them?
I can see some of you don't like the business model they've chosen, but in my opinion it's better than those with monthly/yearly subscriptions.