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[the_frogger]

I meant to write this a long time ago when MJ8 was released, and the recent offer just reminded me.

I purchased MJ somewhere around version 6, and regularly use 7.2 for both personal use as well as to DJ music for multiple dance clubs.

When I saw the version 8 release, and the policy of no special upgrade prices from versions prior to 7.0, it was like a slap in the face.  Do you realize that the way this looks to your customers, (i.e. the people who supported the development of the product in the first place), is that you do not care about us.  You're saying that you place zero monetary value on our contributions to your company, and that makes me feel very unsatisfied with my choice to support you and recommend you to others.  (And yes, I do get quite a few inquiries about the system I'm using which is on open display).

Thus I chose to try and be content with an older version, rather than feel extorted for more money by a company who's policy clearly shows that they do not care about me.

I respectfully ask you to reconsider your upgrade policies, and show some acknowledgement and thanks to the people who helped make your product successful.  All of your customers should be valuable to you, not just the recent ones.  

Sincerely,

John Harris

[xen-uno]

$25 to upgrade from v7 to v8 IS a special upgrade price.
Come on now...where can you get something as well thought out and functional for that?

10^-27

[dobon]

Do you expect a life-time license for $25??

[the_frogger]

>$25 to upgrade from v7 to v8 IS a special upgrade price.  

I'm not sure where you're getting that from, since new users can buy it for $25 outright.

It is an industry standard, and a courtesy to your user base to offer a reduced upgrade fee to those who own prior versions.   It doesn't have to be free upgrades forever to make your customers happy.   A reasonable discount (which IMO is at least 50%) acknowledges the importance of the early buyers -- without whom there would be no continued versions.

Some companies provide tiered levels for such upgrades, which is understandable for the more expensive products, but I applaud the companies who just use two tiers.  Free for a certain amount of time, and then one reduced level for anything prior to that.  This also shows faith in the value of the upgrades provided, and leaves it up to the users whether or not they consider the current upgrade level worthwhile.  After all, there would have to be a reason why someone waited past multiple versions before upgrading.

- John

[xen-uno]

Point is...

$25 is pretty cheap whether it's an upgrade or a first time buy. As I'm sure you've noticed, JRiver doesn't pump out new versions like Intuit (Quicken) does. They (Intuit) do minor changes and bug fixes every few months and call it an upgrade.

A formal MJ Version XX license works on it's successor, too. So you spend $25 on a v8 license and it works on v9 also. That's not a bad deal by anyone's standards.

10^-27

[Chico]

The way I see it, Frogger, is that you got an upgrade from V6 to v7 for free.  You got two versions for the price of one.
If you frequent this forum enough, you'll see that the MJ crew is very big on serving those that support it.  If you have a bug, post it, and it will be investigated and fixed promptly.  If you bought v8 in time, v9 would have also been free.  How can you feel that MJ doesn't suport it's loyal users with deals like that?


btw: How 'bout them EAGLES!!!!!
BEST RECORD IN THE NFL!!!!!  

[xen-uno]

An all Pennsylvania Superbowl!
That would be the non stop ultimate!

10^-27

[lee269]

Hmmmm.....

How much does professional DJ equipment cost?

How much does it cost to buy the tunes you need to get the party started in a nightclub?

Whats the going rate for a nights DJing?

You're saying that you place zero monetary value on our contributions to your company

Man, 7.2 is working for you. Wheres the problem? What monetary value do you place on a product that allows you to watch TV, listen to radio, play your music collection, watch your videos, view your holiday photos, DJ in nightclubs, etc... ? $25? $12 for two versions? $8 for three versions?

Sorry, rant over. Everyone has their price. I admit that if MC10 is $50 then I will have to think more carefully about what benefits it provides. There are cheaper/free alternatives. We all contribute to MC. But we are selfish - we want features. We are not the guys out there actually programming this stuff.  I just cannot see that this is a bad deal.

[KingSparta]

Well I do dend to agree with the Frogger.

there should always be an upgrade price for current users

6 ->7, 7 -> 8, 8 --> 9

However the way J river did it is about the same in the out come. the problem is somtimes the user will fill cheated because he needs to pay the full price even down deep inside he knows he buying MJ6 got to use MJ7 for free.

and if you release lets say MJ7 and then a month later MJ8 comes out the user feels cheated because he just bought mj7 and now needs to pay maybe an upgrade fee after only a month using MJ7.

I don't think what ever you do you will never make everyone happy.

For Me I tend to prefer the upgrade fee from version to version.

Also in a way i feel Frogger is out of line and in a way, maybe not. he may have paid a $15.00 fee from MJ6 to MJ7, and $15, From MJ7 To MJ8.

Not everyone thnks about this in the same way.

[JimH]

I'm sorry if anyone feels slighted.  We do appreciate you.

Our problem is two-fold:

First, if we allow upgrades from every version going back in time, we end up with a lot of different upgrades.  Inside the program it gets messy to handle.

Second, if the rules are elaborate, they are a lot harder to explain, understand, and support.

To say it another way, we have to keep it simple.  We have to draw the line.

We've chosen to provide one free upgrade.  That's the "something extra" we want to give you.  That may not always be true, but it has been for several versions.

[the_frogger]

First of all, I don't get paid for playing the music.  They're non-profit ballroom dance groups, not night clubs, and I just contribute the music as a service.   I only brought it up because even as a fairly serious user of the product, it still bothered me to get no credit for buying a previous version.

Another way to look at this, and maybe this will better express how I really feel about the whole thing, is that I no longer have any financial investment in MJ from the standpoint of getting current, and thus, no financial loyalty.  I'm on the same terms buying MJ over again as I would be for buying any competitor's product, or for any new user buying MJ.  That's why it hurts.

Maybe the way the registration keys and purchasing is set up at J River, there's no easy way to do what I consider the most fair, which is to provide one free upgrade from the version you originally bought, (not the most recent paid upgrade), and then the same upgrade fee for any new version thereafter.  I wouldn't think this needed to be handled in the program, just in the purchasing portion of the web page.  When you go to buy the key for the new version, a purchase of the full price for the previous version entitles you to the new key for free, while any previous purchase provides a 50% discount.

If the upgrade costs are 50%, and a user buys every upgrade, then the actual amount of money being paid in the long term is identical and perhaps that's why there are so many posts that think I'm being unreasonable.  I admit the difference is partially just in the way the costs are perceived, but people's feelings are a real commodity.  (The first paid upgrade, such as 8.0 for me, is where this is most notable).  Also significant though, is that a user who chooses to skip an upgrade or two for whatever reason does start seeing cost differences.

There's lots of ways to look at this, such as having paid $25 to use the program for all this time, etc.  I just prefer a business model that maintains some financial value in having bought an older version.  Some recognition and value for being an existing customer.

When it comes down to it, I suspect the real reason I didn't upgrade to version 8 is that I didn't see enough added value over v7 to justify the cost.  With only a few exceptions, 7.2 has been working pretty well for me.  I also have an old 266MHz laptop, and newer versions with added functionality often perform worse on aging hardware.

I would like to know whether a couple of features have been added in more recent versions.  Two of the things I miss the most are:

"Add to current playlist, immediately after the current playing song".

and, "Stop playback when the current song finishes".

Thanks,
- John

[KingSparta]

>> "Add to current playlist, immediately after
>> the current playing song".
many options were added here


one of them is "add to playinig now, play next so i think this question is "TRUE"

>> and, "Stop playback when the current song finishes"
not sure i understand this but if your asking if you press a button and the song will play to the end then stop not to my knolage

but it sounds like something some might use, they do have a way to set "PLAY" and maybe this could be something the users could ask for. a way for the stop button to work. that the user coould select.

1. Stop Now
2. Stop After Song Playing Is Done (pressing stop, stop = stop now)