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[Bengi010]

Is it feasible, or reasonable, to come up with a price for lifetime upgrades, instead of paying for each version, what would it cost do you think?

[Matt]

Sorry, but we don't offer lifetime licenses.

This came up in another thread recently, and there I said:

I think JRiver would be down to just Jim working in his basement if we sold lifetime licenses.

Said another way, upgrade purchases are a big part of how we can afford a team that's still going strong on an eighteenth version.

Personally I hope it never ends.  And thanks to everyone that supports us along the way.

[Bengi010]

Fair enough, it's certainly worth the upgrade price.  I appreciate all your hard work and I too hope it never ends.

[BryanC]

Not to mention the team would have to start splitting time managing investment portfolios and improving MC.

[MrHaugen]

I would not think to negatively about this. If the price was right, you would probably get a serious boost in capital in a short amount of time. Let's just take a number and say it would cost about 5 licenses worth (upgrades). That would give you 100$ plus (?) for each person that decides to be faithful to your MC. For new customers it would mean 1 full purchase, and about 2 years of upgrades worth?

You will start "loosing" some of your normal income after a period of 3-5 years, because of the long and medium time users no longer have to pay. The great thing about this though, is that if a noticeable portion of your customers goes for the lifetime sub, you'll have an opportunity to spend much of that extra cash on staff and other expenses. And that can give you a great boost in productivity and feature development. Making the application more popular and better know in the market, at a faster pace than ever before. So, counting the potential new customer of an improved app, up against the possible "loss" of upgrade sales of some of the returning customers, it might be very beneficial in the long run. At least that is what I think.

I'm by no means an marketing or sales expert, so it might not be as easy as it sounds. There might be potential traps with such a purchase alternative, but I just wanted to say that it might be worth considering

[InflatableMouse]

Permanent life-time licenses are killing for a business.


The only way I can see it would work is if you would offer it for a limited time and set a target number of licenses so you know how much you get short term and how much you'd lose long term and plan around it.

I wouldn't trust a company or buy their products if they would offer life time licenses. To me that just means they want short term income and then probably cease business once their income collapses.

[MrHaugen]

Yes, it would be bad if it was the only license option. I'm a bit skeptical to such companies my self. But if it's just an option for the more die hard fans, it might be a good thing. A smaller group of especially interested people increasing the possible production rate? It would probably be wise to set a cap on it though. Just in case. I don't know..... As I said, this is just some wild thoughts of a madman, high on coffee at the end of the work week.

[_mulder]

I wouldn't trust a company or buy their products if they would offer life time licenses. To me that just means they want short term income and then probably seize their business once their income collapses.

Not saying that they should do it, but I have to somewhat disagree with what you wrote, at least in the case of slysoft. I think they have proven over time that they don't just want short income.

[glynor]

I've been burned on those deals more time than I can count.

JRiver is doing the right thing.  Keep on keeping on, guys.

[MrHaugen]

They sure ain't doing anything wrong with today's model. It might be the best to stay on the same path. I'm just saying it could give MC a real boost if done right. Probably. Perhaps. And so on

[marko]

Siber Systems? (I'm a Lastpass user now)

MusicMatch? So many ex musicmatch users are now MC users...

[InflatableMouse]

Not saying that they should do it, but I have to somewhat disagree with what you wrote, at least in the case of slysoft. I think they have proven over time that they don't just want short income.

Slysoft offers subscriptions, you need to renew and pay again after it runs out, every 1 or 2 years. It's not a one-time pay for a lifetime upgrade license which is what was suggested by the OP.

Subscriptions can be a good option. When JR announces a new beta people can upgrade for a limited time against a discount. This time I was on holiday and I missed the time window. So for example, they could offer this discount in a subscription running for 2-5 years (user choice). The longer the subscription, the bigger the discount (1$ a year?). No subscription, you pay the regular upgrade price.

[Trumpetguy]

Not saying that they should do it, but I have to somewhat disagree with what you wrote, at least in the case of slysoft. I think they have proven over time that they don't just want short income.

Slysoft continues their lifetime license to old users. Some one or two years ago they abandoned this and are now only offering time limited licenses. Says something about the whole idea

[InflatableMouse]

Slysoft continues their lifetime license to old users. Some one or two years ago they abandoned this and are now only offering time limited licenses. Says something about the whole idea

Exactly. It kills the business.

[MrHaugen]

I don't know much of the examples here. But I have a few questions.

- Did they only offer life time licenses? I understand very well why they lose customers if that is the case.
- Did they change some fundamental things with their programs or services? I know of a few examples where this happened as well. And the licenses had little to do with their doom.

As long as people could choose between single upgrade licenses or life time licenses, I see little possible problems. If only life time licenses were offered, it would go just one way. Down. I'm not by any means a big supporter of one or the other way of licensing a product. I just think that some are exaggerating a bit here

Btw, Slysoft still offers lifetime upgrades. 1-4 year upgrades as well as lifetime.