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The subscription pandemic


kitekrazy1

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  Everyone fears their software will turn to subscription.  Many developers have offered them for some time.  It is a way to get monthly income.  But if more developers lean that way others will market the opposite.   There use to be a dongle pandemic.

  On DAW forums we see "what if your DAW became sub only".   Reason users fear that will happen.  It's a unique DAW but I think it's held together by loyalists. 

  I guess if the world went the way they fear, FL Studio, Reaper, and Bandlab would remain as options.  Steinberg has said Cubase would not be a sub.  There are no hints of Live becoming that way.

  There is the fear of NI going to a sub only.  Outside of their VSTs most of their libraries are considered sub par for orchestra.   

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Little story:

A friends brother has been a graphic artist/designer and is semi-retired after 40+ years.  He was offered a nice contract but he had to use Adobe Suite and so he decided not to take the job.  The person offering was offended that he would turn it down. He said I have enough work where the client(s)  don't care what product I use as long as I make the dead-line.  

By the way this person  was the one that got me to use Corel Draw for my simple projects decades ago.   Now I'm learning Affinity for the heck of it to take care of my graphic/photo itch :D

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1 hour ago, InstrEd said:

Heck I do have Office 365 subscription as it does make sense for me!  Corel Draw went Sub and I realized I didn't use it enough to justify the price. 

Me too. And like you, I've started using Affinity stuff.

I originally learned CorelDRAW because they gave a free copy away with a printer

Edited by antler
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My current software subs.

  • EW Composer Cloud. This worked out very well for me, the libraries I use I probably would not have bought and the ones I thought I wanted and I may have bought get little use.  The only downside for me is consumption of disk space.
  • Presonus Sphere. I decided to give it a go, if only for a "extended demo" and decided to stay. I would have been reluctant to buy outright but now I am using Studio One extensively and Notion when needed.  I expect that by the time my subs reach the purchase price there will be paid updates to reset the clock.
  • Roland Cloud, just the base sub at around $3 a month. There is a lot of quality content for Zenology and its being constantly expanded, however its not getting much use at the moment.
  • Abobe Photography plan.

Subs probably make the most sense for people making money from music as they will often be the most tax efficient (like leasing a vehicle etc.) I am not in that category but I would be happy to take on another sub if it was software I particularly wanted, and I would consider the option over an out right purchase if the numbers were reasonable. I do like the idea of having the choice.

The main issue I can see is if an application switches to sub only when there is a large user base. How existing users are treated would be critical.

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Affinity stuff was such a no-brainer at $24.99 each module.  I probable will still use Corel Draw for my silly greeting cards as I have the templates made. 

When my wife and I send out Hallmark cards my wife usually hears what happened, no home made one!  She also makes her own using card stock and punches, stamps etc.    Funny people expect the homemade ones all the time from us. Sorry not going to happen every single time! 

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8 minutes ago, Vernon Barnes said:

Roland Cloud, just the base sub at around $3 a month. There is a lot of quality content for Zenology and its being constantly expanded, however its not getting much use at the moment.

I have to take a look at what Roland has to offer.

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