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Toontrack started to impose license transfer fees


Sander Verstraten

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)Well, to play devil's advocate,  it may have gotten to the point where they were devoting too much resources to accommodate the amount of transfers. So to make it less appealing... the fee.

I believe the end of free licensing transfers are gone. I know there are still ones that don't charge, but vast majority do.

I also believe that a majority of software companies don't want users to sell.

 

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6 hours ago, Sander Verstraten said:

As of June 21st Toontrack is asking a 15 Euro license transfer per license:

https://www.toontrack.com/faq/transfer-of-license-and-multiple-installs-important-information/

 

No clarification is given for the sudden policy change...

 

This basically kills the used midi pack market. The only thing worth transferring now are big ticket items. I am glad I bought a bunch just before this went into effect.

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Unpopular opinion incoming!!

Re-selling software licenses seems like a stupid concept to me.

When I buy something it's under the assumption that I'm going to use it. After I have done so, why should I be entitled to get my money back, while the software developer/vendor has sold the product once although it's been "used twice". Makes no sense to me. When you buy the product there's no clause that says you get compensated for the amount of time you did not use the product - the value of the return of your investment measured in increase in productivity or just plain enjoyment is on you to evaluate. If you can't accept the risk, may I suggest you look into subscriptions instead - and while you're at it stop complaining about the subscription model!

That said, I think offering possibility to refund within a reasonable time window after purchase would be a good & fair practice, and some developers do provide that.

If you're in the habit of buying and reselling licenses so much that you feel entitled to get what is practically a free leasing contract indefinitely, i.e. you feel your rights somehow violated because the developer has the audacity to charge a petty amount for license transfers because those alone make your finances look un-sane, I think it's time to inspect one's own spending habits.

Edited by sarine
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1 hour ago, Doug Rintoul said:

This basically kills the used midi pack market. The only thing worth transferring now are big ticket items. I am glad I bought a bunch just before this went into effect.

The used MIDI pack market?? Why does such a thing deserve to live in the first place?

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I got scammed by a seller last year buying SD3 on VI. It’s too easy for scammers to buy software using stolen credit cards and then sell them on. When card declared stolen, new user gets license revoked. Hopefully this will put a minor dent in the process

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26 minutes ago, sarine said:

Unpopular opinion incoming!!

Re-selling software licenses seems like a stupid concept to me.

When I buy something it's under the assumption that I'm going to use it. After I have done so, why should I be entitled to get my money back, while the software developer/vendor has sold the product once although it's been "used twice". Makes no sense to me. When you buy the product there's no clause that says you get compensated for the amount of time you did not use the product - the value of the return of your investment measured in increase in productivity or just plain enjoyment is on you to evaluate. If you can't accept the risk, may I suggest you look into subscriptions instead - and while you're at it stop complaining about the subscription model!

That said, I think offering possibility to refund within a reasonable time window after purchase would be a good & fair practice, and some developers do provide that.

If you're in the habit of buying and reselling licenses so much that you feel entitled to get what is practically a free leasing contract indefinitely, i.e. you feel your rights somehow violated because the developer has the audacity to charge a petty amount for license transfers because those alone make your finances look un-sane, I think it's time to inspect one's own spending habits.

I don't see how this is any different than used CDs or books.

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Quote

has been registered to your account for 30+ days and once the administrative fee is paid. You may not sell partial licenses or any authorization(s) for Toontrack products.

They also are requiring you own the product for 30 days and are completely cutting off selling un-registered codes.  While I think we are still seeing early days on the resale of digital products/rights, I have no doubt governments will get involved.  If for no other reason than people die.  What happens to your digital rights then will end up being a huge mess that they will have no choice but to sort out.  But given every year there are new lawsuits over first sale doctrine and other aspects I don't think things are going to work out anytime soon.

If Toontrack is serious their next move will be to stop allowing retail vendors to sell codes.  Either shut that down completely or move it to a system where the product is directly registered upon purchase.  I know Valve would like to move to a system where key codes for games aren't sold.  I suspect other digital retailers want that as well.

Change will be endless and constant.  Odd are good most of it won't actually be good for any of us though.

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I don't think it's completely unreasonable - why would someone buy some software and then sell it on to someone else in <30 days?

As for MIDI packs, what's to stop someone from buying one, copying the MIDI out of it, and then selling it on? Not much before this fee came in. As pointed out above, some libraries don't even allow an end user to resell.

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