Neodymium wrote:Cakewalk, went subscription, Gibson had to sell
Pro-Tool went subscription, Avid was sold about 2 wees ago.
Any personal preferences or subjective weighting aside what's usually the difference here:
Buy a Version:- full feature set of Version X + all minor updates and bug fixes that are created during the lifecycle of this version
- depending on the company new devices/features get added for free.
- depending on the tiers: more features the more you spend once.
- usually upgradable to a higher tier easily. Usually no downgrade in the sense of getting the delta you paid back.
- Every x years the company releases a new major version that can be bought for full or a reasonable upgrade price.
- you can use your bought version as long as the OS is able to run it.
- special features might cost extra
Rent a Version/Subscription:- full feature set of the current version + all future versions + bug fixes during the lifecycle of the software product as a whole
- depending on the tiers: more features the more you spend each month
- monthly upgrade or downgrade depending on needs with increased or decreased payments
- often added benefits like cloud storage, free master classes and the like.
- you can use the software as long as you pay.
- special features are usually included in you tier.
What would both models mean for a hardware product (in short):
Buy a Version/MPC:- It's what we have now. We buy the device and use it to our liking. And as long as Akai is willing to support the version on the device we will get updates and probably new features with extras to buy once. If you don't want those features, then you won't get them.
Rent a Version/Subscription:This is really complicated but let's break it down for a piece of Hardware with an OS on
1 Buy the hardware, rent the OS:- You buy the hardware in an as is state of the software(a), just a very basic version of the software(b) or no software at all(c) ... they all have one thing in common: you can do what ever you want with the hardware.
- in case of a: whatever bugs are in there or features are missing now will be fixed or added the longer you wait until you buy the hardware -> the longer you wait the more the MPC is worth as a product to the end user
- in case of b: you can use some basic version that might be enough for some people and then upgrade to one of the full version tiers. Must be priced more reasonably to get many users on board. Even those who do not wish to subscribe to anything. Open question here would be: Will the basic version get bug fixes as well? Will the included basic version receive a free major upgrade?
- in case of c: You buy the plain device that the way it ships is nothing more than a paper weight. You can use it as long as you pay but receive everything. Once you stop paying the device stops working again. To make this interesting to anyone the device must be extremely low-priced or even free.
- in general: the hardware needs to be open so that 3rd parties can develop a third party OS.
2 Buy the hardware and the OS, rent the PC Software- you have your MPC with its OS that gets all the updates -> basically as it is now
- you subscribe to the pc software must be on par with its "classmates" Ableton Live, Studio One, Logic and maybe Pro Tools to be worth the price and add a massive benefit over just using MPC standalone. Like adding a whole new workflow or anything to the MPC here.
3 Rent everything- you create a subscription that includes the hardware and every future software upgrade.
- as long as you pay you can use the device and all of the software + new features + bug fixes over the whole lifecycle of the device.
- once you cancel your sub you have to send it back to Akai.
- Akai is the one who defines how you can use the device. Is modification allowed? What if it's broken or stolen? Is using it live in a messy club allowed or do you have to pay a "club fee"?
- Are there benefits like automatic replacement when new hardware gets released? Free or moderately priced hardware upgrades of the same device (like better CPU, more RAM, more disk space)?
- does renting a device include free repairs?
Example of Pioneer DJ and their DJ software Rekordbox: - the software as such is a subscription with everything mentioned above that is in a subscription model.
- Most mixers come with an "automatic activation" of the software. So when you start the software you get a very basic featureset that enables you to prepare a dj set. As soon as you attach a supported mixer you get the full feature set. Meaning you only need the monthly subscription when you want to use the software with a different mixer or use you laptop to play at different clubs with unknown hardware.
- When they switched from buy to own to subscription they included all mixers that have had an activation code before to support that automatic activation.
There is much more to write on this and weight in regards of pros and cons. So feel free to add things. But here is my personal opinion on that matter:
- The Pioneer model is fair imho. Buy the device and get everything else for free. If you only want to use the MPC Software because it's so great, then subscribe to it if you like to. If you don't subscribe or disconnect the MPC hardware you get the feature set of MPC Beats at least.
- If they have to because let's be real they need to earn some money, then let's go the following route: a new major version upgrade for the MPC OS and SW costs some reasonable fee that is fairly low for existing customers. So everyone who feels the need can upgrade and everyone else can use their current version with the current feature set and all upgrades + fixes that have been released until the lifecycle end of that version. Everyone else upgrades for a fee and gets all upgrades + fixes coming out during the lifecycle of that new version for free again. That also includes the PC Software.