Subject:Why do I have to pay to upgrade to 2.0

Posted by: montersj

Date:2/9/2014 8:37:19 AM

I've been suffering with 1.0 for a year now, crashing every 5 minutes. 2.0 is nothing other than an improved version of 1.0. Do I really have to pay another $150 after paying $300 for the first version?

Subject:RE: Why do I have to pay to upgrade to 2.0

Reply by: Chienworks

Date:2/9/2014 10:25:38 AM

Well, you don't have to get it at all.

Subject:RE: Why do I have to pay to upgrade to 2.0

Reply by: montersj

Date:2/10/2014 2:49:56 AM

So I just paid $300 for a shit program that isn't worth $3 and leave it at that. Is that what you are saying?

Subject:RE: Why do I have to pay to upgrade to 2.0

Reply by: jackn2mpu

Date:2/10/2014 12:32:20 PM

Don't feel bad about the upgrade price as it could be worse. Upgrading from Pro Tools 10HD to PT11HD was $1000 US. And the upgrade for PT10 non-HD to PT11 non-HD was $300. Not saying Sony or Avid is right for charging what they did and we don't know the development costs either.

Jack

Subject:RE: Why do I have to pay to upgrade to 2.0

Reply by: montersj

Date:2/11/2014 5:28:11 AM

Jack, I paid $300 for a non-functioning piece of junk. It is not even good enough to be a Beta!
Version 2.0 is nothing other than an update, despite the fact that it is a significant improvement on Version 1.0. Surely development costs were factored in to the estimated cost of producing the program and setting the original price. They could never have expected to get it completely right first time.
Now, the the only way I am going to be able to have an operational, usable version of the program is by paying out $450!
To my mind, Sony is just a bunch of thieves!

Subject:RE: Why do I have to pay to upgrade to 2.0

Reply by: JohnnyRoy

Date:2/11/2014 6:50:58 AM

Other companies have handled this better. For example, TechSmith created a Mac version of their $299 Camtasia program and only charged $49 for it initially because it had way less functionality. As they added more functionality they now charge $99. Camtasia for Mac still doesn't have everything Camtasia for Windows has so it cost less. While Sony did charge $100 less for the Mac version of Sound Forge, it probably should have been a lot less considering the minimal set of initial features and the absence of any Sony plug-ins.

You should complain to Sony Creative Software (i.e., write a letter) and let them know. Customer feedback is the only way to change things. I'm sure they sat in a meeting and debated the price for a long time. When someone can point out that customers are complaining, and not upgrading, it goes a long way toward supporting a lower upgrade price. I happen to agree with you that the initial price should have been closer to $99 or make the upgrade $49 until the feature set warrants a higher price.

~jr

Subject:RE: Why do I have to pay to upgrade to 2.0

Reply by: montersj

Date:2/11/2014 9:08:46 AM

Good idea. I'm going to do that.
Although I can't say that I have a lot of hope that it is going to change anything. They must have tested it themselves and seen that it is totally non-functional, and figured out for themselves that it was never worth $300. If they still went ahead and charged it it just goes to show how completely unscrupulous they are.

Subject:RE: Why do I have to pay to upgrade to 2.0

Reply by: ComoD

Date:2/11/2014 11:55:43 AM

I feel very slighted as well. There's only two things in SF 2.0 that I would actually use which is FLAC file support and the volume plug-in.

Both of these are things that should have been part the initial release of SF. (And equally not worth paying $150.00 for.)

And based on what they did to us in the initial version, that is your feature list for V2. Nothing added more, just adding more stuff to V3, which will likely be released in 2015...

Sony should throw us a bone. We payed $300.00+ for a piece of lacking software (yes, we didn't _have_ to buy it, I get that.) However, I personally bought it early since there was a promise for newer features, not to hit a pay-gate saying, oh you want that, pay us more...

If this was still owned by Sonic Foundry, I don't think we'd be treated like this... They had more concern for their customer base... (Customers before cash.)

Subject:RE: Why do I have to pay to upgrade to 2.0

Reply by: ComoD

Date:2/11/2014 12:24:40 PM

I reached out to Sony on behalf of myself and the group. Hopefully we will get a response.

Subject:RE: Why do I have to pay to upgrade to 2.0

Reply by: Papanate

Date:3/4/2014 12:00:33 PM

I can certainly understand your frustration with paying for an
upgrade. At the same time SF Pro is not a 'non functioning piece of
junk'. I am running 2.0 and ran 1.0 for the last year without issue, without
crashing etc…

If this were a PC I could understand that - but running a Mac if SF is crashing
like crazy you have some kind of conflict occurring. Can you post your crash report to show us what is happening?

Also Try running the OSX hardware checker to see if there isn't something amiss.
Check your iLok (if you have one) for conflicts - Pro Tools 11 among other software requires a new iLok 2 - and I've seen some minor issues in partners
DAWs if they attempt to run iLok 1 and 2 simultaneously.

Subject:RE: Why do I have to pay to upgrade to 2.0

Reply by: montersj

Date:3/4/2014 11:17:03 PM

Ok, so here are four crashes in a row. I just put them up on my website so you can download them. I didn't know how else to do it.
I sent them to Support and they told me to Verify Disk Permissions. I did that but it didn't help. When I told them it hadn't helped they just stopped answering me.
I'm kind of new to Mac and I am not sure what you mean by 'hardware checker.' Is that not what I did?
I registered online, no iLock.
When I pay $300 for a program that I don't even bother to open, it is so frustrating to use, that is what I call a 'non functioning piece of junk'. Should I perhaps have searched for a less harsh description?
Thanks for showing an interest. It's more than sony support did. Presumably they are now busy with V 2.0 and can no longer spare the time for all us idiots whose money they already have.
I noticed V 1.0 is no longer up on their website. On the one hand it makes sense, since they only want to sell V 2.0. It's also beneficial though that no one can see the Customer Reviews, which were mostly negative, some in the extreme!

www.shuvubonim.org/Sound Forge Crash Details.rtf
www.shuvubonim.org/Sound Forge Crash Details 2.rtf
www.shuvubonim.org/Sound Forge Crash Details 3.rtf
www.shuvubonim.org/Sound Forge Crash Details 4.rtf

Subject:RE: Why do I have to pay to upgrade to 2.0

Reply by: Papanate

Date:3/6/2014 5:29:45 PM

Your RTF's are not posted.
As for Hardware checker…google the term and
look for your year iMac. Hardware checker is a
program that OSX uses to examine what's going on.
It will tell show up any hardware conflicts.

It won't show a software conflict - so if you have loaded
anything outside of the Mac world and that is the cause
then you have to track those down by yourself. Alternatively if
you have Apple care on your iMac you could bring it to the Genius
station where they can suss out your issues in a nano second.

Subject:RE: Why do I have to pay to upgrade to 2.0

Reply by: montersj

Date:3/7/2014 2:17:22 AM

Thanks

Subject:RE: Why do I have to pay to upgrade to 2.0

Reply by: ComoD

Date:3/26/2014 10:17:38 AM

BTW- I finally did get a response from Sony... (They told me that I would get a reply within 24 hours... - 2 weeks later, I got my response.)

They offered me a coupon for a percentage off the upgrade to 2.0. (I didn't use it; I let it expire... Even with the discount, the upgrade wasn't worth it.)

:-(