Caltrops - No Stairway to Heaven - I sympathize. But, like Michael Stipe, I'm addressing the realpolitik.

Forum Overview :: No Stairway to Heaven

by FoK 08/12/2003, 8:22pm PDT

Entropy Stew wrote:

FoK wrote:

No, seriously, if I had any money, I would consider buying the stuff I've got. But truly, the software I use is so shady that I don't feel like it's worth the money. Cubase SX is the best sequencer I've dealt with on the PC, and it's still buggy as fuck. I would have bought CEPro, if they hadn't been bought up before I ever made a dime (note: I still haven't.) But since the software that I use makes my life miserable, should I buy it before they fix the problems? At one point I bought a Digi 001 and found out to my horror that the support for Digi registered users was far below what I got from Cubase forums. I took it back and bought a guitar instead.

This issue is compounded by the fact that I talk to professionals all day long, and none of these people buy the software. It's ALL warez. Troubling, but these guys are making up in six figures, and I make less than $500/month. Why am I supposed to be taking the cost for the team?

Though I would probably do it anyways. I have no problem paying for stuff I like/use - so long as I'm not dirt poor (like I am now), I buy it. If I'm dirt poor, I buy it when I recover. Unless it's Microsoft. As far as reliability is concerned, warez doesn't match up because its usually not patched. And, when you think about it, why should anyone buy your music? Music is free!

Seems I made that point once before, as well.

The issue seems to have a strong similarity to the record industry. The people that would really buy their software can't afford what they charge for it. I bought Sibelius because the student price was within my reach - less than $300. But I didn't buy Cubase because it costs $800. There's no way I can justify that expense, when all I'm buying is a clear conscience. If there was some reason I couldn't get it for free I just couldn't use it. My experience with the few apps that I did buy and register (Specifically: Logic and Pro Tools) was just as bad as the warezed versions, though to be fair those are both Mac-native programs ported by monkeys onto the pc platform.

(I've been dirt poor for years, and I'm poorer now than I was a month ago. Kids, don't go to liberal arts college, it just isn't worth it.)

The six-figure guys warezing is fucking sickening

Yeah. But the way the system works right now, everybody gets on the warez tip while they're poor, and hell, when they're rich they still manage to spend all their money, so why would they throw it away buying software they already own? "No, Whitney, you can't go to private school because I feel an urge to register my sequencer. It's the honest thing. Off to Bushwick High for you!" Fucked up situation.

FoK