Topic: A fair price ?

[Touti]

What do you consider would be a fair price of a DVD Collecting program.  In my opinion, paying once and getting it for life is ridiculous, that's no way of insuring the growth and survival of a business but what do you think would be faire ?

Free software with annual license fee ?
Paying software with free service packs but pay for upgrades ?

Should the price always include ALL the available services or do you prefer to buy the basic and pay extra if you want to use advanced services ?

And, last but not least, how much would you actually be willing to pay ?

[lyonsden5]

Paying for it once and getting it for life is always good and is how most software I have is done. What you don't get "for life" are upgrades.

I would not be opposed to an upgrade price done on a yearly basis. Example: Touti's DVDs 2007 cost $24.95 (good price IMO).
in 2008 if you have the 2007 version pay $9.95 for the upgrade (if you want it).

If you upgrade in 2008 once the 2009 version comes along you pay another $9.95 to upgrade to that. IF NOT you pay something like $15.95 to get you up to date.

You can limit it to 2 or 3 years. If you haven't upgraded you will have to buy the full version again. In addition have it so after 2, 3 or 4 years (whatever) your version is no longer supported.

I don't mind seeing multiple versions available with those paying less getting less features. I'm sure there are many things that a lot of people find great about DVDP yet others have never used them or will ever want to use them.

[addicted2dvd]

What do you consider would be a fair price of a DVD Collecting program?....

Free??

[Touti]

I would guess that most of the softwares you have are independant in that they don't rely on an online DB.  If you buy Microsoft Office for example (not that anyone would want to do that ), you get the product that you bought, you install it on your computer and it remains functional without any access to the outside world and, therefore, no costs for microsoft.

When you buy DVDP however, you pay once in your lifetime but Invelos has to spend money every month for the online database to remain accessible.  After a number of years, they will start losing money with you because they will have used all of your 25$ on keeping the online DB available to you.

I've always believed that it was one of the biggest slow downs in DVDP's development.  The lack of regular income and growth allowing them to hire people to do stuff or turn this into their full time jobs.  For me this is like paying the power company once to get connected and then have electricity for free for the rest of your life, or same with cable tv, telephone etc.

Now if someone wants to pay a fair price for a program that would allow them to locally create a database of their dvd collection without using an online DB I don't think their would be a problem there but I think if your using an online service it's only normal that you pay for it.  

[Touti]

What do you consider would be a fair price of a DVD Collecting program?....

Free??

I think you misunderstodd the question, I didn't ask what would be a fair price for DVD's, I asked for DVD Collecting program

[addicted2dvd]

Ohhhhhh! I am sorry... I did misunderstand!.... then I would have to say... FREE?? 

Seriously though... I personally think about $24.95 initial is a fair price. I don't know about the online database problem though... you mean downloading dvd info (profiles) or online version of your collection (my profiler) or both??

[Touti]

The hosting of online collections is a very small part.  I was mostly referring to the the downloading of profiles and any other consulting of the online DB.

I understand what Rick is saying but there is a cost in maintaining the online DB, the server and the connection to the internet.  Most people seem to think that they paid for DVDP and that everything else is a back end which is not their concern.

I tend to go the other way around, I think I paid for an access to the online DB and that program is only a tool that allows me to that.  Granted that I can't really consult the online DB if I want to but that's another issue.

[m.cellophane]

$24.95 to buy all features of the PC-based program
$9.95 per year for upgrades of the PC product
Plus I would pay annually to have better online features available.

For comparison, I have a genealogy program that I bought back in 1991 for about $40. I've paid $19.95 annually ever since for upgrades. Online storage is included. And that's for tracking dead people. 

[Kathy]

I have no idea of the costs involved in the development and implementation of computer programs. Why would anyone invest their time and expertise on anything without a reasonable return on their investment?

As a consumer, I have never expected to receive a product for nothing; I believe you get what you pay for. I don't use a lot of programs so I don't know what the standard fees for programs are but the prices that Pete, Rick, and James list are more than fair.

Edit: I like free too! 

[addicted2dvd]

 

[richierich]

If we had a form of DVDP, with the online functuality of PHP, then £30 - 40 sounds reasonable, to incluse the hosting cost for each indivduals collection.
Then a smaller annual fee for upgrades would be acceptable IMO

[RossRoy]

I've always liked some sort of "à la carte" pricing scheme. So one could have, something like:

Basic entry package: ~15$ (the software, and basic online functionality (profile downloads, etc.)) - One time fee, + special upgrade price for major upgrades
Online storage: +5$ (online storage) - Monthly fee
Customizable online listing: +5$ (some form of advanced features) - monthly fee
VIP support: +5$ - monthly fee
etc .. etc .. etc ..

And, have the option of ~25$ - Yearly, which would include all options, lifetime upgrades, VIP support, etc etc etc

Of course the prices up there are totally out of the blue, even the options mentioned may or may not have any relevance to any project, but you get the idea.

For an example, see how Cyberlink markets PowerDVD*. You have a choice of 4 different versions, each with different set of options, with free updates on the same major version. And then, a special upgrade price for new major versions.

[Achim]

I originally paid $24.95 for DVD Profiler and would be willing to pay the same if something of of equal or better value (to me) came along. I know one reason I paid was the "free for life" concept. I know I am a cheap bastard, but I always preferred that method. I don't recall buying software regularly when I would have to upgrade a year later (I bought QuickTime once, never again. I bought Real Player once, never again.. I have yet to decide to upgrade my PowerDVD.) I mostly try to find freeware solutions that do the job all the same. Having said that, DVD Profiler being the single most used program on my PC, I may be willing to pay for something repeatedly if deemed worthy.

Also agreeing with Sebastien, that additional features could be made available separately, allowing each user to decide for themselves how much ever item is worth to them. Invelos seems to be planning something like that at their regular speed. These items could be on a subscription basis...

Two things I didn't understand with Invelos:

• Invelos could have changed the pricing model from "free for life" to "free per version", but he didn't. Of course, he could still have done such a change for new users only, honoring the liftime upgrades for those who owned the InterVocative program. I have seen this with another program, where the author changed the pricing model in that same way. he announced it ahead of time even, so that people who knew the program but hadn't purchased could still buy to get the "lifetime version".
• Why didn't he make new connections with online retailers? I think people using the affiliate code when ordering from online retailers probably brought in a nice small additional income to InterVocative. You could even order from several retailers from within the program! I know Ken Meade was responseible for these things before, but I still feel Invelos is missing out on some additional income. (I know I used that feature)

[tlevel]

I never understood the "free for life" concept either. (Not that it's turned out badly and not that I'm complaining about it). Just once Ken gets your money, why should he cater to you anymore? I know, word of mouth advertising and all that, but still if all your income is based on New users. I always thought (at least at Intervocative) that they made some money selling "buyer habits" data to vendors, collected from your online collection. The only other reason I could think of, is that it allows Ken to change the database (online and local) whenever he wants without people complaining about having to always pay for a new version.

That all being said, since your main competition is probably DVDP and CollectorZ you have to keep in line with them. If you are going to charge for each upgrade, which I believe is reasonable, you have to make sure that ver 1.0 will not depend on a online database when 2.0 come out. I don't think you should support 1.0 anymore, but if I bought it and didn't want to pay for an upgrade, I should still be able to install it and use it. You can't do that to DVDP ver 2.3 for example.

I do like the pricing structure setup of Rossroy.

[DJ Doena]

I'd pay for a major program update such as from 2.5 to 3.0.

30$ is not that much money and for a major update I'd pay it - if I see the value of upgrading. But if I don't upgrad I'd insist on an available database for my program version for at least the x+2 version.

I would have a problem with an annual fee to be honest. Although I know that there are monthly costs for Ken, I'd see that I bought the program - I did not lend it.