30 Day Trial Period Rethought

I realize this is a long shot, but...
 
Most, if not all, 30 day trial software lasts for 30 consecutive days, whether you use it or not.
 
My problem is I am not always at my computer. Life gets in the way and before I know it the 30 days is up and I've barely used the program.
 
My thought to remedy this is to make a 30 day trial last for the actual 30 days you use it. Each day you use it, it logs that day whether you use it once or 50 times in that day. If you only use it one day a month it will last 30 months. That way you are guaranteed 30 actual days of use, not 5 or 10 like in my cases.
 
Just a thought!
 
Steve

I like the idea, too.

I have not checked the protection schema they use, but from my experience the software which update "running period" each time is usually easy to "trick" (without any hack). With "Initial time" protection it is more complicated.

> My thought to remedy this is to make a 30 day trial last for the actual 30 days you use it.
 
That wouldn't be a trial period, that would be a free 30 day hire. It could possibly work perhaps if you (say) reduced the trial period to 7 days. In the end they want to corner you into a purchasing decision eventually (not next year), this isn't solely for your convenience, they want to mount a little pressure on you.
 
In my opinion it shouldn't take more than a whole day for it to be evaluated, and most people will take less than half a day. As it stands it seems reasonable to have 30 days to trial a product (plus pretty much everybody does it this way). If you can't schedule a day over 30 days to trial a product, don't run the trial..

Yup! CakeAlexS, Bapu and esp chuckebaby nailed it! Tbh I've usually figured out if I want something before I even trial it and if I trial it my mind is mad up pretty quick........just my 2c worth...........
 
Edit: Hehe rather than fix my typo I thought I'd leave it.............

Anderton
I don't code, but I think that would add a layer of complexity that is not in the program.

It's very simple....
 
if (date1 > date2) {
 // Banish to coffee house
}
else { // show me the money } 
 

chuckebaby
ya 30 days total seems like a long time to trial software.
I could record a whole album in 30 days and I think that's unfair to paying customers to have a trial that lasts almost as long as it takes to record a few full length sessions.
 
I think the 30 day thing is to just give you a taste of the daw, not let you use it to make money.
30 full days seems like you could accomplish just that.

Doesn't this mean that only those who can spend 30 days in a row on music can record a whole album and make money? How unfair...

Anyway, if I managed to record a whole album within a month using a new daw, I'd want to keep using such a great program, so I'd probably buy it.

Jlien X

chuckebaby
ya 30 days total seems like a long time to trial software.
I could record a whole album in 30 days and I think that's unfair to paying customers to have a trial that lasts almost as long as it takes to record a few full length sessions.
 
I think the 30 day thing is to just give you a taste of the daw, not let you use it to make money.
30 full days seems like you could accomplish just that.

Doesn't this mean that only those who can spend 30 days in a row on music can record a whole album and make money? How unfair...

Anyway, if I managed to record a whole album within a month using a new daw, I'd want to keep using such a great program, so I'd probably buy it.

 
I didn't quote you in my first post but I will here.

its a trial.
its meant to give you a taste of the DAW's features.
not give you a chance to create epic compilations.
 
it appears this is what happens when you give a trial out, some people just cant take a trial for face value and they seem to think they are entitled to more.
you download a trial for a reason, to try it.
 
downloading a trial and then only using it for a few days. that's not cakewalks fault.
you downloaded it for a reason correct ? to try it ?
 
2 or 3  few hour sessions should be enough to give any user a good idea of its features.
and compatibility. no ?
 
a personal logging system ? for each use ?
come on man,
 

LOL the backlash begins....
 
The prosecutor wishes to have flexible days of his choosing during a trial.
The defence wishes to continue with the 30 day trial period.
 
In the meantime a countersuit states the 30 day trial period is unfair to existing Sonar users.
 
But which is best?
 
Only one way to find out....
 

 
FIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
(If you've never heard of Harry Hill click here)

John
... and the trial is a fully functioning version without all the addons but it comes with a few. 

Thanks for the clarification John.
 
All the more reason, in my opinion, why the trial period should be continuous.

 
As mentioned by some already, the keyword is not "30 days". I'd be happy with ten days, if they were log-in-days. That way I could be sure that I have ten days to test the demo. If I install the demo today, I can't be sure I can use it tomorrow or this week. It's happened to me with many VST demos that I've only been able to read the help files and see that I can get it open with SONAR, and whoossh - the 14 day trial time is over the next time I open SONAR.






 
 
 

chuckebaby

Jlien X

chuckebaby
ya 30 days total seems like a long time to trial software.
I could record a whole album in 30 days and I think that's unfair to paying customers to have a trial that lasts almost as long as it takes to record a few full length sessions.

I think the 30 day thing is to just give you a taste of the daw, not let you use it to make money.
30 full days seems like you could accomplish just that.

Doesn't this mean that only those who can spend 30 days in a row on music can record a whole album and make money? How unfair...

Anyway, if I managed to record a whole album within a month using a new daw, I'd want to keep using such a great program, so I'd probably buy it.

 
I didn't quote you in my first post but I will here.

its a trial.
its meant to give you a taste of the DAW's features.
not give you a chance to create epic compilations.
 
it appears this is what happens when you give a trial out, some people just cant take a trial for face value and they seem to think they are entitled to more.
you download a trial for a reason, to try it.
 
downloading a trial and then only using it for a few days. that's not cakewalks fault.
you downloaded it for a reason correct ? to try it ?
 
2 or 3  few hour sessions should be enough to give any user a good idea of its features.
and compatibility. no ?
 
a personal logging system ? for each use ?
come on man,
 

 
Chuck, it looks like I failed to make my point. I was talking about fairness. I have no intention to use a trial version to complete an album or even one project. The best option, if technically feasible, would be to implement what Soens is suggesting, but NOT 30 days. I'd say 5-10 days in total to existing users and 15-20 days in total to potential users. This way, no one would be able to complete a serious album within the trial period, and I think the approach is fair (at least compared to the current approach), and novel, too.
 
Also, how long you need to try the demo depends on the level of your skill and experience and how deep the daw is. You may only need a day or two to judge whether the daw is for you, but in may case I'd probably need 15-20 full days if I was seriously considering using it as my main daw. I'd want to read the manual, learn how to record audio and MIDI, check how various editing tools work, test if my MIDI keyboard controller can control parameters successfully, etc. etc. In fact, I demoed the 30-day trial of DP8 last year, but, in addition to my full-time job, I had a very bad cold that started a week or so after I installed the demo, so I could only use it for less than 10 full days in total. Maybe if I'd had full 20 days, I would've loved DP and bought it (......NO, I'm sure I wouldn't have. It was very unintuitive IMO). If I were to try Cubase or Samplitude, I'd want 15-20 days (and Sonar is in the same league). If it's Mixcraft or the like, probably 1 week would be enough.

I used a trial version of a program recently - not an audio program - and I noticed that in the title bar there was a little text that was keeping track of the minutes I used the program. I thought that was cool and I think it is a good idea. I've been caught a few times by the "life got busy and I couldn't get to the program" dilemma and wished there was a time-used limit rather than the overall 30-day limit. I don't think the total trial time of this program was 30 days worth of time but it was enough for me to use the program and decide if I wanted to buy it. And even though I didn't purchase the software, it left me with favorable feeling about the company.
 
If someone is so inclined as to to try and squeeze an album or other "free" usage out of demo software, there are always ways around the trial. But heck, if someone is that duplicitous why bother with the trial - pirated software is easy to get and no time limit. All that to say that if someone is trying to circumvent a trial period they are going to figure out a way and Cakewalk can't really stop them. So I'd rather that CW not focus on those people and instead do what they can to bring in and support legitimate customers - and if a timed-used trial rather than a 30-day trial helps potential customers, I'm all for it.
 
And as far as "fair", we're not the ones who decide what's fair with Sonar - Cakewalk decides what's fair based on their needs. And their needs include the bottom line ($$) and how much time it takes to produce/support a trial product versus the return (in new customers).

Anderton
I don't code, but I think that would add a layer of complexity that is not in the program. Trial versions need to take a minimal amount of effort to get them out fast.

I don't think CW could ever be accused of getting the trial out quickly ;)