Recent Software Give Away

I recently had some mastering software available on my server. It was from a company that is no longer in business and I highly suspected that the previous owner wouldn't care if I made copies of it for people but that he wouldn't answer questions about it because it might get him into an awkward position with his current company (he now works for one of the giants of the software world in their audio department).

I no longer have the software available because of server/size limitations. (People were downloading it like crazy!) But if anyone was wondering if it was truly legal to use, or copy the software, I finally got a response from the former owner stating exactly what I figured—that he couldn't care less if I, or anyone else, copied it for someone, and that he couldn't officially say so because of his job predicament. So if you were thinking about copying it for someone—go ahead.

I'll post his email to me below, leaving out the name of the software and his new boss' company since he specifically says "It didn't come from me… " (wink, wink).

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Hi Dave,

It appears to me that A_____ didn't acquire C______ as part of the deal that purchased C______Pro. Are you still the owner? Since the product is discontinued I was wondering if it would be okay to copy it for someone?

Thanks, Bill

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David's Response:


Hi Bill,

You are correct in that A_____ didn't do a 'lite' or 'Elements' version of C______. It didn't come from me, but go ahead and make as many copies as you like. Your reg code info, if you registered, should work just fine. If you don't have a reg code, let me know and I'll generate one for you.

-David.

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Hope that sets some minds at ease. It always seemed like just common sense that he wouldn't mind people copying the software nowadays anyway. So now you know.

Joe/Bill

Tis cool.

So what you are saying is that somewhere on the Internet a good piece of mastering software floats around which is legal to copy?

You betcha. I must have had almost two hundred downloads in the 4 or 5 days I had it avaibable so there's bound to be someone around here that has a copy they'll send to you. I personally would prefer they burn it to CD and give it away though rather than posting it somewhere. Dave (the software owner) is working as a software audio enginere now for another big company now. You can imagine that they wouldn't be too happy about him selling or even giving away audio software that isn't their own, so even though he owns it and can legally do what he wants with it, his new company could still consider it grounds for dismissal (something like company disloyality).

But don't ask me for it. I'm done. I've been with the same web host for nearly 7-years and they've always been very good about giving me "unlimited" bandwidth and space and have never raised my rates over the 9-bucks a month I've always paid. I'm not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth. They only request that I not do anything over the top, as in e.g. having a major download center for anything. So while I may sometimes give things away, i don't do it for very long. This web host has been spectacular.