Article: Should You Rent or Buy Audio Software?

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This article from Scientific American is old but but much of what is in it still holds true today.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/adobe-software-subscription-model-means-you-cant-own-your-software/

 

One thing they don't address in the article is the genesis of subscription software. Before subscriptions, you would buy a product, and every once in a while the software company would issue an update of fixes and sometimes a few added features. Congress decided this was giving added value that the customer hadn't paid any taxes on and passed legislation so they could harvest even more of our hard-earned dollars for themselves. The software companies solution to this was software subscriptions; congressional greed was satisfied, and when the software companies realized increased profits and discovered they now had a captive audience, the practice became increasingly popular, and that's how we got to where we are today.

 

I used to buy Photoshop every few years, like many others mentioned in the SA article above. Adobe continually added new features, and it's a very good program, but the fact is most people don't need a large number of those added features and would be much happier (and wealthier) if only they could upgrade every few years (and some, if they never upgraded beyond the original version they purchased). It's just one more example of corporate greed IMHO; YMMV.

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3 hours ago, mansr said:

For something you use professionally on a daily basis and require the latest version, subscription is likely to be more economical. The losers are the occasional users who may be content with skipping some releases since they probably only use the basic features anyway.

 

The obsolescence problem wgscott discusses is of course an issue. However, it is not exclusive to the subscription model. It's not hard to find old files that can only be opened with some ancient software that only runs on Windows 98. This, of course, doesn't work on modern computers, even if you could find a legal copy. Your only option is then to find an illicit Win98 copy and run it in a VM. If your old proprietary software requires a licence dongle plugged into the parallel port, start praying.

 

Another aspect is security. Any reasonably popular software will be the target of attacks, and all software has bugs. These days, it is imperative that vendors fix security issues quickly, and that users install the fixes. A continuous subscription model helps both vendors and users in this regard. Sure, old versions can receive security updates, but each maintained version adds cost that has to be covered by revenue from paying customers.

 

"... and all software has bugs."

Customers are not responsible the bugs that the software company wrote into their software, and should not have to pay anything to get someone else's mistake corrected. That's like saying that every customer that had to have their Takata airbags replaced should pay Takata for that dubious 'privilege'.

 

"These days, it is imperative that vendors fix security issues quickly, and that users install the fixes. A continuous subscription model helps both vendors and users in this regard. Sure, old versions can receive security updates, but each maintained version adds cost that has to be covered by revenue from paying customers."

Before subscriptions, these costs were already being factored into the price of the software. Adobe did not become an industry giant by having a business model that didn't take into account every red and black entry in the ledger before setting a price for their product.