JRiver goes Subscription - sort of

[ecwl]

I have to admit, I was super confused by this thread because I stopped upgrading JRiver a long time ago but I still recommend a lot of people to use it.

 

First, I realized this issue/announcement started in May 2023.

 

Second, I didn’t understand not being able to acces JRiver server means so I ended up looking it up first.

 

Free JRiver Server Access Has Ended For Older Versions 
If you're using JRiver Media Center 27 or older, the player will no longer be able to access some online services provided by JRiver.  Core functionality will work, but cover art and CD lookup will fail.  These servers are expensive to run and so we will provide them for free only for recent versions of MC (28 to 31 at this time).

 

So I guess if you haven’t upgraded since 2019, you won’t get the CD data when you rip a CD. That sucks. I think the free exact audio copy gives you the CD data but I can’t remember where the data comes from. But if you’re spending $15 to buy a CD and can’t afford to pay JRiver $30, you have the option to manually enter the CD data and manually download the album art for that CD.

 

But are there other functionalities that people are missing from not being able to access the JRiver Server?

 

Also, what would be a payment alternative that people would accept?

Let’s say JRiver knew that running these server for some services would always have an additional cost. And customers expect to have indefinite access to these features once they buy the software.

Should they charge $30 for the software and then an annual fee of $2/year for access to the JRiver server? So that people like @Audiophile Neuroscience can know upfront what features would be indefinite supported and what features actually has annual costs? What exactly is the time limit for cutting off the software support here if there is no subscription model for this server access? Sure, 5 years seems short. But some people would say 10 years, some would say 30 years. Think of people you helped with 5 or 10 years ago. If they come back to you and expect free assistance, do you think it’s fair?