Axe PC

Alright, I NEED to chime in on this.

I've been absent from the AxeFX community for a while, but after visiting the forum today and seeing this massive thread mostly about anti-piracy stuff, I am sick.

Maybe some of you remember the days when recording labels used to "break" the first tracks of CDs so we couldn't rip them. Maybe some of you are iTunes users who don't own an iPod and can't take the music you buy with you. Maybe you've bought a PDF eBook that is protected by DRM and you can't read it on your smart phone.

When the hell will companies realize that

1 - Piracy is UNAVOIDABLE. No matter how much you protect, people will work around it if they want to.
2 - The #1 anti-piracy measure is CONVENIENCE. No one pays for stuff with bad support, or that is hard to use. The AxeFX is a great piece of hardware with AWESOME software. We all trust Cliff for his excellent service and caring of his customer base. No matter how good the AxeFX was, we wouldn't all be here at times even worshiping the unit if the company behind it sucked (cough Line 6 cough)
3 - If the customers see value in buying something, and they have the money, they will buy it anyway. Yes, we can all torrent away our music. But most of us don't. And why's that? Most would say that it is to support the artist, or to have the CD covers, or something else. That's value. The AxePC needs to be a valuable tool that people want to use, not something tied to a piece of hardware, or dongle, or whatever.
4 - Reaching out to a larger consumer base (through piracy, no kidding) helps promote the product and build a community around it, which in turn generates better sales to the people who can afford it and trust Fractal Audio enough to buy it.

Once I buy something, I want to be free to use it whatever way I want. I want to load up my music in my $20 mp3 player, or my cell phone, even if I bought it in the iTunes store, or on the Amazon MP3 store. I want to be able to watch the movies I buy from the internet anywhere I am. I want to be free to use my AxePC on a business trip when I have only my laptop and a cheap guitar with me, no interface, no AxeFX.

The notion of control is gone with the widespread adoption of the internet. Someone out there will manage to crack whatever copy protection you put in. You need to work hard to earn your customers (as you already are doing Cliff) and earn them through trust, transparency and value. It takes only a torrent to spread a crack for a piece of software, and it only takes someone passionate about your product with the right skills to crack it and rub it up your nose.

We're in a new age, and new products need to be aware of, and adapted to the way things are.

RESISTANCE IS FUTILE

My 2c.

Alex
 
Alex EShadow said:
Alright, I NEED to chime in on this.

I've been absent from the AxeFX community for a while, but after visiting the forum today and seeing this massive thread mostly about anti-piracy stuff, I am sick.

Maybe some of you remember the days when recording labels used to "break" the first tracks of CDs so we couldn't rip them. Maybe some of you are iTunes users who don't own an iPod and can't take the music you buy with you. Maybe you've bought a PDF eBook that is protected by DRM and you can't read it on your smart phone.

When the hell will companies realize that

1 - Piracy is UNAVOIDABLE. No matter how much you protect, people will work around it if they want to.
2 - The #1 anti-piracy measure is CONVENIENCE. No one pays for stuff with bad support, or that is hard to use. The AxeFX is a great piece of hardware with AWESOME software. We all trust Cliff for his excellent service and caring of his customer base. No matter how good the AxeFX was, we wouldn't all be here at times even worshiping the unit if the company behind it sucked (cough Line 6 cough)
3 - If the customers see value in buying something, and they have the money, they will buy it anyway. Yes, we can all torrent away our music. But most of us don't. And why's that? Most would say that it is to support the artist, or to have the CD covers, or something else. That's value. The AxePC needs to be a valuable tool that people want to use, not something tied to a piece of hardware, or dongle, or whatever.
4 - Reaching out to a larger consumer base (through piracy, no kidding) helps promote the product and build a community around it, which in turn generates better sales to the people who can afford it and trust Fractal Audio enough to buy it.

Once I buy something, I want to be free to use it whatever way I want. I want to load up my music in my $20 mp3 player, or my cell phone, even if I bought it in the iTunes store, or on the Amazon MP3 store. I want to be able to watch the movies I buy from the internet anywhere I am. I want to be free to use my AxePC on a business trip when I have only my laptop and a cheap guitar with me, no interface, no AxeFX.

The notion of control is gone with the widespread adoption of the internet. Someone out there will manage to crack whatever copy protection you put in. You need to work hard to earn your customers (as you already are doing Cliff) and earn them through trust, transparency and value. It takes only a torrent to spread a crack for a piece of software, and it only takes someone passionate about your product with the right skills to crack it and rub it up your nose.

We're in a new age, and new products need to be aware of, and adapted to the way things are.

RESISTANCE IS FUTILE

My 2c.

Alex
Click to expand...

ABSOLUTELY!
 
Alex EShadow said:
Alright, I NEED to chime in on this.

I've been absent from the AxeFX community for a while, but after visiting the forum today and seeing this massive thread mostly about anti-piracy stuff, I am sick.

Maybe some of you remember the days when recording labels used to "break" the first tracks of CDs so we couldn't rip them. Maybe some of you are iTunes users who don't own an iPod and can't take the music you buy with you. Maybe you've bought a PDF eBook that is protected by DRM and you can't read it on your smart phone.

When the hell will companies realize that

1 - Piracy is UNAVOIDABLE. No matter how much you protect, people will work around it if they want to.
2 - The #1 anti-piracy measure is CONVENIENCE. No one pays for stuff with bad support, or that is hard to use. The AxeFX is a great piece of hardware with AWESOME software. We all trust Cliff for his excellent service and caring of his customer base. No matter how good the AxeFX was, we wouldn't all be here at times even worshiping the unit if the company behind it sucked (cough Line 6 cough)
3 - If the customers see value in buying something, and they have the money, they will buy it anyway. Yes, we can all torrent away our music. But most of us don't. And why's that? Most would say that it is to support the artist, or to have the CD covers, or something else. That's value. The AxePC needs to be a valuable tool that people want to use, not something tied to a piece of hardware, or dongle, or whatever.
4 - Reaching out to a larger consumer base (through piracy, no kidding) helps promote the product and build a community around it, which in turn generates better sales to the people who can afford it and trust Fractal Audio enough to buy it.

Once I buy something, I want to be free to use it whatever way I want. I want to load up my music in my $20 mp3 player, or my cell phone, even if I bought it in the iTunes store, or on the Amazon MP3 store. I want to be able to watch the movies I buy from the internet anywhere I am. I want to be free to use my AxePC on a business trip when I have only my laptop and a cheap guitar with me, no interface, no AxeFX.

The notion of control is gone with the widespread adoption of the internet. Someone out there will manage to crack whatever copy protection you put in. You need to work hard to earn your customers (as you already are doing Cliff) and earn them through trust, transparency and value. It takes only a torrent to spread a crack for a piece of software, and it only takes someone passionate about your product with the right skills to crack it and rub it up your nose.

We're in a new age, and new products need to be aware of, and adapted to the way things are.

RESISTANCE IS FUTILE

My 2c.

Alex
Click to expand...

I think the level of protection needs to be appropriate for the user base and the cost involved.

As I mentioned earlier in this thread I run a software company and not long ago I removed all the software protection we had...sales went up, support went down...all good.

However, my software is all very inexpensive.

When you have a potentially expensive software package that has a small user base (compared to something like Word or something) it's important to protect it.

All it takes is a few leaks of cracked software to seriously dent the marketplace...I hope Fractal includes some value added service with Axe PC. A "premiere" membership to the new Axexchange site would be a great value to get people to buy the software.

Not protecting expensive software is kind of like parking your car in a bad neighborhood with the doors unlocked and money on the dash...people are going to take advantage of it sooner or later.

All I ask is that the copy protection be as nonintrusive as possible. I can say from experience that 90%+ of Fractal's support will become about copy protection issues if they use an onerous solution. I actually think the ilok is OK, I know, kill me. :p It's portable and reliable and not easy to break.

I am FLOORED by the amount of pirated software I have seen used in real paying studios! People do steal!

Overall, I agree with the above but some sort of protection is needed...perhaps a valid serial (like Windows) required for every update and access to the exchange.
 
What's funny is that after 35 pages of gnashing teeth over piracy, no one outside of Fractal has even seen the Axe-PC nor does anyone on this thread thus far (to my knowledge) even know what they are going to do with the Axe-PC.

It's debate about speculative guesses.

So, carry on with your bad selves; but just a little point of reality... it doesn't exist yet.
 
Scott Peterson said:
What's funny is that after 35 pages of gnashing teeth over piracy, no one outside of Fractal has even seen the Axe-PC nor does anyone on this thread thus far (to my knowledge) even know what they are going to do with the Axe-PC.

It's debate about speculative guesses.

So, carry on with your bad selves; but just a little point of reality... it doesn't exist yet.
Click to expand...

Cliff already stated it will be tied to the hardware. It does exist, it is just not for public consumption yet.
 
javajunkie said:
Scott Peterson said:
What's funny is that after 35 pages of gnashing teeth over piracy, no one outside of Fractal has even seen the Axe-PC nor does anyone on this thread thus far (to my knowledge) even know what they are going to do with the Axe-PC.

It's debate about speculative guesses.

So, carry on with your bad selves; but just a little point of reality... it doesn't exist yet.
Click to expand...

Cliff already stated it will be tied to the hardware. It does exist, it is just not for public consumption yet.
Click to expand...

Understood, but the cats debating the specifics of it on this thread don't yet have any hands-on experience of the specifics they are debating. It's circular, insular and gets nobody anywhere.

Once it's out in the field, that'd be the time to remark about the specifics. Vote with your wallet.

IMHO, YMMV.
 
Scott Peterson said:
javajunkie said:
[quote="Scott Peterson":8jlp8gwz]What's funny is that after 35 pages of gnashing teeth over piracy, no one outside of Fractal has even seen the Axe-PC nor does anyone on this thread thus far (to my knowledge) even know what they are going to do with the Axe-PC.

It's debate about speculative guesses.

So, carry on with your bad selves; but just a little point of reality... it doesn't exist yet.
Click to expand...

Cliff already stated it will be tied to the hardware. It does exist, it is just not for public consumption yet.
Click to expand...

Understood, but the cats debating the specifics of it on this thread don't yet have any hands-on experience of the specifics they are debating. It's circular, insular and gets nobody anywhere.

Once it's out in the field, that'd be the time to remark about the specifics. Vote with your wallet.

IMHO, YMMV.[/quote:8jlp8gwz]

I think your point is well made, IMO the time to speak your mind about copy-protection is before a product ships though. It will be near impossible to change the protection scheme after some already have it.

One of the my biggest complaints about the Line 6 software modeler VST was that it required teh hardware as a "dongle".

I want to be able to run the Fractal VST in the studio and gig with my Ultra...I would really hate to have to lug a unit into the studio to "unlock" the software. An ilok would do the same thing...
 
I have no problem with folks discussion it before it ships.

What seems funny to me is the passion involved on 'specifics' that have not been shown to exist yet to them. Until the actual hard data is there to debate, how can you have a debate... that's where I am coming from. Not the discussion or expressing of opinions on the different methods of copy protection. It's the debate over them - in specifics - before there are specifics.

I hope that makes sense.

If not, then this might - chill the flamethrowers until you know what your target looks like. :D
 
After 36 pages of lather-rinse-repeat, I think by now the folks at Fractal Audio have a pretty good idea what forum readers would like to see in the product. You don't want copy protection? They get it. You don't want hardware dongles? They get that, too. You want it for free^H^H^H^H an affordable price? Yup, they get that, as well.
 
i just want to hear it !
if its good i'll buy it - if not , i'll consign it to the bin with the rest of the amp sim plugins . :lol:
 
68slate said:
i just want to hear it !
if its good i'll buy it - if not , i'll consign it to the bin with the rest of the amp sim plugins . :lol:
Click to expand...
Apparently it sounds exactly like the Axe-FX. So basically, it's an Axe-FX without the processor/memory. Instead, it uses a computer's processor/memory. Note "apparently".

And just a question, will the stand-alone/VST have MIDI programmability?
 
I wonder if a real Axe-FX unit could be used with the software rather than needing the custom hardware?
Kind of like Line 6 does..
Sorry that I haven't read the whole thread.
 
xrist04 said:
After 36 pages of lather-rinse-repeat, I think by now the folks at Fractal Audio have a pretty good idea what forum readers would like to see in the product. You don't want copy protection? They get it. You don't want hardware dongles? They get that, too. You want it for free^H^H^H^H an affordable price? Yup, they get that, as well.
Click to expand...

I don't care about copy protection as long as it does not prevent the use.

So if it needs an internet connection ONCE to activate the product or even a hardware dongle to ONCE activate it - fine.
The concern of many potential users are:
-AxeFx can't be used in a studio - when it needs internet connection from time to time.
-AxeFx can't be used mobile with a laptop - when it needs an external powered hardware dongle.

Both points are NOT speculations but statements from FA - so it's good to discuss it before the thing is available - and useless for this two cases. And for me are this the only two cases where I woud LOVE to use the AxePC instead of my real AxeFx.
 
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