G-Force - 3.8.5

It's much better than the built-in ITunes visuals, that's why I bought it. But as many other users have experienced, the update policy is so bad that I've decided against renewing my license. I don't remember ever using or seeing a piece of software with a "discounted renewal window." It's a sure way to upset any customer. I was ready to cough up the update fee, only to be told that this hilarious "discounted update window" had expired and the update would now cost more than a few weeks ago. Pressure your customers into spending more money - it might work for some, but it's surely turning me away.

On top of it all, I've lost my original install package due to a system crash. Silly me, I just assumed I could re-download the original install package and reinstall the old plugin. Of course, there's no way to re-download the old software version (i.e., the one that accepted my license code), so I'm stuck as the new versions don't accept the old serial number! I understand that software evolves and I don't get a new version for an old serial number, but come on, give us a chance to download the version we actually paid for. There's no need to keep each .0001 incremental, but you should at least make the milestones available - especially when the updates seem....uhm...minimal (yes, yes, I know, "look at the version history", yadi yadi yada... well, I did, and I'm not impressed. It's more bug fixes than anything else - which should be FREE!)

Mr. Omeara - you don't call it a subscription, but it's pretty darn close to one.

I bought the Platinum Version in April 06, when it was at v3.5.1, as a superior alternative to the default iTunes visualiser. It's an enjoyable addition, and I particularly liked the ability to set up "sprites" (user-defined grayscale images that appear ghosted through the various visualisations.

Evidently I must have been having a good day in April 07 when I got the invitation to renew my license, as I thought what the heck, it's "only" 15 bucks.

Come April 08, when like many people I expect, I am paying much closer attention to a wide range of financial commitments, the decision was a no-brainer: not this time, buddy!

My current (and final) version stands at 3.7.5, so paying the full fee upfront, plus one year's "subscription" has gotten me 0.2.4 worth of "upgrades". Wow! Even Adobe would draw the line (I hope) at charging for that incremental level of "development". The problem is compounded because AFAIK the ongoing development generally addresses bugfixes, and issues introduced by new hardware and OS updates, and rarely seems to add any new features. And my sprites were no longer recognised a couple of points back, due to a bug, but guess what, if I hand over another 15 bucks, I can get version 8.0 in which that bug has finally been addressed ;-))

Basically, it's one thing to pay continuous upgrade fees for say, a productivity app, which has to develop new features to keep up with evolving standards etc, but we're talking a glitzy screensaver here!

I think I'm gonna hold off G-Force now until version X or so, by which time who knows, maybe it'll throw 3D globules of plasma across my living-room...