Warning: long rant follow.
Yeah and I hate that they never send me flowers after I buy something.
What is this bu!!$&it?
This <me-me-me everything for free> attitude is kind of asocial.
Adapt to the rules of the mercandiser or leave it,
but please stop whining about and depreciating a great company.
What a heap of neo-liberal bullshit. “Stop whining, simply don’t buy it if you don’t like it. Vote with your wallet. Never connect with other people, all you can do is to adjust your own behavior”. Well, I think that people absolutely should connect on forums and voice their dissatisfactions. Because as a group people can actually achieve something. If enough people are dissatisfied and let a company know it, they can make companies improve their products, change their course etc. Whereas an individual never will.
Another problem: “Simply don’t buy it if you don’t like it”. Sure, I never would. The problem is that with most sample library developers you can’t know beforehand, because there is no way to properly test a library. It’s basically a leap of faith. And afterwards you are stuck with your purchase, because many developers don’t allow resales.
Resales, that’s the next problem. In the EU, after the 2012 Oracle ruling, it is dubious for sample developers to forbid resales to say the least. It may be an unlawful policy in their EULA that might be legally void. But we don’t know until somebody tests it before court. It’s one thing to demand individuals to not enter a EULA they don’t agree with. But you could just as well demand companies not to put things in it that are potentially unlawful and might not stand before court. I know, that’s not what neoliberalism wants, because all the burdens should be on the individual while companies should be able to do whatever the heck they like.
As it stands, buyers are at a large disadvantage. They can’t properly assess a sample library before buying it, because most developers don’t make any sort of demo available. You can not try before you buy. Neither do they allow returns during a certain period of time. And if you have bought it, you are stuck with it because they don’t allow resales. That’s a deeply flawed system that puts buyers at a huge, unfair disadvantage.
In my opinion there can never be enough negative talk about these unfair business practices. The more people voice their concerns about this the better. Yes, do adjust your buying behavior and vote with your wallet. But also let the companies know about it. Connect, ‘whine’ on forums as much as possible. And never let any ill-considered internet bully tell you that you can’t achieve anything if you connect as a community.
So no, I won’t let you shut me up. If I find a library or a developer to have issues with quality control, bugs, or substantial shortcomings I will say so. And I thank everybody who does the same, because it is the only way to get crucial information about sample libraries. Because at the moment I think the sample library business is deeply flawed.
As long as sample developers EULA’s are as they are now, we do need as many frank assessments we can get. We need as many people as re-peat, Guy, NoamL, AlexanderSchiborr, Daniel James, NYC Composer and others who are delving deep into libraries and showing us their findings. Not through the rose-tinted glasses of the many fanboys frequenting this forum. But by the point of view of seasoned professionals who don’t toy with these libraries, but depend on them as professional tools to earn a living.