Thanks for all of the comments. I respect everyone who has written and read this post.
I like the Focusrite hardware and think the quality is excellent for the price.
I am using Reaper recording software, and I like how they ask that the program be purchased for a very reasonable amount *but* they will not lock you out of the program after the evaluation period if you do not buy right away. This promotes personal accountability without destroying the benevolence or mission statement of the software production group. I find myself thinking fondly and feeling a sense of loyalty to Reaper for this fact (they are winning me over), and also because the software is really easy to begin using!
Focusrite does have the right to prevent theft of their product, and I/We have the right to guard against the theft of our freedom and/or the civility of our society. Just because there is no practical harm in accepting the Focusrite software agreement (common sense says they aren't really out to make new users fearful, obedient, and subject to abuse of authority) when the licensee has no intention of pirating the software - does not mean that he/she (the licensee) should feel acclimated to this type of language, which demands compliance without stating a reason for requesting our permission to unlawfully search and seize, etc. Focusrite has yet to do this in Section 2.2 of their software agreement.
I like the Focusrite hardware and think the quality is excellent for the price.
I am using Reaper recording software, and I like how they ask that the program be purchased for a very reasonable amount *but* they will not lock you out of the program after the evaluation period if you do not buy right away. This promotes personal accountability without destroying the benevolence or mission statement of the software production group. I find myself thinking fondly and feeling a sense of loyalty to Reaper for this fact (they are winning me over), and also because the software is really easy to begin using!
Focusrite does have the right to prevent theft of their product, and I/We have the right to guard against the theft of our freedom and/or the civility of our society. Just because there is no practical harm in accepting the Focusrite software agreement (common sense says they aren't really out to make new users fearful, obedient, and subject to abuse of authority) when the licensee has no intention of pirating the software - does not mean that he/she (the licensee) should feel acclimated to this type of language, which demands compliance without stating a reason for requesting our permission to unlawfully search and seize, etc. Focusrite has yet to do this in Section 2.2 of their software agreement.
I actually started my music / PC journey as a pirate. A large and popular Miami music store had opened a small branch in the FT. Lauderdale area. I had purchased a Fender Strat there, and got some pre-MIDI ARP and Korg synthesizer hardware at the main Miami store. I had been tinkering with the MIDI PC on display at the Ft. Lauderdale store several times, but had no capable synthesizer to connect to, so I never bought anything.
After getting a sizable bonus check at work, I purchased a friend's Korg DW-800 that had a bad keyboard, went to the music store and bought a Roland MPU-401 and a music software package called Personal Composer System/2. I stuffed this into my DIY 80286 PC clone running DOS. This was somewhere in the mid 1980's. Everything worked, but was slow and somewhat prone to hanging. After waiting nearly forever for the upcoming upgrade to Personal Composer we would learn that the author of the program had cancer and was terminal. There would be no upgrade.
A discussion with the sales guy at the music store led him to hand me a copy of a 5 1/4 inch disk and a photo copy of a manual to a much simpler piece of MIDI software, which also had a single author. I was reluctant to fork over my cash to a one or two person company who could also vanish, so the sales guy told me to try it, then buy the next version if it appeared.
That was Cakewalk 3.0 from Twelve Tone Systems. I did buy version 4.0....and nearly every interim upgrade for 30+ years until Gibson killed off Cakewalk Sonar after getting suckers like me to pony up for "lifetime upgrades." I will never purchase another Gibson guitar or product.....ever due to this practice.
Somewhere in the early 2000's a friend from work who knew I played with computer music asked me to help him figure out a music program and synth setup that he got for his kid. That was Fruity Loops version 2 or 3. I got the kids stuff working and played with Fruity Loops on my own computer for a while. I thought that it was a cool concept, but the novelty wore off and it was eventually forgotten. About 10 years ago Amazon was selling FL Studio "Fruity Edition" for something like $39 during one of their black Friday madness sale, so I bought it and liked it. I now own a fully licensed copy of FL Studio 20 Producers Edition.
According to Ableton's web site I had registered versions of Live 4.0 and 5.0. They were likely free copies that came with a hardware purchase. I didn't use either of them enough to remember it though. I didn't start playing with Live until 8.something. Again it was a free copy of Live Lite that came with a crappy M-Audio synthesizer that got from Amazon during a black Friday blowout. That has now been upgraded to a Live 10 Suite. The synth sits on a shelf.
Every program that I USE on my PC is a fully licensed and paid for copy, although some are quite old. I'm still using Office 2010 on one machine and 2007 on the other. So is all of my music. If I listen to it, I will buy the CD, then copy it on to my PC. I have over 1000 CD's and several hundred vinyl records dating back to the 60's. There still might be some pirate copies of software and music that I DON'T USE in a box on the shelf, although most got purged when I had to pack it all up and move 1200 miles 4 years ago. Several large boxes of floppy disks hit the trash.
After getting a sizable bonus check at work, I purchased a friend's Korg DW-800 that had a bad keyboard, went to the music store and bought a Roland MPU-401 and a music software package called Personal Composer System/2. I stuffed this into my DIY 80286 PC clone running DOS. This was somewhere in the mid 1980's. Everything worked, but was slow and somewhat prone to hanging. After waiting nearly forever for the upcoming upgrade to Personal Composer we would learn that the author of the program had cancer and was terminal. There would be no upgrade.
A discussion with the sales guy at the music store led him to hand me a copy of a 5 1/4 inch disk and a photo copy of a manual to a much simpler piece of MIDI software, which also had a single author. I was reluctant to fork over my cash to a one or two person company who could also vanish, so the sales guy told me to try it, then buy the next version if it appeared.
That was Cakewalk 3.0 from Twelve Tone Systems. I did buy version 4.0....and nearly every interim upgrade for 30+ years until Gibson killed off Cakewalk Sonar after getting suckers like me to pony up for "lifetime upgrades." I will never purchase another Gibson guitar or product.....ever due to this practice.
Somewhere in the early 2000's a friend from work who knew I played with computer music asked me to help him figure out a music program and synth setup that he got for his kid. That was Fruity Loops version 2 or 3. I got the kids stuff working and played with Fruity Loops on my own computer for a while. I thought that it was a cool concept, but the novelty wore off and it was eventually forgotten. About 10 years ago Amazon was selling FL Studio "Fruity Edition" for something like $39 during one of their black Friday madness sale, so I bought it and liked it. I now own a fully licensed copy of FL Studio 20 Producers Edition.
According to Ableton's web site I had registered versions of Live 4.0 and 5.0. They were likely free copies that came with a hardware purchase. I didn't use either of them enough to remember it though. I didn't start playing with Live until 8.something. Again it was a free copy of Live Lite that came with a crappy M-Audio synthesizer that got from Amazon during a black Friday blowout. That has now been upgraded to a Live 10 Suite. The synth sits on a shelf.
Every program that I USE on my PC is a fully licensed and paid for copy, although some are quite old. I'm still using Office 2010 on one machine and 2007 on the other. So is all of my music. If I listen to it, I will buy the CD, then copy it on to my PC. I have over 1000 CD's and several hundred vinyl records dating back to the 60's. There still might be some pirate copies of software and music that I DON'T USE in a box on the shelf, although most got purged when I had to pack it all up and move 1200 miles 4 years ago. Several large boxes of floppy disks hit the trash.
TO THE MODERATORS: Could you please amend either the post listing title or the first post by myself to include new information? The info I would like to add:
FOCUSRITE IS ADDRESSING THE POLICY AT THE MOMENT.
I have been treated very respectfully, they also sent me a link to a set of drivers that do not require Focusrite Control to be installed so that I can get right to using the audio interface.
FOCUSRITE IS ADDRESSING THE POLICY AT THE MOMENT.
I have been treated very respectfully, they also sent me a link to a set of drivers that do not require Focusrite Control to be installed so that I can get right to using the audio interface.
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Hi TankAudio, you should be able to update the first post yourself (first post in a thread has unlimited edit time). I was unable to update the title as the field is not long enough to fit the additional words.- Status
- This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.