A Solution--Digidesign, charge us $ for PT Free

[Avid]

Dave,

I'll take your excellent and eloquent post to reply more to the forum as a whole than to you individually, as best I can.

First, we're not planning on charging for Pro Tools FREE. I think we would need to change the name if we did.

What we are doing is reading all of these posts and discussing them among a large group of engineering, test, and tech support personnel, trying to gather what seem to be the most common recurring concerns so that we can address these. We take this very seriously, because obviously there seem to be a lot of posts in this forum from users that have either experienced problems using Pro Tools FREE, or can't get it to work at all on their setup.

We're not discounting the very real problems posted by people on this forum, but we're also not convinced that the high percentage of negative posts here is absolutely representative of all of the users. It might be, but we don't know that at this point. Quite a few of the complaints are from people trying to use Pro Tools Free on systems that we have clearly stated do not work.
I'm not trying to discount anyone's individual experience, I'm just saying that we really need to separate the problems someone is having on a system that should work from those of someone using a system that does not work with our software. Or you can turn it around and say our software doesn't work on their system. Fair enough either way. We have said that it will not work on certain systems.

So far there have been many thousands of people that have downloaded Pro Tools FREE for Windows. (over 70,000 combined mac and windows downloads) We are gathering as much feedback as possible to determine how many people with the recommended PC configurations are able to use it. And how best to help people with the right configs that are not able to use it. And as we go along, hopefully we will discover workarounds that will allow some users with different setups to use Pro Tools Free as well. This forum will help with that process, but we are of course looking at all of this on our end as well.

Frankly, the feedback in this forum so far is surprising to us. We did quite a bit of testing on this software in the normal testing process, as well as testing in a less formal way by a great many employees on their own time on their own systems. We did not get a lot of negative reports and did not feel in any way that we released a "buggy" version. If there are identifiable bugs that we can fix, we'll make every effort to fix them, no charge.

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Bruce Paine
Digidesign

[jeffreyc]

Why not offer a "Pro Tools CHEAP" along the side?

[Dave Kowalski]

Look, we all want this to work.
Everyone will agree, having even a scaled down version of PT is very desirable. I have about a dozen PC audio programs that I've paid for, and they dont compare to Protools.

Digi is being very quiet on the bugginess of PT Free. Since the release, the few responses they have given have been , although helpful to the individual problem, very nonchalant (as if there isn't a major problem,i.e. a swirling mass of extremely disappointed people, myself included, who would love this to work and feel let down.)I would venture to guess that half of the Windows users, probably more, cannot get it to work.
Many have stressed the fact that--- IT"S FREE!! WHAT DO YOU EXPECT??---- and I can only agree with them. (I have enough of a time getting tech support and I am the owner of a Mac based PT24 Mix Plus system, and will be purchasing 2 more this year.) We cannot expect Digi to devote their resources to fixing a giveaway....

I Propose that Digidesign charge some kind of shareware fee so that we can hope to get the product that was expected. I will not say what I would pay,($20, $40, up to $100???) as to not set any precedent, but I'd certainly feel better about expecting the darn thing to work. At least we'd feel entitled to complain.....
I'm sure that Digi will not post a reply to this....

Just my 2 cents...Hey, that's a good price, at least in it's current working condition!

Dave

[CueAV]

Pro Tools FREE doesn´t work on my system and i think only problem that i have is/are 2 procesors. Is it possibly that ¨PT Free can ignore the existence of second proc. I have BX chip, PII 400 Mhz 256 MB RAM and work with Cheetah 9.1 GB an SB LIve! Card.

[voicepipes]

Thank you Digidesign for replying. I've been reading and responding to many of the postings in the forum. If you will a couple of observations:
1. For the most part people with existing DAW's are having problems. These are users who meet the requirements essentially, but the unspoken and more likely common denominator is the sound card. If you use a "low end - no offense meant) card that has a mixer/interface with windows it seems to work. For those of us using medium to high end sound cards that often do not work as windows sound card devices, we have problems. This may be an issue to look into.
2. You spoke of the thousands of people who have downloaded the program. Since not every one has responded here that makes it a success. Well, maybe not everyone knows about these forums. It is a possibility.
3. There are a LOT of people with installation and other problems. Most find that deleting other componets, not necessarily software will make the program work. This really is not an acceptable solution. We're taking a serious look at your product.
If you state up front that certain functions are disabled to make the PTF work with "more/generic" systems, no one will gripe! At least that way we get a sense of the product. There are those here who want a free ProTools. Some of us just want to try before we buy. The current release isn't letting us even try.
4. There are many who have mentioned that other MS Windows based programs can work fine with the disputed sound devices. IQS has a new prduct coming to market that does everything PT5.1 does except OMF conversion. Its a fine product, just as yours is. The issue here is marketing. It is possible to create programs that work with systems you specify, and work well. Without major system changes. A demo/free version that requires a user to make major changes to an already functioning system is not going to fly. Look at it from our perspective. My system works flawlessly, why should I "try" toy/mess with my setttings just to see how your program works? I have a system that meets all your requirements yet PTF won't work. I know its due to my sound card ( CardD+ ) It doesn't functions as a windows sound card at all. Its there as a device for high end Windows DAWS. I can make PTF function on my Celeron Laptop, but I don't have enough memory for it to function for more than a few seconds. Again, will I mess with the settings...no way. The laptop is my business machine.

No one who has downloaded your offering thinks its a bad program. You have an excellent reputation, and well earned. But, this program simply will not work with the majority of users, not the minority - who are ignoring your warnings about certain system limitations. Have alook at the produts IQS makes as an example. They write excellent code, offer online and personal support with demo's. Every person they help is a potential buyer. A small company that knows how to market and convert other users. I'm not for a moment saying that IQS is the be all and end all...just an example that Windows DAWS CAN work. They have system limitations as well, but they'll work with you personally if they have to to try and get you up and running.
In short, if you want to convert us. Work with us. Help us. Silence is not what we need. More FAQ's, more whitepapers, a pay per use support if you have to, but at least make some attempts to help us. Otherwise you've lost us, and no matter how good the next free version is you won't get the majority of people to come back if the first just would not work at all.

[KKu]

I think that's because W98/SE/ME doesn't supports 2 processors, only one. I also have PII w. 2 processors, 256Mb ram and SB Live! and still my program runs... not ok, but runs.

If you want to use 2 processors, you have to use W2K or NT4, but in those PTF doesn't run at all. Only w98/se/me. Or is this your problem, you try to use PTFree in NT/2K platform?

Too bad, I personally was waiting for w2k support, 'cos ProTools for Windows runs only at NT platform and in case of upgrading my system, ProTools is a very potential possibility. In case of buying Digi001, I get PTLE, but that's also w98 program and second processor is only waste of money...

.KKu


Pro Tools FREE doesn´t work on my system and i think only problem that i have is/are 2 procesors. Is it possibly that PT Free can ignore the existence of second proc.