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Movie Collector 5 released

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Carol Haynes:
It is also somewhat ironic that a European company is only going to utilise Amazon for Region 1 titles!

I think there are two main reasons for this (and neither have anything to do with users):

1) They presumably pay licenses to allow people to access multiple data sources and by moving to a single source model they own they will reduce overheads. There may also have been some issues with the data source providers that users aren't aware of - like the growing amount of data exchange that some stores in particular would not be happy with (after all it doesn't generate income for them beyond licenses that Collectorz have been paying).

2) (And this is probably the primary reason) Multiple data sources take a lot of maintenance. During the lifespan of the Collectorz products these source scripts have had to be updated a number of times because they ceased to work. This has forced users to update and upgrade the software multiple times to maintain access to these sources. Now that they are charging customers for upgrades they are probably getting a lot of grief from customers because there is the potential that people will be forced to pay for upgrades just to maintain a working product. I can't see them updating older version scripts to allow multiple data source access indefinitely - in emails they have already suggested that Movie C. will only be supported for 12 months and even then they don't make it clear that the 12 months will include any updates or if it is just customer support. I think the primary reason is to have a data source that they can control so that they don't have maintain the access script library.

The fact that their own data source is woefully inadequate probably doesn't bother them too much - they never have shown much regard for what their customers want and on more than one occasion when many existing customers have screamed in frustration have simply taken the attitude "like it or lump it - it is what we are doing and we have no interest in what existing customers think". If their stated reason (ie. to simplify the user interface for users) was true then it could very easily be solved to everyone's satisfaction - simply have a default standard user interface with an advanced multi source interface for those who want/need to use it.

As it stands it is still good software but I'd guess for the majority of non-US customers we are stuck with using a scanner and keyboards to manually enter the correct data for items - which will doubtlessly be uploaded to their servers and so we become unpaid providers for their database.

Personally I think they should make the software free if this is the model they propose since I don't particularly want to work for a foreign company and pay them for the privilege. I am afraid I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that even with life time free upgrades I am going to uninstall their software and support an open source alternative that has more respect for users.

J-Mac:
Any recommendations, Carol?

Thanks!

Jim

Carol Haynes:
Any recommendations, Carol?

Thanks!

Jim
-J-Mac (December 09, 2008, 02:58 AM)
--- End quote ---

Not at the moment - there were some recommendations in the past for open source programs in these forums but I haven't looked at them recently.


I am also slightly curious about how they maintain their database - all of this artwork (as well as synposes etc) are copyright - how are they getting and paying for permission to use all this information - esp. if it is generated automatically by users? Are the copyright lawyers suddenly going to hit them for a multimillion settlement and wipe them out?

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