Movie Collector 5 released

[TucknDar]

A major update for Movie Collector is released - version 5!

What's New in Movie Collector 5:

Support for TV Series and Box Sets
Add links to movie files (DivX, Xvid, WMV, etc...)
Windows Media Center support (PRO edition only)
Add Movies Automatically (Improved Advanced Mode)
Edit Movie screen enhancements

While this is still my software of choice for my DVD collection, I'm a bit disappointed by this major upgrade. The long-awaited support for TV Series (Add episodes) and Box Sets is far too simple, IMO. And Collectorz.com still don't think there's any point in having multi-disk support, for some reason.

Collectorz have introduced a new upgrade scheme where you have to pay for the major upgrades:

Upgrading to v5
If you already own an earlier version of Movie Collector (Standard or Pro), you can upgrade to the PRO version 5 for only €13.95, a 50% discount. Just enter your license key in the box on the right and click Upgrade Now.
(if you came here from our upgrade notification email or from the v5 trial edition the key will be filled in automatically)

BUT apparently, if you registered BEFORE November 14th you own a lifetime free upgrade license, which they forget (I hope, but it seems a little too convenient) to tell you when you enter your license to pay for the upgrade. This means that I, and several others it seems, paid for the upgrade even though I registered last August. Collectorz where cool about it and gave me a full refund within minutes of my email, but as I indicated there seems there is no way of knowing about this when you're going to get that upgrade. I only hope this is a fault with their system and not an attempt to ripoff existing customers

[Darwin]

Whoa. Hang on. Hold the phones... does this issue WRT lifetime licensing apply to all of Collectorz.com's products? I sincerely hope not, having bought three of them in since January 1st (because I was so impressed by Book Collector Pro and its lifetime licence) under the assumption that I was purchasing lifetime licences! My bad if I didn't read carefully enough, and just assumed that their licensing model hadn't changed, but s*&^!

Well... perusing their FAQ certainly confirms that they have changed to a paid upgrade model, but my confirmation e-mails give no indication of whether my licences are affected or not. I've e-mailed them requesting confirmation.

Not happy 

[Darwin]

PS TucknDar - how much was the upgrade (if you don't mind saying)?

Concerned in Courtenay...

[Carol Haynes]

Upgrades are 50% of the full cost (ie. pretty much the same as the DC discount price and you can't apply a further discount to the upgrade price).

Also not a happy bunny ...

Also notice the references to "free upgrades" (just search the page for "upgrade") on:

http://www.collectorz.com/reviews.php

and

http://www.collectorz.com/useropinions.php

both of which are pages published to advertise their products and policies.

My letter to their support address:

I just received your email regarding upgrading to Movie Collector 5.

When I originally purchased Book, Movie and Music Collector applications last November your website said that upgrades were free to registered users.

In fact your own webpages still refer to free life time upgrades. See both:

http://www.collectorz.com/reviews.php

and

http://www.collectorz.com/useropinions.php

both of which have references to lifetime free upgrades.

Can you please explain what is going on as I only bought these apps in November and feel a little bit miffed that 'lifetime' appears to be less than 6 months!!!!

If you want to change your policy for new purchasers that is your prerogative but for customers who bought on the understanding that upgrades would be free not honouring that commitment will cause some mistrust and ill-feeling.

Thanks.

I'll post if/when I get a reply.

[superboyac]

Man, another company changing to an upgrade model.  That sucks.

[mouser]

DC ran discounts on collectorz software in the past.

They seem like very nice people - i'd be surprised if they didn't honor the lifetime upgrade for people who bought their programs when that was the stated policy.  Carol got it exactly right.

If they for some reason decide not to honor it, i think DC would feel some responsibility and we would of course contact them on behalf of all members and let them know this is not ok to do.

[Carol Haynes]

Should have looked before I shouted - see the forum column here:

http://www.collectorz.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=8645

However the cutoff date is November 14th 2006

Doesn't really answer the question for me as I bought mine in December (just checked my receipts again) and the website still has references to free upgrades!

[Darwin]

Thanks for posting your e-mail to Collectorz.com and for clarifying their upgrade discount pricing, Carol. I must learn to be more methodical in researching things like this before dashing off panicked e-mails to support! The inclusion of the links to the webpages STILL describing lifetime upgrades really strengthens your case (and their absence weakens mine  )! Scheming... shall I dash off another missive complete with supporting evidence (meditatively strokes chin and scratches nose)?

[Darwin]

Well... I wrote a more reasoned and better argued note and sent it to a real e-mail address (rather than simply filling out a support form from their website). I don't expect anything to be done about this, but I do feel that they should hear from as many of their users as possible that policy changes such as this need to be rolled out with a great deal of fanfare to avoid, as Carol notes, feelings of

mistrust and ill-feeling.

Right, I have a hot date with a 50,000 year old Neanderthal from Gibraltar, a number of spreadsheets, two databases, and ArcGIS. It really doesn't get any better than this... 

[Carol Haynes]

I posted to their forum too and got this response ...

CarolHaynes,

I bought 3 apps (Books, Music and Movies) last December and as far as I understood it upgrades were free - it even still says so on some pages of the website

I apologize if the site gave that impression; we intended the policy to be clear. It is also mentioned in the license agreement.
You are right that we did not consider older reviews/testimonials in this regard, maybe we should have added some kind of note about this.

Well that's a potential future customer lost - I hate it when people do this. How many people actually read (or understand) license agreement small print.

Actually I have just run the installer again that I downloaded in december and it make absolutely no reference whatsoever to upgrades (paid or free) ... here is it:

December EULA for Collectorz Movie Collector from installer: moviecollectorsetup_5413285.exe

Collectorz.com Movie Collector is copyright © 2000-2006 Bitz & Pixelz BV.  All rights reserved.
"Collectorz.com" is a trademark of Bitz & Pixelz BV.

IMPORTANT--READ THESE TERMS CAREFULLY BEFORE INSTALLING THIS SOFTWARE. BY INSTALLING OR USING THIS SOFTWARE, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU HAVE READ THIS LICENSE AGREEMENT, THAT YOU UNDERSTAND IT, AND THAT YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY ITS TERMS. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS LICENSE AGREEMENT, PROMPTLY EXIT THIS PAGE WITHOUT INSTALLING THE SOFTWARE. THE SOFTWARE PROVIDED HEREUNDER WILL EXPIRE AND NOT OPERATE AFTER MORE THAN FIFTY (50) RECORDS HAVE BEEN CREATED. THE PURCHASE OF A LICENSE KEY IS REQUIRED FOR CONTINUED USE OF THE SOFTWARE AFTER IT HAS EXPIRED.

* Software Grant of License
Bitz & Pixelz BV grants you a non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use the program with which this license is distributed ("the Software"), including any documentation files accompanying the Software ("the Documentation"), provided that: (i) the Software is not used on more than one computer at a time; (ii) the Software is NOT modified; (iii) all copyright notices are maintained on the Software; (iv) the Software has not expired; and (v) you agree to be bound by the terms of this License Agreement. The Software and Documentation shall be used only by you, only for your own personal or internal business use and not in the operation of a service bureau or for the benefit of any other person or entity.

* Ownership
You have no ownership rights in the Software. Rather, you have a license to use the Software as long as this License Agreement remains in full force and effect. Ownership of the Software, Documentation and all intellectual property rights therein shall remain at all times with Bitz & Pixelz BV.

* Copyright
The Software and Documentation contain material that is protected by Dutch Copyright Law and trade secret law, and by international treaty provisions. All rights not granted to you herein are expressly reserved by Bitz & Pixelz BV. You may not remove any proprietary notice of Bitz & Pixelz BV from any copy of the Software or Documentation.

* Restrictions
You may not publish, display, disclose, rent, lease, modify, loan, distribute, or create derivative works based on the Software or any part thereof. You may not reverse engineer, decompile, translate, adapt, or disassemble the Software, nor shall you attempt to create the source code from the object code for the Software. You may not transmit the Software over any network or between any devices, although you may use the Software to make such transmissions of other materials. You may transfer the Software to other computers you own as long as you only use it on one computer at a time.

All text and graphic images retrieved by the Software via the internet ("Downloaded Data") is licensed to you for personal, non-commercial use only. You must not use any Downloaded Data for any commercial purpose, or aggregate it with any other data in a database. Prohibited use includes, but is not limited to, using Downloaded Data in a website that aims to earn revenues from its visitors in any way, including selling products or site advertising.

* Confidentiality
You acknowledge that any licence keye that you have purchased or will purchase will be kept confidential by you and will not be published in any way. Publication of your license key immediately terminates this License Agreement, and gives Bitz & Pixelz the right to invalidate the licence key without refunding your purchase.

* Submitted Data License Grant
By submitting data to the Collectorz.com Movie Database you grant Bitz & Pixelz BV a nonexclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, and fully sublicensable right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute,and display any data you submit throughout the world in any media. You represent and warrant that you own or otherwise control all of the rights to the content that you submit; that the content is accurate; that use of the content you supply will not cause injury to any person or entity; and that you will indemnify Bitz & Pixelz BV for all claims resulting from content you supply. Bitz & Pixelz BV has the right but not the obligation to monitor and edit or remove any content. Bitz & Pixelz BV takes no responsibility and assumes no liability for any content submitted by you or any third
party.

* Limited Warranty
Bitz & Pixelz BV WARRANTS FOR A PERIOD OF THIRTY (30) DAYS AFTER PURCHASE THAT THE SOFTWARE WILL OPERATE SUBSTANTIALLY IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE DOCUMENTATION. SHOULD THE SOFTWARE NOT SO OPERATE, YOUR EXCLUSIVE REMEDY, AND Bitz & Pixelz BV'S SOLE OBLIGATION UNDER THIS WARRANTY, SHALL BE, AT Bitz & Pixelz BV'S SOLE DISCRETION, CORRECTION OF THE DEFECT OR REFUND OF THE PURCHASE PRICE PAID FOR THE SOFTWARE. ANY USE BY YOU OF THE SOFTWARE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. THIS LIMITED WARRANTY IS THE ONLY WARRANTY PROVIDED BY Bitz & Pixelz BV REGARDING THE SOFTWARE. EXCEPT FOR THE LIMITED WARRANTY ABOVE, THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS." TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, Bitz & Pixelz BV DISCLAIMS ALL OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Bitz & Pixelz BV DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE FUNCTIONS CONTAINED IN THE SOFTWARE WILL MEET ANY REQUIREMENTS OR NEEDS YOU MAY HAVE, OR THAT THE SOFTWARE WILL OPERATE ERROR FREE, OR IN AN UNINTERRUPTED FASHION, OR THAT ANY DEFECTS OR ERRORS IN THE SOFTWARE WILL BE CORRECTED, OR THAT THE SOFTWARE IS COMPATIBLE WITH ANY PARTICULAR PLATFORM. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE WAIVER OR EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES SO THEY MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

* Limitation of Liability
IN NO EVENT WILL Bitz & Pixelz BV BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANY THIRD PARTY FOR ANY INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS, LOSS OF PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, OR LOSS OF BUSINESS INFORMATION) ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM, OR FOR ANY CLAIM BY ANY OTHER PARTY, EVEN IF Bitz & Pixelz BV HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. Bitz & Pixelz BV'S AGGREGATE LIABILITY WITH RESPECT TO ITS OBLIGATIONS UNDER THIS AGREEMENT OR OTHERWISE WITH RESPECT TO THE SOFTWARE AND DOCUMENTATION OR OTHERWISE SHALL NOT EXCEED THE AMOUNT OF THE LICENSE FEE PAID BY YOU FOR THE SOFTWARE AND DOCUMENTATION. BECAUSE SOME STATES/COUNTRIES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, THE ABOVE LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

* Termination
This License Agreement is effective until it is terminated. You may terminate this License Agreement at any time by destroying or returning to Bitz & Pixelz BV all copies of the Software, Downloaded Data and Documentation in your possession or under your control. Bitz & Pixelz BV may terminate this License Agreement for any reason, including, but not limited to, if Bitz & Pixelz BV finds that you have violated any of the terms of this License Agreement. Upon notification of termination, you agree to destroy or return to Bitz & Pixelz BV all copies of the Software and Documentation and to certify in writing that all known copies, including backup copies, have been destroyed. All provisions relating to confidentiality, proprietary rights, downloaded data, submitted data and non-disclosure shall survive the termination of this Software License Agreement.

* General
This License Agreement shall be construed, interpreted and governed by the laws of the Netherlands without regard to conflicts of law provisions thereof. The exclusive forum for any disputes arising out of or relating to this License Agreement shall be an appropriate court sitting in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. This License Agreement shall constitute the entire Agreement between the parties hereto. Any waiver or modification of this License Agreement shall only be effective if it is in writing and signed by both parties hereto. If any part of this License Agreement is found invalid or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, the remainder of this License Agreement shall be interpreted so as to reasonably effect the intention of the parties.

By the way I haven't updated since that version - does anyone have a copy of the latest installer (pre the current upgrade) as only the new version is available for download on the website!

[mouser]

I will contact them and report.

[Carol Haynes]

I have had a response which basically said "I'm sorry if our policy was not clear" but not offering a solution.

[mouser]

Reply from the collectorz representative who i have talked to in the past:

Customers who want a free upgrade because of our former policy, can get one
without problems.  Just contact us using the contact form on our website.
-Syts

So it sounds to me like they will honor the lifetime free upgrades for anyone who bought it before this announcement, but you may have to take the extra step of mailing them and asking for it.  If you have any hassles don't hesitate to point out you are a member of DonationCoder or give them my email, and cite this reply we received.  And of course report to us if for some reason you are refused the free upgrade.

[Carol Haynes]

Got a free license now - so happy ending.      ..... Until next time????

[TucknDar]

Got a free license now - so happy ending.      ..... Until next time????

I'm happy to hear you got your license, Carol! However I think their business model stinks. Why should they give out "free" licenses to everyone e-mailing them if they've got a new pay-per-upgrade scheme? I think it's because they know how this will p*ss customers off, and they'll just please anyone who actually makes an effort to get what they paid for in the first place. How about the thousands of existing users that never visit their forum and only uses the built in update feature and pays the upgrade fee without asking questions? Collectorz.com will make a fortune on these customers.

I've also written some quite lengthy posts in their forum arguing that their software lacks an important feature (this is IMO of course, but I cannot fathom why multi-disc support is being left out ) and that the big jump in version number (4.11 IIRC -> 5) isn't justified because one of the socalled major new features is limited to the brink of being a joke. They claim to support Box Sets now, but this is basically just a folder that links to the movies in the box set. No info on the box set can be added, such as price, cover image, barcode, you name it.

As you can tell I'm pretty disappointed by this new version of the app, because I was expecting decent box set support and multi-disc support, but got neither... And the new upgrade scheme...... give me an effin' break

[TucknDar]

Aaaaaaahhhhh, that felt freakin' great!! 

[Carol Haynes]

LOL

[cthorpe]

I just sent Collectorz a lengthy message regarding this issue.  I have asked them to clearly lay out their new licensing model, including how future upgrades of all products will be handled.  I have also asked for them to honor the lifetime license for all users who purchased their products prior to their announced changes to their license terms.  I pointed out, as did Carol, that they are proudly displaying reviews and testimonials on their site that state they have a lifetime license, and as such should abide by that.  If they don't want to be held to it, they shouldn't be using those reviews as promotional materials.  Finally, I asked that they make an effort to refund all users who were charged in error for the upgrade.  I stated that it is not acceptable to expect users to learn from their forum that they are entitled to a refund.

Carl

[Darwin]

I'm glad you got that off your chest and found it therapeutic, tuckndar... I've been known to rant a bit myself  

Anyway, I haven't posted on the collectorz.com forum, but did submit a support form request and sent a private e-mail message, in both of which I echoed Carol's sentiments above. I received the same reply as well:

MP> ...a policy change such as this is fine if it applies to
MP> new purchasers AND comes after a clear statement indicating that the
MP> policy is changing.

You may be right about that; we had not really considered people who had already purchased a product before the policy change and would buy another one afterwards without realizing the change.

I don't know what to think about the fact that they are offering to provide free upgrades to MC 5 to people who take the time to write in - I don't own it and am wondering WTF is going to happen WRT PhotoCollector, mp3Collector and MusicCollector when the time comes. I bought all three under the assumption (clearly fuelled by my past experience with BookCollector Pro and the fact that no statement was evident indicating that the licensing model had changed, etc.) that I was in fact purchasing a lifetime licence for each. It's unclear whether their willingness to provide free upgrades applies to this upgrade to MovieCollector or to their whole range. Time will tell, I guess. On a related note, in the collectorz forum a comment is directed at Carol, which essentially states that the company can't understand why she is being so adamant - Excuse me? If I buy a car on the understanding that it has a three cylinder engine and will get 60 mpg (and in fact all of the literature in the dealership and the owner's manual states this as well) and the first time it needs gas and oil I find out that it's got a 12 cylinder engine that gets 8 mpg, I'd have a right to complain and to demand redress. I don't see this situation as being all that different.

I absolutely understand and respect that collectorz.com needs to generate revenue so that it can pay its employees and pay for rent, utilities, etc. but I cannot understand why, given that they've got my e-mail address on file from my purchase of FOUR of their titles AND they've got a comprehensive website that INCLUDES a fourm that collectorz.com employess are frequent posters on, it wasn't possible for them to get the word out to their existing user base to avoid this kind of situation?! How difficult is ito e-mail your user base, or put a great big banner at the top of every page on your website, or make an announcement on the forums, or state it prominently in a newsletter? As someone noted in the MovieCollector user forum, it's primarily the principle of the thing... I loathed statements like that when I was in Muddle Management - every decision I ever made, or that I had to pass on to the unwashed masses, er, employees working under for me was invariably met with at least one howl of protest and a resort to the principle argument. Glad I'm not in that position any more and can invoke it all I want. La, la-la, la-la, la  

[Darwin]

Carl - you posted while I was smashing out the note above. Thank you for taking the time to do that; the more messages they receive like that, the more likely it is that they will feel compelled to take action (positive, one hopes!).

On a related note - has anyone actually seen an announcement about the change in licensing policy? I ask only because AFAICT, there hasn't been one. Just an evolving shitstorm on the collectorz forum over the paid upgrade to MovieCollector 5. But other than that, nothing. I assume that we can expect an immimnent, and prominent, banner to appear on the website along with a news release and general announcement on the forum. Should have happened BEFORE November 2006, though...

[Darwin]

I guess I should amend my comment above by noting that the licencsing policy is clearly stated in the FAQ BUT, as Carol notes in a posting on the forum, returning customers are not wont to run around checking on-line FAQ's to see if there's been a policy change. One expects that there will be an announcement on the purchase page, if no where else...

[Carol Haynes]

The only place I have seen a clear statement is if you click on the upgrade link on Movie Collector homepage.

Given that the link wasn't there before this upgrade I can't see how there was any clear statement.

There was no comment at all in the original purchase emails on upgrade policy and according to the forum they thought it was stated in their license agreement. Well as you can see it wasn't mentioned in the December download and I have just checked the new version license and it isn't there either.

Personally I think they should draw a line under it and say all new purchases from NOW will be subject to the new policy clearly on the website and support previous users according to the de facto understanding.

It would even be a little more sensible to hold their hands up and make a statement of the new policy by email to all registered users and if they want to explain the old policy is not financially practical in the long term and the new policy will apply to everyone, but previous purchasers will get the next major upgrade free as partial compensation.

[Darwin]

Heh, heh... You've more or less written exactly what I've been thinking, Carol:

It would even be a little more sensible to hold their hands up and make a statement of the new policy by email to all registered users and if they want to explain the old policy is not financially practical in the long term and the new policy will apply to everyone, but previous purchasers will get the next major upgrade free as partial compensation.

This is more or less the "middle ground" solution I *think* we can expect, though obviously I'd be happier with this:

I think they should draw a line under it and say all new purchases from NOW will be subject to the new policy clearly on the website and support previous users according to the de facto understanding.

Hear, hear!

[Darwin]

I indexed my Collectorz program files folder with Archivarius and searched for upgrade. Very interesting BECAUSE this text is in the licence agreement as articulated in the help file for each of the four Collector apps that I own:

The Licensor reserves the right to charge an upgrade fee in the case of major new enhancements or additions to the Software.  This major new version will then start a new version line that will use version numbers clearly distinguishable from the old version line.  The Licensee has no obligation to upgrade to the new version line and the Licensor will continue to make the latest version of the previous version line available for download to Licensee.

BUT is absent from ALL of the actual EULA agreements...

[cthorpe]

Well, I finally got a brief reply back on my lengthy email.  All it said is:

I have informed Mark-Jan about your mail, since you are asking for a formal statement.

kind regards,
Henk-Jan van der Kamp

I'll keep you informed.