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I do not like the subscription idea, here's why...


Tomas Eklund

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I would like to support the uTorrent development (and - to be honest - get rid of annoying ads in the application) but I'm not a big fan of the whole subscription idea. That's why I'm not getting uTorrent Plus. I'd prefer to pay a one time fee, just to support uTorrent and get rid of the advertisements. There are several reasons for my disdain of subscription schemes:

1) Let's face it - the whole idea behind most subscription schemes are for businesses to make lots of money with less effort. One sell - a steady stream of income. Customers pay for more than they usually need. If I'm allowed to be blunt: it's a rip-off.

2) There's no incentive for the developers to add USEFUL new features. I prefer to pay a one time fee for a license and get free minor updates (bug fixes and minor enhancements). Whenever there's a new major release with significant new features it's up to the developer to convince me that it's worth an upgrade. If I don't like it, or don't think it's worth it, I don't have to buy it.

3) Related to my point above, there's another risk with subscription software. Since users pay an annual fee, the developers might feel obliged to constantly add features, even though they might have run out of good ideas. Over time the software becomes bloated with useless features that no one really wanted.

4) I would be paying for a subscription but I wouldn't really be getting one. As far as I can see there is no real subscription service built into the uTorrent Plus package. All I get are a few added features, most of which I already have other applications for (antivirus, file conversion, remote access). Something I might pay $25 a year for would be a built-in anonymizing proxy service.

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1) Let's face it - the whole idea behind most subscription schemes are for businesses to make lots of money with less effort. One sell - a steady stream of income. Customers pay for more than they usually need. If I'm allowed to be blunt: it's a rip-off.
Yeah, but the services and products that are being offered with a plus subscription cost BitTorrent Inc in intervals, not just up front. They are being charged a subscription at their level as well. If customers are being ripped off here, so is BitTorrent Inc.
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Yeah, but the services and products that are being offered with a plus subscription cost BitTorrent Inc in intervals, not just up front. They are being charged a subscription at their level as well. If customers are being ripped off here, so is BitTorrent Inc.

That's interesting. Would you care to elaborate on that?

I suppose the integrated antivirus service could be licensed from one of the established antivirus companies. But this feature could easily be removed from uTorrent Plus as most users should already have antivirus software in place anyway. I can't see that a codec pack, a file conversion tool or a remote access server component would necessarily entail a subscription fee, but I might have misunderstood what the uTorrent Plus package is really all about.

All I'm saying is that I'm willing to pay a one-time fee for uTorrent. But I'm not willing to pay for any "bundled" subscription based features that I don't need or want anyway. If uTorrent Plus is a big commercial success for BitTorrent Inc and they aren't willing to change the product, I'd suggest an alternative paid version of uTorrent. All I want is to support uTorrent and get rid of the advertisements.

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I can't see that a codec pack, a file conversion tool or a remote access server component would necessarily entail a subscription fee, but I might have misunderstood what the uTorrent Plus package is really all about.

The media conversion codecs are patent-protected and come with a per-user subscription fee to be paid by BitTorrent inc to the patent holders.

A remote access server component still requires paying a monthly service fee for the servers that BitTorrent Inc runs to relay the data.

All I want is to support uTorrent and get rid of the advertisements.

http://www.bittorrent.com/company/about/contact Talk to someone here if you want to provide a direct payment, but ALL the advertising in-app AND installed separate can be turned off without it.

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http://www.bittorrent.com/company/about/contact Talk to someone here if you want to provide a direct payment ...
I'll certainly make a "donation" (or whatever they will call it) when they make it easy for me. However, if BitTorrent Inc can't be bothered to read their own Feedback forum and act on sensible feedback, then they don't quite deserve the money (just as inane users who can't be bothered to read the FAQ or search the forum don't deserve/get any help). ;)

Seriously though, I suppose a business really can't accept donations, so they'll have to come up with some kind of "product" to sell. I'd be happy with an special installer where all ads and extras (browser tool bars and the like) are disabled by default.

... but ALL the advertising in-app AND installed separate can be turned off without it.

Thanks! I did not know that, or even expect it. I have now searched the forum and found the relevant info. I'm a happy uTorrent user again. Ads are gone!

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