Songs are not tagging - unless you pay extra for version 5+

[bdaoust]

After not having used Reply Music for a while, I discovered that songs were no longer tagging. I tag songs from Rhapsody and never had a problem unless the song was new, which was understandable seeing that the meta data might not have been in the database.

However, recently, I recorded 100 songs and only 2 tagged!

I tried all the suggestions - changing the audio driver, turning off windows firewall, antivirus, etc etc etc. I should mentioned I'm using RM 4.4 I believe.

I decided to re install to see if that would work. I noticed there was a new version - 5.0. When I went to launch it, I was told that I would have to buy and upgrade, which I never had to since buying the product in 2006.

I continued in demo mode and all of the songs that did not previously tag - yes - same songs and same method - were now tagging perfectly.

When I emailed support about this , they told me I needed to pay the small fee because they acquired a new tagging service and it was costly. Now, I'm more than willing to pay for new features, but I originally paid for tagging and it no longer works. So unless I pay, my product that I paid for no longer works. And whats even better, the support person keeps saying "upgrades are free for life, unless there is a substantial feature which our small company needs help to pay for. We are not Google or Apple."

So Applian, please tell me how to get my version that I paid for, working.

[breadman]

I was just about to purchase RM5. I realized it had gone up $5 from RM4, which I didn't have a problem with. I don't even have a problem if there are no free upgrades, as long as it works as expected when purchased. But removing an important feature from an already purchased product? I will be following this thread to see if this gets sorted out before I purchase. I am worried that my $25 for RM5 would be wasted money if RM6 gets released. Good luck bdaoust, and please update this thread when you get this sorted out.Thanks

Tony

[Shalako]

I'm going to take a shot at this. If I'm wrong, I'm sure the Mods will correct me.

I, too, originally purchased an older version and had to upgrade. From what I've read in the Forums, during that time Gracenote, the tagging company used by Applian, was purchased by Sony and they refused to extend the license. Applian was forced to seek a new tagging source. This costs money and they had to pass that on. What you paid for is no longer available from the original source. $5.00 isn't much in the grand scheme of things. You probably would never miss it. If you have a beef, I would suggest you take it up with Sony.

I even purchased the Director Suite and I feel the price is well worth it. Even having to pay an extra $5.00 to get up to date. I also have to say that the Technical Support is excellent if you run into a problem not covered in the Forums and the FAQ's.

[bdaoust]

It's a matter of principal for me. I originally was told that upgrades were free for life. Applian has since understood that is not a good business practice and have changed the policy.

What got me more was the technical response which I received was very rude. When I asked for the ticket to be escalated, he replied "I'm as high as it goes in this company." His tag shows him as technical staff. So, my money is going towards products that doesn't have any leadership? Scary.

I'm a developer myself and understand the costs behind it. However, there are ways to approach matters. Rather than just having their products break and then making users pay a fee that they originally were not they would never have to pay (regardless of how small), they should have informed existing users of a licensing issue that was beyond their control.

[breadman]

Shalako
I think that anyone who has already purchased the product, such as bdaoust, should get the upgrade for free. I don't understand how you can justify removing a feature that has already been paid for, regardless of whose fault it is, even if it is "only" $5. Like I said, I have not yet purchased but have no problem with paying a higher price as a new customer as I know the price up front. I worry about surcharges I may be hit with in the future to keep the product functional. What if Sony wanted $20 or $30 more from each user? Would that be acceptable? As bdaoust said, it is the principle

[Shalako]

As I understand it, again from reading these forums, Sony just plain said "NO" to access. Applian had to go out and find a new tag supplier - at a greater cost than Gracenote.

For what it's worth, since downloading the newer 5.5 version, I've downloaded AND TAGGED over 200 songs. There was only one that didn't tag, a classical piece, "Nimrod" by Sir Edward Elgar, which may have been because it is somewhat obscure.

Just be glad Applian is here. Beware the RIAA. Those snakes have operatives everywhere. Probably even here.

[Cheryl Wester]

HI

Our updates are free but our upgrades are not. This is the first upgrade we have had for Replay Music in over 7 years. During that time we have made constant changes and spent hours working and improving the program as technology changed. Often times our program did not change but others did in how they streamed. We did a "fix" and did not pass the expense of the fix on. We feel that a $4.95 fee for such a terrific product is nominal and it will enable us to continue to update this version as technology changes. Regarding the old version-we did not change how it tags-streams changed how they streams. A suggestion on that version is to use the audio driver and to have genpuid checked for the best tagging.

The newer version does have better tagging and is also able to handle tagging when a song has not completed. It also works with a lot of classical and jazz that are hard to tag with anything due to the instrumental.

As always, if you do have a problem please contact tech support. Thanks.