With the shift to the new semi-subscription model should there be an expectation that there will be a more regular release schedule with new/improved features? The reason I ask is that the last time we saw more than one release in a calendar year was 2020, and we were closing in on a year and a half between 2.5.7 and when 2.6.1 was released yesterday. I’m sure there are folks that won’t be pleased with the shift from a perpetual license model to one that requires a subscription (or at least a login, seemingly), but if there’s going to be greater value gleaned from it then that’s better for everyone. I’m sure it goes without saying that the alternative of paying for a release with a year of updates, then no updates come in that year isn’t a change that would build a ton of good will.
Additionally, I feel like the announcement of the license change could have been handled better. I, like a few other commenters assumed that I must have missed that verbiage on the 2.5.7 announcement post; I always read the notes, and I feel like I would have noticed for as long as it’s been up. In consulting the way back machine as well as the cached Google page it seems that the post was updated at some point… and the time stamp to reflect it’s text was maintained as April 2022. I fully respect the right to change the license terms for future releases, but changing the text on the 2.5.7 release feels a little duplicitous, like it was announced well in advance and we just didn’t see it. It probably would have been better to make that announcement on a separate post, or in the 2.6.1 release.
To be perfectly clear, I LOVE MCEBuddy, and have sung it’s praises to anyone who still rolls their own MCE-like DVR, even though we’re certainly a dying breed. I can’t figure out when I first chipped in for the project but the earliest email I can find is 2014, so probably somewhere in that period, and even then it was probably only $20, so the value over the years can’t be understated. I couldn’t ask for a more stable app, and the automation that it offers is second to none. I fully recognize nobody works for free, and apps like this are no different, so hopefully it works out for everyone 