@Oliver_Boinx
Thank you. That sounds reasonable.
is that better to have users buy 1 month and cancel and later buy 1 month and cancel ?
I am in agreement of I see many users - I pay $8.99 for Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom Classic and Lightroom mobile and Lightroom Cloud
$1 more than Fotomagico 6 - says it all
I likewise pay $2 more for Microsoft Office ( MS Word - MS Excel - Powerpoint - Outlook and 5 TB of Cloud storage )
$7.99 for Fotomagico vs $8.99 for Adobe suite and
$9.99 for MS Office with 5 TB cloud storage
Not sure how Fotomagico pricing structure was made - in comparison with Adobe and Microsoft
With current pricing I will only use Fotomagico very few times max 2-3 months and be forced to use Adobe Premier and my Movavi slideshow maker and move away from Fotomagico as I suspect pricing will go up even more
I sent in several suggestions during Beta period - none accepted
I likewise sent in a bug issue - no reply and bug still exists in version 6.0
my suggestion is to change pricing options. - but do not expect any reply
I suspected many others would want to say something about new pricing - and I see some have taken the time to express their disappointment
I cannot see my self be going through a payment process every month or selected months
I am not saying that $7.99 is not a valid one month option but most all vendors like web hosting companies give discounts for a year subscription and more discount on a 2 year etc.
I have used Fotomagico for many years - and yes there have Not been many drastic updates early
so something to compare to say Lightroom and Photoshop for $1 more
If many big beneficial features added each year then maybe
Good luck with the sole pricing option - but have a strong feeling you will loose me as a regular customer for many years
Regards
JH
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I also have owned Fotomagico for quite a few years and use it occasionally. The subscription pricing model doesn’t work for me for this limited-use program.
Boinx has made a commercial decision. Time will tell if it is the correct one. I would hope that it will be reconsidered.
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Agreeing with the views here. FotoMagico is excellent at what it does but It will be too expensive to subscribe for the two or three times a year I use it. The idea that I could subscribe only when I need it would be a hassle for me and less income for you than if I was paying a reasonable upgrade fee as in the past.
I note the UK’s Mac App Store version is a cheaper monthly fee and also offers a discounted annual fee which does not seem to be available from the listing in your store. Could a further discounted annual fee be offered to existing users in recognition of their past support - something akin to an annual upgrade fee?
I do like to support software developers and appreciate your work. I have several subscriptions for software I use and have just renewed my annual subscription to Panic’s Nova editor which I probably use three or four times more often and that was £44 - less than half of what you are asking.
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For me the new subscription pricing is a deal breaker. It’s simply too costly for a program for what it does and the frequency that I use it which is a few times a year. Too, V5 that still has issues that now will never be fixed. For example, I have an M1 Mac with 16g and I have to frequency restart my computer (quitting the app doesn’t fix this problem) because photos and text freeze (weld together) for every slide. Too, Too, it’s a memory hog. I have CleanMyMac on my computer and when I run Fotomagico I often get pop up messages re: shortage of memory.
Its a nice program with some issues but not subscription nice.
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Same for me. The new subscription is a deal breaker. FotoMagico is an excellent program, but not worth this price for occasional users. Furthermore handling of bug reports and fixing bugs is not very professional. I’m reporting an issue that FM isn’t able any longer to connect to the Lightroom database for more than a year and there isn’t a fix yet. I liked working with FM but now I look for an alternative. I liked the seamless integration with Lightroom and without it there are even less arguments paying this price.
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I too am discouraged about the new subscription model. I have owned the program for a number of years, but rarely use it. However, when I wish to make a slideshow I know I can count on FotoMagico. It perfect for the task, has all of the features that I need.
I understand the developers need the security of a steady income stream to survive and continue to produce stellar software products. Based on this, I would willingly pay for a subscription. Unfortunately the price is too high.
The best competitor I have found, which would work for me, offers a yearly plan for $60 US and allows purchases for $80 US. A much better value. I am willing to learn a new interface for the savings.
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Made a mistake. The competitors subscription program is $52US/year.
What alternative are you referencing? I’m curious. Thanks.
I was very excited when I received the notice about the new version. But I can’t even begin to describe the disappointment when I came to the site to upgrade (at whatever cost) and discovered the product is now only available via subscription.
Yes, the subscription model is where developers are going. But it’s like being nibbled to death by ducks. Everyone has their hands out for a few dollars a month and it continues to add up.
Your pricing model would work if photographers made slideshows regularly, but I’ve not met a photographer who does that or found even one of their websites in my decades of work in photography or as an information technology worker. Apparently you must have met many of them to prompt this pricing change. Please introduce us to these photographers by pointing us to their work. I’m betting that you can’t because they don’t exist.
In a post within this thread, you stated that FotoMagico can’t be compared to other products that have moved to a subscription model because they have larger customer bases and solve different problems. Ironically, those are exactly the reasons why a subscription model for FotoMagico is crap. Those solutions are (by a massive majority) daily-use products for their customers. That subscription model would seem to make sense for mimoLive (which I see you already have in place).
But a slideshow app for photographers is a niche market and while we are probably regular users of this solution, we are far, far less than daily users. That makes your subscription model a significant expense that doesn’t make sense (or should at least be priced as a niche product and not as a daily use product like any of the other products that have been mentioned in this thread).
You’ve rocked this niche market for the 16 years I’ve used FotoMagico, during which I have gladly paid any cost for every upgrade. But with this model, you’ve lost a long-time customer.
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Filmora. Marketed for videos, but it works great on stills. Lots more effects and transitions than FotoMagico.
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me too
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Add me to the list of people not interested in a subscription model for FotoMagico.
As a Mac user, I wonder if iMovie is not a good substitute for FotoMagico? It seems to have many of the same features.
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Saw the upgrade email, went to investigate, saw the price, and was like WTF !!! GBP 7.99 is more than I am paying for Microsoft Office family edition. If I were using this multiple times per week, then there would be an argument, but this is an app that would only be used occasionally, and even then only for use with family and friends. There has got to be a lot of functionality over and above what can be provided by other apps. £3 per month (or even something like £30 per year) and I’d have happily signed up, at this price I’m out.
Thank you! I’ll check this out.
I also took a look at Keynote as an alternative since it came with my Macintosh ($0). That works pretty well for most things. I also took a look at iMovie (also came with my Macintosh. Also $0). In a very short period of time I was able to pull together a slideshow from my images along with type and transition effects that were super-simple to assemble.
I certainly hope Boinx changes their mind about this model as I would still prefer using FotoMagico. But if they don’t, there are clearly alternatives - some that don’t have any cost.
Steven
Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean that it doesn’t cost anything to make FotoMagico.
I do not understand this discussion at all. Finally it’s not pay per view, it’s (effectively) pay, when you create a project. For me it would be once or twice a year, so effective cost: between 9 and 18 USD. So, in 10 years about 90 to 180 USD. Amazing! And I have one month time to finish my project.
Yes, I think that commercial users should help more to support development! (3, 2, 1 hate me for that.)
I’m not sure what point you are trying to make. Nobody believes product development is without costs. I would hope your development schedule is planned in a way that is supported by your existing and likely revenue streams.
An assortment of your customers are simply trying to point out that, for them, your new revenue model (based on whatever metrics you used in its formulation) exceeds their perceived value of the product.
It’s your product so it’s obviously your decision. But I don’t see the thread where people are raving about the new pricing model - I’ll go looking for it and would be happy to hear from those who find it reasonable. And before I voted on your decision with my wallet after 16 years of supporting Boinx, I felt compelled to share my personal point of view about your plan.
Best of luck with your plan! But I, and apparently others, am moving on to alternatives because of the pricing of the new model.
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I’m not sure what point you are trying to make.
My apologies for the sloppy response. Pricing is a difficult topic. FotoMagico is a very specialised application and there is no competitor with regards to image quality, ease of use and convenience. There are also not millions of potential users, and, as you point out, people are now expecting to not spend a lot on software so they can spend the money on the latest iPhone or Mac or camera gear instead. We’ve just spent five years hard work to develop FotoMagico 6 and now we would like to make a living with it. If you compare FotoMagico to iMovie or Keynote, you need to realise that those aren’t “free”, their cost is just included with the hardware. If we would get 10c for each iPad and Mac Apple sells, FotoMagico would also be free.
An assortment of your customers are simply trying to point out that, for them, your new revenue model (based on whatever metrics you used in its formulation) exceeds their perceived value of the product.
Of course, not everyone will agree on how much FotoMagico is worth. We are working hard to make it the best slideshow app out there.
I don’t see the thread where people are raving about the new pricing model
Somehow those people do not feel as passionate about it as the people who do not like subscriptions. But there are a lot more of them, actually subscribing. And a lot of people in this forum and elsewhere are singing the praise of FotoMagico as the best slideshow app.
But I, and apparently others, am moving on to alternatives because of the pricing of the new model.
From the bottom of my heart I wish that you find the solution that makes you happy. Because that is what we want for our customers.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, @wnysz766sb
There has got to be a lot of functionality over and above what can be provided by other apps
That is what is the goal of FotoMagico.
£3 per month (or even something like £30 per year)
For £30 you can use it for about 4 months out of the year to make slideshows and the rest of the year to at least present them on your Mac or iPad using the Player mode.