Alcohol and their Licensing Plan

vbimport
#1

When Alcohol first came out we, the public, were told that Alcohol licences would enable lifetime upgrades (as per here

However while looking at their forum , I noticed a slight change in their plan

Updates are free to purchased users un to version 2.X.X.X however after this there has been no decision made yet as to whether free updates will continue after this version.

I thought I’d just bring this up for anybody who purchased Alcohol and didn’t know of the potential change to their licensing scheme.

#2

Any information found in this forum regarding Alcohol’s licensing policy, shouldn’t be always considered as true. You should trust the official Alcohol’s forum and when the issue is answered by Alcohol’s personnel.

#3

Make perfect 1:1 back-ups of CDs, Alcohol 120% is really the ultimate DVD / CD emulation and burning software.

Store your most used or important CDs as images on your computer and run them at 200x speed from up to 31 virtual CD or DVD drives!

Burn more than one CD or DVD at the same time, even from from different sources, using the latest multiple burners technology.

Highest drive compatibility - Alcohol is compatible with more than 99% of drives available and if it doesn’t work with your drive we can improve it so let us know!

Bypass all the latest “unbreakable” protections using Alcohol Software’s state of the art burning and emulation process!

Supports the highest number of possible image file types including - MDS, CCD, BIN, CUE, ISO, CDI, BWT, BWI, BWS, BWA & many more…

Ultra-responsive industry leading support from our team of software experts.

Free and very regular updates and improvements, available for registered users. Buy today and benefit for life!

that is a quote from alcohols website, straight from the front page, pay attention to the very last one “Buy today and benefit for life” sounds straight forward to me registered users at his point in time get the benefit of all alcohol has to offer for life… So how many ways is there to read that?
If questions are starting to arise then they need to be made clear, and it seems clear to me…

#4

vio_man, netman, and Robbo are Administrators over at their official forums. On their website it states in many places that

What benefits do I get when I have paid?

As a license holder, you will receive the following additional benefits:

  • Access to download the full retail versions on our site 24 hours a day
  • Exclusive plugins available only to retail customers
  • Unlimited High Priority Technical Support
  • Receive the latest emulation/Duplication Software to keep up with today’s changing technologies
  • Free Online Software Updates

Note the last 2 points.

#5

under the current licensing agreement alcohol updates are free for life. there have been some discussions about changing this but there are no current plans to do so. if and when this would ever happen rest assured that any user who was licensed prior to a change in policy would still be able to receive free updates for life. the license agreement is a legal contract.

when clonecd dropped their prices and changed their policy to a year of free updates a couple of years ago the same thing happened. i asked about my license since i purchased it before the change and i was assured that i could receive lifetime updates. it was also pointed out to me that even the newer licensees had not been restricted as of yet.

as pointed out the official web site and forum for alcohol states free lifetime updates. don’t listen to any speculation from unofficial sources on such matters.

#6

Thank you netman for confirming what I already suspected. I only posted this to inform current licence holders of the matter. However you have appeared to have avert all fears. I am truly sorry it appears that I was bashing Alcohol and/or its Staff, I in no way intened to.

I did however assume that Phonenix was a trusted source, and the way he worded this

Updates are free to purchased users un to version 2.X.X.X however after this there has been no decision made yet as to whether free updates will continue after this version.

did make it sound that current users where having their licences changed.

I again thank you for clearing this issue and I want to thank the Alcohol dev team for making a great product.

#7

Originally posted by netman
don’t listen to any speculation from unofficial sources on such matters.

I don’t want to offend you, but these kind of speculations will always be around. People might not always post on official forums, because they like objective information. I don’t want to argue about the Alcohol objectivity, as I know you guys do a great job on your forum, but a forum from a company does not give an objective feeling to most people. (if you read, it’s always good to know who wrote it).

We are happy to give you the opportunity to clear things up and I hope you will continue to do so, but I hope you will also respect our forum altough being an ‘unofficial source’.

#8

Originally posted by Khaine
vio_man, netman, and Robbo are Administrators over at their official forums.

Let’s make one thing clear: I’m not an Alcohol forum administrator! I belong to the team as a Translator, just that. I’ve nothing to do with Administration.

#9

Originally posted by DoMiN8ToR
[B]

I don’t want to offend you, but these kind of speculations will always be around…I hope you will also respect our forum altough being an ‘unofficial source’. [/B]
no offense, of course. and your forum is considered one of the better ‘unofficial sources’.

i also hope no one misunderstands and thinks that phoenix and i are saying two different things. as i said there have been discussions about the future of this policy but he also stated that it would not happen anytime soon, if at all. i’m merely stating that the current policy, as documented on the official sites, is that lifetime upgrades are included.

#10

I did however assume that Phonenix was a trusted source, and the way he worded this

quote:

Updates are free to purchased users un to version 2.X.X.X however after this there has been no decision made yet as to whether free updates will continue after this version.

I do not post here often for various reasons, but this thread caught my eye, so to set matters straight, regardless of the opinions of this forum.

@Khaine, If i said it then you can believe that it is “fact” and not speculation. to quote my own words "Fact, Updates are free to purchased users un to version 2.X.X.X "

“Fact however after this there has been no decision made yet as to whether free updates will continue after this version”

This is “Fact” and is the Official Decision on this issue from Alcohol-soft.Co,Ltd

This means that purchased users will continue to recive free updates, however if you purchase After version 2.X.X.X no decision has been made yet as to the avalability of free updates

Any purchased user of our software is free to contact us either through our Support Forum or by email concerning updates of our products, or any other question they might have.

Speculation and rumour mongering just serve to confuse people and serve no good purpose, that is why we have an Official Support Forum Where questions like this can be asked and addressed.