Why doesn't Reason Studios sell old versions of Reason?

[c s 0 1]

Why doesn't Reason Studios sell old versions of Reason? After every new version of Reason that they release, do they wipe their hard drives of all traces of Reason 10, 9, 8, ... ? Why can't they just add a download option to a user account like they would for the current version?

[Oquasec]

I guess they see it as redundant https://www.reasonstudios.com/en/reason/updates
If you have Reason 5+ might as well just torrent Reason 5

[c s 0 1]

Thanks for the link, but I meant a download option where I could buy the version that works with my computer and use it in non-demo mode.

[QVprod]

Because anything they sell they would also have to support. They are likely not using older operating systems on their computers that are incompatible with the current version, which renders support impossible.

[xboix]

The only reason (or Reason) I can think of for it to be useful is for newcomers who buy Reason 11 but would like to use Reason 10 for its Rewire capabilities.

[joeyluck]

Well any Reason user who has owned a previous version of Reason and used ReWire is able to access that version to work on old projects.

But it wouldn't make sense to encourage new users to use ReWire because ReWire is discontinued. People should start moving away from using it.

[orthodox]

If the old version is priced the same, it has little sense for buyers. And if it is lower, it starts competing against the new version.

[c s 0 1]

Thanks for all of the POVs.

I'm still on Reason 9 and I am still receiving support from the company if I have a question or problem. I'm not expecting a new iteration of version 9.

It also makes perfect sense to me. I would like to upgrade Reason, but my computer won't allow anything past Mac OS X 10.9. It's still a very powerful computer and works great. I'm not going to buy another computer just to upgrade to Reason 11. I would, though, like to upgrade to Reason 10. I wouldn't mind paying the regular upgrade price either.

There are still people out there who are using Reason 3 or 4. Upgrading to version 11 may not be an option for them but upgrading to Reason 4 or 5 would be.

Revenue is sitting on the table and Reason Studios barely has to do anything to take it. There may not be a ton of users who want to upgrade to an older version but I would bet there would be enough.

[platzangst]

There are still people out there who are using Reason 3 or 4. Upgrading to version 11 may not be an option for them but upgrading to Reason 4 or 5 would be.

Revenue is sitting on the table and Reason Studios barely has to do anything to take it. There may not be a ton of users who want to upgrade to an older version but I would bet there would be enough.

If anyone out there is still using Reason 3 or 4, it's either because their machines are too outdated to run anything better or because they stopped updating Reason once they implemented the Codemeter authorization routine that pretty much prevented piracy. It's been how long since 5 was released? Almost 10 years - I think that's long enough to say that anyone who possibly was going to upgrade from 4 to 5 has either already done so or is likely never going to do so. This idea of "revenue sitting on the table" only works if you can actually point to real people in sufficient numbers to justify holding all the older versions of Reason on the servers - all that space comes with a cost.

Furthermore, leaving older versions as purchasable content opens up a certain amount of liability: You can bet that if Reason Studios left older versions available, there would be people complaining that these older versions needed bugfixes or other improvements. We know this because in the past there have been people complaining about things like why nobody updated Reason 5 to handle Rack Extensions, or why newer versions of Reason won't work in 32-bit operating systems. Keeping older versions available seems to mean, for some people, that full support for older versions should also be available - again, that would be an added cost in time and money that likely isn't worth it, if you actually added things up. Really, only Reason Studios themselves can say if they'd "barely have to do anything" to get what fraction of a profit could be had from keeping older versions purchasable.

[QVprod]

Thanks for all of the POVs.

I'm still on Reason 9 and I am still receiving support from the company if I have a question or problem. I'm not expecting a new iteration of version 9.

It also makes perfect sense to me. I would like to upgrade Reason, but my computer won't allow anything past Mac OS X 10.9. It's still a very powerful computer and works great. I'm not going to buy another computer just to upgrade to Reason 11. I would, though, like to upgrade to Reason 10. I wouldn't mind paying the regular upgrade price either.

There are still people out there who are using Reason 3 or 4. Upgrading to version 11 may not be an option for them but upgrading to Reason 4 or 5 would be.

Revenue is sitting on the table and Reason Studios barely has to do anything to take it. There may not be a ton of users who want to upgrade to an older version but I would bet there would be enough.

Support of answering questions is a bit different than bug fixes and updates. They would be liable to those. Your situation is unfortunate, but I don't think it's to scale. People who are still using versions 3 and 4 are likely doing so because they don't want to upgrade. It's only in the last few years the operating system requirements for mac are incompatible with older systems. On the PC side, R11 is still compatible with Windows 7. That aside, depending on your computer, there's unofficial ways of upgrading your mac further. I had a 2006 Mac Pro that I was able to run Yosemite on for a few years. Officially it wasn't supposed to go beyond Lion. Worked pretty well too with no issues.

[Boombastix]

If they still sold Reason 10 they would probably have to fix all the bugs. But their business model appears to be to fix the bugs in an update and abandon previous version.

Microsoft gets a lot of flack for many reasons but they actually support old version for a set period of time after a new release. I think Reason studios at least should fix the bugs in the previous version until a second update is available.

It is annoying to spend time (and money) to investigate bugs and report them (no charge to RS) only to be forced to pay $129 to get it fixed… Personally I do not feel much like reporting bugs any more due to this...

[c s 0 1]

I don't know much about servers and the like but it seems like Reason Studios isn't much concerned about server space considering the link Oquasec posted. There, it looks like users can download updates all the way back to version 1. Many updates are GBs in size.

I suppose we can discuss endless scenarios where one user may or may not want to upgrade to an older version of Reason due to... whatever. What I do know is that Reason Studios isn't even allowing the choice for users to upgrade so people like me who are using older systems who want to upgrade, simply can't. Reason Studios is never going to know if it's really viable.

Anyway, this thread was really born out of frustration, and in hope that Mattias might eventually see it, agree with it, and somehow convince the higher ups they should pursue this. Continuing to read about and talk about it is only making me more frustrated. So, I'm going to bow out of this thread.

I appreciate all of you taking the time to respond. Thanks and be well!

Thanks QVprod. I didn't realize Mac users could install later versions on older computers. I'll look into it.

[xboix]

I think buying the latest version should automatically give you a license for all previous versions, except where legal agreements make it impossible like when Line6 effects were removed. If I but Reason 11 why can't I choose to download and run Reason 9 or 10 or whatever?

[enossified]

I asked support about this once and was told that if I already have an older rev of Reason and have purchased the upgrade, I can download any rev between my current rev and the currently latest rev. But if I don't own an older rev, I can't buy anything except the current rev.

A workaround is to shop for a second-hand license of an older rev and then buy an upgrade to get whatever rev you want. However, I strongly recommend you contact support yourself to confirm what I wrote above is still correct.

[Gurra]

<snip> … and was told that if I already have an older rev of Reason and have purchased the upgrade, I can download any rev between my current rev and the currently latest rev. <snip>

In my case, I went from Reason Essentials 1.0 to Reason 6 to Reason 7 but I only have Reason 7 available for download in my profile. Have been meaning to ask support if there is a way I can still download the other installers but never got to it.
Can confirm though that Reason Essentials 2.0 still works with my Reason Studios userid as I have it on an old laptop but I no longer have the installer for it.

[QVprod]

<snip> … and was told that if I already have an older rev of Reason and have purchased the upgrade, I can download any rev between my current rev and the currently latest rev. <snip>

In my case, I went from Reason Essentials 1.0 to Reason 6 to Reason 7 but I only have Reason 7 available for download in my profile. Have been meaning to ask support if there is a way I can still download the other installers but never got to it.
Can confirm though that Reason Essentials 2.0 still works with my Reason Studios userid as I have it on an old laptop but I no longer have the installer for it.

Check the link in the 2nd post of this thread. You’ll be able to download Reason 6 from there

[Gurra]

Check the link in the 2nd post of this thread. You’ll be able to download Reason 6 from there

Thanks! How did I miss that?

[gregmarksimpson]

If anyone out there is still using Reason 3 or 4, it's either because their machines are too outdated to run anything better or because they stopped updating Reason once they implemented the Codemeter authorization routine that pretty much prevented piracy.

Not necessarily, some people prefer older software. Software can be just like hardware; vintage sometimes evokes a mood, a time in history, and often comes with its own quirks and workflow that could result in completely different music being made.

[platzangst]

Not necessarily, some people prefer older software. Software can be just like hardware; vintage sometimes evokes a mood, a time in history, and often comes with its own quirks and workflow that could result in completely different music being made.

I suppose, but in that case the issue of updating from 3 or 4 to a later version becomes kind of moot, doesn't it?