True, I agree with those definitions. I use it as you say as "hires." I guess I see it as subscribing to the service more so than subscribing to the individual devices themselves. The payment does auto-renew if not canceled, but the REs can be changed each month (and you can apparently setup the change for next month as early as the first day of the current month). I suppose there are those out there who will subscribe to a particular device beyond one month. And even though that's possible, that thought just isn't in my head when thinking of the service. For me, even though the cost is low, I can't help but feel faced with the decision beyond one month of paying, "Ok, if I'm keeping this around any longer, I should probably buy it."JiggeryPokery wrote: ↑18 Nov 2017But—and this is really, really important, joey—that usage model is NOT a subscription.
A subscription is a regular payment in return for access to a service; if you don't pay, you don't get the service.
If you are doing a paid retrial, cancelling during the month before it's recharged, that's a HIRE.
If you need eXpanse this month, and then you cancel it before you're recharged for the following month, and then you find you need it again in six months and get it for another month, that's merely another HIRE. It's the equivalent to me going to HSS once every five years and getting a carpet cleaner. I pay for it regularly, but no-one in their right mind would call it a subscription: I rehire it. <looks at floor... that reminds me...>
So unless you have Combo 310U, as in your example, or any other device in your subscription package for at least six or twelve months, which are typical periods that tend to be quoted as minimum subscription term for services (and even if the recurring payment period itself is monthly), it cannot seriously be considered subscribing to it, it's a short-term hire. As soon as PH said "they can subscribe but cancel at any time without penalty", then that's a hire model that can also be used for long-term subscriptions, not the other way around. By making it so flexible so as not to upset users by tying them into long-term payments, they've inverted the intended process. The penalty for canceling a Creative Cloud subscription is you can't use any product in Creative Cloud. The penalty for not subscribing to eXpanse is merely that you still get to use Thor, Grain or Europa or whatever is available as part of your current Reason version, and you've run the useful "bounce in place" on all the eXpanse tracks you created during the hire should you want to revisit that mix without needed to hire again, or buy eXpanse, and] the patches you used are still probably stored in the RE placeholder device for future recall if you do opt later to rehire it and want to revoice anything. So for the user, it's all upside.
I think it can potentially present a new thought process for the customer that didn't exist before. As a fairly frugal and simple user myself, with the free 30-day trial, I feel like I can easily just walk away, "Well, that free usage was fun...can't use it now unless I buy it." And it can be fairly easy for me to move onto something else and not buy it. Now I'm faced with, "Well, I can "rent" it to give it another spin...it was pretty cool I guess...and it's not much to pay for that opportunity!" Quite possibly followed by, "Ok I should probably buy this so that I'll stop paying money into it and ultimately not own it."
I don't find myself so easily replacing the REs I use, or else I wouldn't have them. I'm not in the crowd of, "Actually Thor can..." So when something I actually want and use goes missing from my tools, I'm going to miss it and want it back. But I get your point, the entire service of Reason doesn't become inaccessible. And other users might not be like me and would welcome alternatives. But I would figure those same users are the ones more likely willing to seek alternatives vs. buying in the first place.
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