Why aren't PH updating their devices (case for Players)?

[boingy]

Updating devices is tricky to do if you care about maintaining backwards compatibility. And if there is one thing that PH really do care about BC is it.

And, yes, they are damned if they do and damned if they don't. Welcome to the Internet, where people make formal complaints to TV stations about programmes they did not even see.

[antic604]

Updating devices is tricky to do if you care about maintaining backwards compatibility. And if there is one thing that PH really do care about BC is it.

Only potentially. Devs can choose to add only options that can be ignored (considered disabled or in bypass state) for songs/patches using older version. Also considering how forward-looking PH were with RE standard, I'm pretty sure patches are stored in some XML derivative format, where versioning and partitioning of parameter settings shouldn't be an issue.

Basically, that's not an excuse.

[VariableX]

Just a side note, I don't mean to single anyone out, it's just a general observation that I've made:

I find it both funny and sad that the Props are always damned either way: If they develop their own REs in-house, people are all over them like "Why u do this instead of adding automation curvz to Reason!!1!", and if they then outsource RE coding so that they can focus their own resources on Reason, then you have this other group of people putting them down for not coding their REs themselves... They simply can't win!

i'm not having a go either way really, I just find it interesting and like the speculation

[two shoes]

You can't sell updates to existing devices for $70 per customer and PHs don't get out of bed in the morning for any less.

[two shoes]

They simply can't win!

i'm not having a go either way really, I just find it interesting and like the speculation

Not only can they win, it's dead stupid simple to get it right and kind of amazing they've been as lost as they have for as long as they have as a company. Get rid of the stupid mobile division and redirect all of those resources, monetary and human, to modernizing Reason's GUI, sequencer, native devices, and mixer (in that order) - you know, all the stuff that 90% of your customer base has been telling you they needed for the last decade? Grasp the simple reality that if they do not accomplish this in a way that exceeds their current user base's justifiably low expectations in the next 2-5 years Reason will fall further and further behind the "competition", becoming more irrelevant and less viable as a flagship product with each passing month. And let's be honest, saying Reason "competes" with DAWs like Logic and Live is already a bit of a joke at this point. Drop all of the sleazy, customer hostile sales and marketing practices like fake rewards programs, rent-to-own, anchor pricing, prohibiting the resale of REs, etc, etc and conduct yourself like a respectable software company and not a used car lot. Finally, actually listen to your users when they tell you what's wrong with your product and what your development priorities should be in both the short and long run - believe it or not, they know better than you do what they need from their DAW. The last ten years should have thoroughly disabused Propellerhead of the arrogant notion that they know best how Reason should develop and can afford to ignore the opinions of their users. Propellerhead doesn't have an unusually critical or unfair user base - they've dug the hole they're now trying to climb out of and well deserve the vast majority of criticism they come in for.

[Ermitage]

Drop all of the sleazy, customer hostile sales and marketing practices like fake rewards programs, rent-to-own, anchor pricing, prohibiting the resale of REs, etc, etc and conduct yourself like a respectable software company and not a used car lot.

This is my biggest gripe with them at the moment. These neoliberal antics are not only super lame and bullshitty, but also deeply un-scandinavian, as far as I'm concerned.

[antic604]

...these neoliberal antics are not only super lame and bullshitty

I beg your pardon?!

[Undistraction]

Not only can they win, it's dead stupid simple to get it right and kind of amazing they've been as lost as they have for as long as they have as a company. Get rid of the stupid mobile division and redirect all of those resources, monetary and human, to modernizing Reason's GUI, sequencer, native devices, and mixer (in that order) - you know, all the stuff that 90% of your customer base has been telling you they needed for the last decade? Grasp the simple reality that if they do not accomplish this in a way that exceeds their current user base's justifiably low expectations in the next 2-5 years Reason will fall further and further behind the "competition", becoming more irrelevant and less viable as a flagship product with each passing month. And let's be honest, saying Reason "competes" with DAWs like Logic and Live is already a bit of a joke at this point. Drop all of the sleazy, customer hostile sales and marketing practices like fake rewards programs, rent-to-own, anchor pricing, prohibiting the resale of REs, etc, etc and conduct yourself like a respectable software company and not a used car lot. Finally, actually listen to your users when they tell you what's wrong with your product and what your development priorities should be in both the short and long run - believe it or not, they know better than you do what they need from their DAW. The last ten years should have thoroughly disabused Propellerhead of the arrogant notion that they know best how Reason should develop and can afford to ignore the opinions of their users. Propellerhead doesn't have an unusually critical or unfair user base - they've dug the hole they're now trying to climb out of and well deserve the vast majority of criticism they come in for.

Totally on the money. I think as a company they have become pretty repellant. Sleazy is a great word to describe it. There is this cheerful, matey feel to their marketing that used to feel like it was an honest representation of the company, but now feels completely forced and painfully fake.