Boosting MusEdit Sales

[rayzcane]

Season's Greetings, Doug!

It would be great if you could cut some kind of a deal with
Guitar Player, Musiciansfriend, etc. There are millions of
potential customers out there who NEED your product.

One major problem is the internet piracy issue. I consider
myself to be an honorable man, but when someone sends
me a link to download something I really want, it is difficult
to maintain perspective. This month I have downloaded
at least a dozen of "How-To" guitar books, complete with
all the audio files on the CD..... Yes, I do feel guilty, but I
am poor.

A google search for ** "musedit" rapidshare ** produces
almost 5000 results. My point here is if MusEdit is
available for FREE, many users will choose to steal it,
rather than buying it. Perhaps a mildly threatening letter
with an attorney's name at the bottom might eliminate
some of those sites.

One of the most desireable functions for this type of
software is the ability to convert midi files to notation. I
finally acquired "Notation Musician" for this purpose.
Although it is not perfect, it is the best thing I have
seen so far.

It would be great if MusEdit could import and convert
TablEdit and/or Guitar Pro files.

Let me know if I can help in any way.

Ray Langley

> Hi Ray, and other MusEdit users...
>  
>     I'd really love (and need!) to get MusEdit sales back up
> again...  a few years ago I'd often get 30 - 40 orders per month
> and I could devote myself full time to it.  Lately I've been getting
> less than 10 per month...  Part of that was due to falling behind
> on Vista, but I think it's up to date in that respect now.  Does
> anyone have any suggestions on how I can rekindle interest
> in MusEdit?  I can't possibly afford advertising any more, so these
> have to be low to zero budget ideas (but I can put my time into
> any ideas).  I'm thinking of finally importing/exporting TablEdit
> files - do you think that is a good place to put my efforts?
>
> - Doug

[Jack-62]

¡Feliz Año!
If I may put in my 2 cents worth here, I think that making MusEdit
able to import and edit Tabledit files would gain you a considerable
chunk of (possible) market share, not that I give even less than two
cents about tabledit myself, so this is by no means a request for
something that _I_ want -- just that it's my impression that there
are a lot of tabledit users out there and if they could import
tabledit files posted by other folks they'd be happy. Importing Midi
files would also be a good thing. (I wonder if Audacity has gotten
around to that yet...)

Now, sometimes I know it's annoying to have people offering creative
ideas that maybe you've already thought of ten times and then
rejected, but I'll jump in anyway with a few (ahem) "creative" ideas
and you can put them in the round file if you like, or whatever.

1. Give the MusEdit website a thorough face lift and then (1A.) put a
copy of this list in there in a php-based forum and encourage users
to post there so you'll have some dynamic content that the search
engines can chew on. Give every buyer a username and password for the
forum.

2. Set up a relentless program of reciprocal links, which means you
have to have a big links page.

3. Start a blog.  

4. Create a library of public domain MusEdit scores and give them
away along with the Reader. (Make sure the giveaway files use only
the Reader's default preferences, i.e., can't use any of mine!)
Put all the 19th century classics in MusEdit format and make them the
core of the library. Then you'll get links all over the place for a
free sheet music site.  

5. Port MusEdit to the Mac! (Sorry... forget that one.)

6. Port MusEdit to Linux! (Ay, Ay, Ay, I did it again.)

7. Ask this list again for more suggestions periodically.

By the way, there are already programs out there that can analyse
sound files and give you chord names, so you're behind the tech curve
on that one. And scanning scores into notation programs is already
happening, too. I don't know how well they work, but there are folks
out there who are on it (I've been poking around via Google, but I
don't feel like actually buying those things.) The fact is, I don't
need those functions myself. I have a scanner and can make and edit
graphics files with it, and (more important) I have ears and can take
the chords off the record myself. I remember you said you had it in
mind to create both those functions for 4.0 but seriously, MusEdit is
already good at exactly what it does, and I think a serious year-long
effort at "guerilla internet marketing" is more likely to be cost-
effective in terms of sales than another major programming effort.

By the way, we have had a bang-up busy holiday season performing and
have been busy as heck, so our GVR newsletter will not go out until
sometime in January, but I will send you a copy when we do get it out
and post a link to it here too for the edification of the
(ahem) "group" which let me say once more would do you a lot more
good hosted on the MusEdit server as a forum. Not only have we been
busy but I worked myself up a fresh case of tendonitis and have to
mouse left-handed. What's worker's compensation for a musician? Well,
it means you get to play the guitar as much as you want!

And by the way say "ho ho ho" to the girls in your neighborhood there
in SF for all of us. I haven't been there for quite a few years.
Really I was there on business!!

hasta luego... Jack

--- In musedit@..., rayzcane@... wrote:

>
> Season's Greetings, Doug!
>
> It would be great if you could cut some kind of a deal with
> Guitar Player, Musiciansfriend, etc. There are millions of
> potential customers out there who NEED your product.
>
> One major problem is the internet piracy issue. I consider
> myself to be an honorable man, but when someone sends
> me a link to download something I really want, it is difficult
> to maintain perspective. This month I have downloaded
> at least a dozen of "How-To" guitar books, complete with
> all the audio files on the CD..... Yes, I do feel guilty, but I
> am poor.
>
> A google search for ** "musedit" rapidshare ** produces
> almost 5000 results. My point here is if MusEdit is
> available for FREE, many users will choose to steal it,
> rather than buying it. Perhaps a mildly threatening letter
> with an attorney's name at the bottom might eliminate
> some of those sites.
>
> One of the most desireable functions for this type of
> software is the ability to convert midi files to notation. I
> finally acquired "Notation Musician" for this purpose.
> Although it is not perfect, it is the best thing I have
> seen so far.
>
> It would be great if MusEdit could import and convert
> TablEdit and/or Guitar Pro files.
>
> Let me know if I can help in any way.
>
> Ray Langley
>
>
> > Hi Ray, and other MusEdit users...
> >  
> >     I'd really love (and need!) to get MusEdit sales back up
> > again...  a few years ago I'd often get 30 - 40 orders per month
> > and I could devote myself full time to it.  Lately I've been

getting
> > less than 10 per month...  Part of that was due to falling behind
> > on Vista, but I think it's up to date in that respect now.  Does
> > anyone have any suggestions on how I can rekindle interest
> > in MusEdit?  I can't possibly afford advertising any more, so
these
> > have to be low to zero budget ideas (but I can put my time into
> > any ideas).  I'm thinking of finally importing/exporting TablEdit
> > files - do you think that is a good place to put my efforts?
> >
> > - Doug
>

[Jack-144]

Yo Doug -

I followed up on Ray's comment about pirated free downloads, and
verified they are easy. This is, well, lamentable to the extreme. I
suppose legal action is possible, but knowing what I know about your
(DR) general situation, it's obviously a very long shot, since
lawyers generally need to smell money. HOWEVER, it would probably be
a good idea to require a password key to make future editions of the
program work. When your next major version comes out, please consider
this, so you don't give away the store. (I found v. 3.94 readily
available from the warez sites.) You will have to work out some way
of giving passwords to your old customers and perhaps verifying them.
I have always felt that your method of distributing new versions was
dangerously insecure, and also, I note that when I wrote to you for
the first time in several years (which was about 3 years ago) you
took my word for it that I was an old paying customer without asking
for my original email address... Thanks for your trust and good will,
but let's get realistic! (For instance, I had a suite of programs
from Globalscape - CuteHTML, etc. - and when I couldn't find the old
passwords I thought I had stored, I had no choice but to buy the
programs again or move on.)

You may feel that password protection inconveniences your old
customers to whom you have guaranteed lifetime upgrades, but right
now it looks like you are giving MusEdit away for free without
intending to, kind of like leaving the hose running in the back yard
for years and wondering why your water bill is high.

-- Jack

--- In musedit@..., rayzcane@... wrote:

>
> Season's Greetings, Doug!
>
> It would be great if you could cut some kind of a deal with
> Guitar Player, Musiciansfriend, etc. There are millions of
> potential customers out there who NEED your product.
>
> One major problem is the internet piracy issue. I consider
> myself to be an honorable man, but when someone sends
> me a link to download something I really want, it is difficult
> to maintain perspective. This month I have downloaded
> at least a dozen of "How-To" guitar books, complete with
> all the audio files on the CD..... Yes, I do feel guilty, but I
> am poor.
>
> A google search for ** "musedit" rapidshare ** produces
> almost 5000 results. My point here is if MusEdit is
> available for FREE, many users will choose to steal it,
> rather than buying it. Perhaps a mildly threatening letter
> with an attorney's name at the bottom might eliminate
> some of those sites.
>
> One of the most desireable functions for this type of
> software is the ability to convert midi files to notation. I
> finally acquired "Notation Musician" for this purpose.
> Although it is not perfect, it is the best thing I have
> seen so far.
>
> It would be great if MusEdit could import and convert
> TablEdit and/or Guitar Pro files.
>
> Let me know if I can help in any way.
>
> Ray Langley
>
>
> > Hi Ray, and other MusEdit users...
> >  
> >     I'd really love (and need!) to get MusEdit sales back up
> > again...  a few years ago I'd often get 30 - 40 orders per month
> > and I could devote myself full time to it.  Lately I've been

getting
> > less than 10 per month...  Part of that was due to falling behind
> > on Vista, but I think it's up to date in that respect now.  Does
> > anyone have any suggestions on how I can rekindle interest
> > in MusEdit?  I can't possibly afford advertising any more, so
these
> > have to be low to zero budget ideas (but I can put my time into
> > any ideas).  I'm thinking of finally importing/exporting TablEdit
> > files - do you think that is a good place to put my efforts?
> >
> > - Doug
>

[Doug Rogers-3]

Hello,

  Thanks for your concerns and ideas regarding
MusEdit piracy issues.  I've thought about these
things before, but I keep thinking about the reality
of the situation:

1) sending free upgrades to people who send me an
     e-mail request:
   - surprizingly, I often recognize the customer's
      name (since I send out all packages myself I
      often recall a familiar name from writing it on
      the package)
   - once in a while I will check a name against my
      customer database, and if I'm suspicious for some
      reason I'll ask for more info such as "when did
      you order MusEdit?" - but this has almost always
      resulted in a confirmation the person is legit
   - even when I don't recognize a name I usually just
      send the update request anyway, but I always save
      every update request so that the next time I do
      a big broadcast I can use the update requests to
      update the person's e-mail address.  Now that I
      think about it, of all the names in this upgrade
      request list (there are 400 in my current list)
      I almost never find a name that doesn't match up
      with a customer.  This is why I've stuck with the
      honor system for this procedure; with 400 requests
      and less than 1% questionable, it just isn't worth
      my time to look everyone up or require passwords.

2) Requiring passwords to reduce piracy:
     I'll admit that I have installed copies of various
     very expensive M.S. programs on friends computers
     (M.S. is way richer than I am!) using their elaborate
     24 digit passwords which I simply pass around with
     the copied CD's.  This always makes me think of how
     useless passwords are - people would simply post a
     valid password along with the pirated copy.  I have
     been amazed to see "crack patches" which allow people
     to convert the MusEdit demo to a fully functional
     version - this is astonishing because the demo simply
     doesn't have the code for saving files (ie. it isn't
     just a flag that has to be flipped to activate saving,
     which would be easy to crack - in fact all the saving
     code doesn't even exist in the demo) yet these patches
     work.  So if pirates can do that with the demo, supplying
     an activation code seems trivial in comparison.  So for
     very little protection from piracty I would create a
     system which would be very inconvenient for me to
     administer, and for my customers, who, like me, would
     probably lose passwords all the time, and therefore just
     stop using MusEdit.  Besides, I've always felt that people
     who pirate MusEdit in one way will simply resort to some
     other method, or else not use MusEdit at all, whereas
     most people who want something like MusEdit will simply
     find it and then order it - especially since it's only
     $59 now.  Even a nerd like me never thinks to check for
     pirated versions of software before I buy it.

3) Boosting sales by importing from other programs.
     This is the strategy that has motivated me to spend
   the last many months on MusicXML import/export.  Rather
   than figuring out how to import/export to all the other
   formats out there I'm making MusEdit handle MusicXML so
   that any program's files can, in effect, be imported into
   MusEdit.  I have burned up so many evenings, early mornings
   (I get up at 6:00 and work til 8:00 almost every morning)
   and weekends on this MusicXML project that I sure hope it
   pays off in at least a few more sales!  I doubt it though...
   almost every time I put huge work into a new feature (such
   as Midi import, support for 7+ strings, etc.) I barely
   see any change in sales.

     Thanks for your thoughts though...  When the new version
is released I'll be sending out press releases and trying to
get fresh reviews, etc.  Hopefully that will help boost sales
a bit.

- Doug


--- In musedit@..., "Jack" <gvr.jack@...> wrote:>
> Yo Doug -
>
> I followed up on Ray's comment about pirated free downloads, and
> verified they are easy. This is, well, lamentable to the extreme. I
> suppose legal action is possible, but knowing what I know about
your
> (DR) general situation, it's obviously a very long shot, since
> lawyers generally need to smell money. HOWEVER, it would probably
be
> a good idea to require a password key to make future editions of
the
> program work. When your next major version comes out, please
consider
> this, so you don't give away the store. (I found v. 3.94 readily
> available from the warez sites.) You will have to work out some way
> of giving passwords to your old customers and perhaps verifying
them.
> I have always felt that your method of distributing new versions
was
> dangerously insecure, and also, I note that when I wrote to you for
> the first time in several years (which was about 3 years ago) you
> took my word for it that I was an old paying customer without
asking
> for my original email address... Thanks for your trust and good
will,
> but let's get realistic! (For instance, I had a suite of programs
> from Globalscape - CuteHTML, etc. - and when I couldn't find the
old
> passwords I thought I had stored, I had no choice but to buy the
> programs again or move on.)
>
> You may feel that password protection inconveniences your old
> customers to whom you have guaranteed lifetime upgrades, but right
> now it looks like you are giving MusEdit away for free without
> intending to, kind of like leaving the hose running in the back
yard

> for years and wondering why your water bill is high.
>
> -- Jack
>
> --- In musedit@..., rayzcane@ wrote:
> >
> > Season's Greetings, Doug!
> >
> > It would be great if you could cut some kind of a deal with
> > Guitar Player, Musiciansfriend, etc. There are millions of
> > potential customers out there who NEED your product.
> >
> > One major problem is the internet piracy issue. I consider
> > myself to be an honorable man, but when someone sends
> > me a link to download something I really want, it is difficult
> > to maintain perspective. This month I have downloaded
> > at least a dozen of "How-To" guitar books, complete with
> > all the audio files on the CD..... Yes, I do feel guilty, but I
> > am poor.
> >
> > A google search for ** "musedit" rapidshare ** produces
> > almost 5000 results. My point here is if MusEdit is
> > available for FREE, many users will choose to steal it,
> > rather than buying it. Perhaps a mildly threatening letter
> > with an attorney's name at the bottom might eliminate
> > some of those sites.
> >
> > One of the most desireable functions for this type of
> > software is the ability to convert midi files to notation. I
> > finally acquired "Notation Musician" for this purpose.
> > Although it is not perfect, it is the best thing I have
> > seen so far.
> >
> > It would be great if MusEdit could import and convert
> > TablEdit and/or Guitar Pro files.
> >
> > Let me know if I can help in any way.
> >
> > Ray Langley

[Charlie Owen]

I think there was a typing error in Doug's email. When he said, 'I'll
admit that I have installed copies of various very expensive M.S.
programs on friends computers' what he actually meant was, 'I'll admit
that I have heard of people who have installed copies of various very
expensive M.S. programs on friends computers'!

 

Sleep quietly, Bill.

 

Charlie Owen.

 

From: musedit@... [mailto:musedit@...] On Behalf
Of Doug Rogers
Sent: 29 October 2008 02:03 PM
To: musedit@...
Subject: [MusEdit] Re: Boosting MusEdit Sales

 

Hello,

Thanks for your concerns and ideas regarding
MusEdit piracy issues. I've thought about these
things before, but I keep thinking about the reality
of the situation:
...
2) Requiring passwords to reduce piracy:
I'll admit that I have installed copies of various
very expensive M.S. programs on friends computers
...

[David -3]

Hello Doug - I've mostly been a lurker, because I talk about music more than actually making it (sad poser that I am) and I really appreciate your recollection of those of us who bought your application. I wonder what became of those sets I bought for old friends, and if they have used the transcription that was available to them. I'll ck in this week and see.

Best from your straightman, out in Ballard - David
To: musedit@...
From: dougr_yah@...
Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2008 14:02:48 +0000
Subject: [MusEdit] Re: Boosting MusEdit Sales



















   
            Hello,



Thanks for your concerns and ideas regarding

MusEdit piracy issues.  I've thought about these

things before, but I keep thinking about the reality

of the situation:



1) sending free upgrades to people who send me an

     e-mail request:

   - surprizingly, I often recognize the customer's

      name (since I send out all packages myself I

      often recall a familiar name from writing it on

      the package)

   - once in a while I will check a name against my

      customer database, and if I'm suspicious for some

      reason I'll ask for more info such as "when did

      you order MusEdit?" - but this has almost always

      resulted in a confirmation the person is legit

   - even when I don't recognize a name I usually just

      send the update request anyway, but I always save

      every update request so that the next time I do

      a big broadcast I can use the update requests to

      update the person's e-mail address.  Now that I

      think about it, of all the names in this upgrade

      request list (there are 400 in my current list)

      I almost never find a name that doesn't match up

      with a customer.  This is why I've stuck with the

      honor system for this procedure; with 400 requests

      and less than 1% questionable, it just isn't worth

      my time to look everyone up or require passwords.



2) Requiring passwords to reduce piracy:

     I'll admit that I have installed copies of various

     very expensive M.S. programs on friends computers

     (M.S. is way richer than I am!) using their elaborate

     24 digit passwords which I simply pass around with

     the copied CD's.  This always makes me think of how

     useless passwords are - people would simply post a

     valid password along with the pirated copy.  I have

     been amazed to see "crack patches" which allow people

     to convert the MusEdit demo to a fully functional

     version - this is astonishing because the demo simply

     doesn't have the code for saving files (ie. it isn't

     just a flag that has to be flipped to activate saving,

     which would be easy to crack - in fact all the saving

     code doesn't even exist in the demo) yet these patches

     work.  So if pirates can do that with the demo, supplying

     an activation code seems trivial in comparison.  So for

     very little protection from piracty I would create a

     system which would be very inconvenient for me to

     administer, and for my customers, who, like me, would

     probably lose passwords all the time, and therefore just

     stop using MusEdit.  Besides, I've always felt that people

     who pirate MusEdit in one way will simply resort to some

     other method, or else not use MusEdit at all, whereas

     most people who want something like MusEdit will simply

     find it and then order it - especially since it's only

     $59 now.  Even a nerd like me never thinks to check for

     pirated versions of software before I buy it.



3) Boosting sales by importing from other programs.

     This is the strategy that has motivated me to spend

   the last many months on MusicXML import/export.  Rather

   than figuring out how to import/export to all the other

   formats out there I'm making MusEdit handle MusicXML so

   that any program's files can, in effect, be imported into

   MusEdit.  I have burned up so many evenings, early mornings

   (I get up at 6:00 and work til 8:00 almost every morning)

   and weekends on this MusicXML project that I sure hope it

   pays off in at least a few more sales!  I doubt it though...

   almost every time I put huge work into a new feature (such

   as Midi import, support for 7+ strings, etc.) I barely

   see any change in sales.



Thanks for your thoughts though...  When the new version

is released I'll be sending out press releases and trying to

get fresh reviews, etc.  Hopefully that will help boost sales

a bit.



- Doug



--- In musedit@..., "Jack" <gvr.jack@...> wrote:>

> Yo Doug -

>

> I followed up on Ray's comment about pirated free downloads, and

> verified they are easy. This is, well, lamentable to the extreme. I

> suppose legal action is possible, but knowing what I know about

your

> (DR) general situation, it's obviously a very long shot, since

> lawyers generally need to smell money. HOWEVER, it would probably

be

> a good idea to require a password key to make future editions of

the

> program work. When your next major version comes out, please

consider

> this, so you don't give away the store. (I found v. 3.94 readily

> available from the warez sites.) You will have to work out some way

> of giving passwords to your old customers and perhaps verifying

them.

> I have always felt that your method of distributing new versions

was

> dangerously insecure, and also, I note that when I wrote to you for

> the first time in several years (which was about 3 years ago) you

> took my word for it that I was an old paying customer without

asking

> for my original email address... Thanks for your trust and good

will,

> but let's get realistic! (For instance, I had a suite of programs

> from Globalscape - CuteHTML, etc. - and when I couldn't find the

old

> passwords I thought I had stored, I had no choice but to buy the

> programs again or move on.)

>

> You may feel that password protection inconveniences your old

> customers to whom you have guaranteed lifetime upgrades, but right

> now it looks like you are giving MusEdit away for free without

> intending to, kind of like leaving the hose running in the back

yard

> for years and wondering why your water bill is high.

>

> -- Jack

>

> --- In musedit@..., rayzcane@ wrote:

> >

> > Season's Greetings, Doug!

> >

> > It would be great if you could cut some kind of a deal with

> > Guitar Player, Musiciansfriend, etc. There are millions of

> > potential customers out there who NEED your product.

> >

> > One major problem is the internet piracy issue. I consider

> > myself to be an honorable man, but when someone sends

> > me a link to download something I really want, it is difficult

> > to maintain perspective. This month I have downloaded

> > at least a dozen of "How-To" guitar books, complete with

> > all the audio files on the CD..... Yes, I do feel guilty, but I

> > am poor.

> >

> > A google search for ** "musedit" rapidshare ** produces

> > almost 5000 results. My point here is if MusEdit is

> > available for FREE, many users will choose to steal it,

> > rather than buying it. Perhaps a mildly threatening letter

> > with an attorney's name at the bottom might eliminate

> > some of those sites.

> >

> > One of the most desireable functions for this type of

> > software is the ability to convert midi files to notation. I

> > finally acquired "Notation Musician" for this purpose.

> > Although it is not perfect, it is the best thing I have

> > seen so far.

> >

> > It would be great if MusEdit could import and convert

> > TablEdit and/or Guitar Pro files.

> >

> > Let me know if I can help in any way.

> >

> > Ray Langley