Pirate Software

Rhoadz

New member
Hey guys, i just got an unsolicited e-mail offering what i suspect are pirate copies of craploads of multitrack and synth software, Cakewalk, cubase, soundforge, fruity loops, ACID, drum station ect, ect, ect.

Anybody had any experience with software pirates or offers like this? The deal sounds great at first, but that usually spells trouble.

rhoadz
 
I wonder if they could be "shareware" demos. I have seen CD's that contain multiple demos of various recording software. They are specially programmed to provide little functionality. OR... they could be outdated versions someone is just trying to pawn off.

[This message has been edited by Fishmed (edited 04-13-2000).]
 
That was my first thought too. He specificaly states no demos, betas, or 30 day trails. He is offering CWPA9, sound forge 4.5..., and says the programs were 'modified'by 3rd parties to allow full functionality including 'save'. He also said these couldn't be registered with the retail company and that all updates would be available though him. Still sounds slightly below board to me.
 
Um, I don't want to sound testy, but why is there even any doubt?

"He says the programs were modified by 3rd parties to allow full functionality including 'save'. He also said these couldn't be registered with the retail company and that all updates would be available through him"... And you think, perhaps, it sounds *SLIGHTLY* below board?

Um, why is there any doubt at all? The guy is offering cracked software, telling you not to register it with the company that developed it, and you're not sure if they're pirate copies?

I think you can pretty safely assume they're pirate copies. Before you delete the e-mail, make sure you send a copy along to the appropriate authorities (make sure you include the full headers). I don't know where you live, but in the US that would probably be your state's Attorney General.

Also, perhaps you could post the full headers of the e-mail here, and the full text of the e-mail as well, so we can do a little sleuthing.

--Dingo
 
Thank you dingo.

I guess what i should've said in first post is what does the Home Rec community feel about this stuff? This BBS is pretty much my only contact with home rec'ers till my school schedule lightens up.

I know some net communitites are all about sticking it to software companies. Anybody else have an opinion on this?

thanks again -rhoadz
 
I would imagine (or hope) that the prevailing attitude here is one of support for the software companies, seeing as without them we wouldn't have many of the tools we use for our living or our hobby.

Free software sounds like a great idea, but in the long term I don't see who it's meant to work. You're right that a lot of net communities are all about sticking it to the software companies, but I think in the long term they're shooting themselves in the foot.

Of course, I'm somewhat biased as I make my crust working for one of those evil software companies ;-)

But I was serious when I asked you to post the full e-mail, including headers, from this guy. No matter how people feel about the software companies, I think making money off other people's hard work is evil.

Tim
 
Yeah. Theres some hackers that hack for the sake of hacking. They just like to break code.. if you use cracked software, thats your choice.
BUT there some guys who hack and try to make money off of other poeple's creations.. and that's kinda sucks if you ask me. If you gotta make money off somebodys programs, make it Microsoft instead of sonic foundry, eh?

thats my say.
cameorn
 
My opinion is that I'd rather pay full price for the manufacturer's software and get tech support and also see some of my purchase dollars go back into R&D of the product. If we all used pirated copies ... these companies would either go out of business or never further improve their product.
Also, you may get a good price, but who are you going to go to if the software stops working, or even worse winds up really messing up your computer?
I wouldn't trust this dude. I wonder what kinds of viruses he puts in these cracked programs? ... hmmm. Some people just like to fuck with others for fun, ya know.
 
Well, if the guy is trying to sell you a cd with the stuff on it(which it sounds like), he's a worm and deserves to be busted.
 
BigK: but even if it messes up your computer, you accepted a contract during the installation that said the company making the software wasn't responsible for this :)

They're right, who who you rather pay, someone who's burning illegal copies of cracked software that were obtained illegaly (and for free!) or a company that use this money to make their stuff better!
 
You know, that is the reason that I like the idea of pirated software. Often, these programs are so badly written out of the box. I don't want to go spending $300+ dollars on software that doesn't work. But how would I know unless I tried a "illegal" copy of it. Often, this is how I know what to buy.

Definately, the registered version is the better way to go just for tech support. One of the nifty features the software developers can do to "protect" their software is to default obscure settings that more or less force you to call tech support to even know that it is making a difference in how the software performs.

Anyway, a lot of discussion has gone into this whole "protection" thing. Steirberg applies some pretty heavy duty protection. A shame since they make such nice stuff. But on the other hand, I have heard so many bad things about Cubase that I am afraid to even go their because I can't "legally" try out the program to see just how bad of a mess it is out of the box. So, I stay away from it.

Cakewalk on the other hand only has a silly s/n protection. Easy enough. I can then try it out and see if the features are adequate for what I want to do, thus, to gain tech support to figure out all the deep functions that make it a worthwhile app, I need to buy and register it.

Believe it or not, alot of software companies have gained "free" help improving their software from the "bandits" that use unregistered versions. Talk about econamizing R&D!!! So, maybe go a little easy on some of those hackers. A lot of them become very helpful to the developers, and certainly they provide a way of protecting consumers from developers that put products on the market before they are ready. It happens far too often.

Anyway, some guy trying to make a few bucks off of the cracked version is out of the "spirit" of hackers. Mostly, these code breakers will just share the stuff for free with those they trust. They didn't crack it to make money, they cracked to see if they could, and possibly to see if it is worth a darn. So, in this case, this guy is a schmuck! My god, he must not even have half a brain to be advertising his hacked versions. Needless to say, he is probably already revealed by others to the proper people and they are following his actions to put together a better case before busting him. He deserves whatever he get's from trying to profit from that skill.

Anyway, just my thoughts.

Ed
 
Sonic Foundry put their cards on the table with a fully functional demo copy of Vegas Pro. Sure- it's pricey, but their demo policy speaks for itself. I've seen pirated copies of this SW. I'm still not unhappy that I paid for and registered my copy. I'm proud to support SW that works. Their protection policy sucks, since it's pegged to their continued survival but it's still one step shy of the Nazi tactics used by Steinberg.
CW's demo crashed my system.
n-tracks demo didn't work at all.
Support your local SW developer, do it yourself or keep using garbage SW.
It's your choice.
 
Sonusman do have a point. I remember when Cakewalk came with the audio stretch feature in Pro Audio 6 but you couldn't use it in the demo version. But after getting the full version you had one bad surprise when you noticed it was so badly coded, it sounded so bad, you couldn't use it for anything! A lot of people were disapointed.

If you just want to try the software, I won't blame you Sonusman, but if you decide on keeping it, and even more, make money with it. Buying it is the right thing to do imho.
 
Sonusman is right.
Love 'em or hate 'em, guess who uses Piracy as an extremely valuable - and free! - R&D tool?
That's right, the good ol' boys at Microsoft. For years, they have leaked betas of each new version of Windows to pirates. Then they simply sit back and read the internet forums. Pirates become beta testers who work for free.
Pretty clever, if you ask me.
Anyway, returning to the point - I am a firm believer in "trying before I buy" as well. Though these companies SHOULD be paid for their work, dropping hundreds on a piece of software is a big deal for me. I want plenty of time to work with a non-crippled version first. Often, demos provide little to no information about software's actual quality.
Is that wrong? I don't think so. I think it's far better to pirate something, buy it legally a while later, and own a piece of software that I am proud of and will recommend to others, than to buy it right away and discover that I have wasted my money.
 
One other thing. "Nazi tactics"? I'm not too familar with Steinberg. What do they do?

[This message has been edited by Eurythmic (edited 04-16-2000).]
 
About a year ago I bid on what I thought was a used Cubase VST/24 on Ebay. What I got instead was a cracked version, AS WELL AS many other cracked programs worth literally thousands of dollars. A good friend of mine works in a studio over here and couldn't believe what was included on this CD. Almost every plug in for Cubase was included, as well as numerous cakewalk plugins, Band in the box, et., etc. All the programs were in a compressed format.

Now here is the rub........the problem with programs like these is that there is no DOCUMENTATION, and no SUPPORT. I'll be honest with you, I have used a few of the programs, but when I decided that I liked them, I went out and bought the legal versions....no shit, I did.

So I can identify with Sonusman's point of view completely. Try it before you fork out hundreds of dollars for a program, but if you like it, pay the price because the documentation and support you get for it is invaluable.
 
Documentation? You guys got documentation?

The last time I got any sort of decent documentation with a software product was 1986...well, OK, not that long ago, but documentation is now becoming increasingly rare, and if you do get it, it's in electronic format, and is sparse to put it nicely. Getting very very jack of javing to print out all these bloody PDF files. When I pay $1000 for some software, I want the treeware to match dammit.

- gaffa
 
Sonic Foundry did the treeware thing in very elegant fashion. The documentation on the very pricey Vegas Pro was a thin pamphlet. They didn't have to fill volumes with text because the conceptual design was so simple.
 
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