Comentário oficial
Hi Jamie,
Thanks for your comments and feedback. As you likely know, the decision to switch to a subscription model was made months before the pandemic hit. This decision was made to provide customers with a better experience as the majority of the features they need are actually available through hardware unlock, and those who have hardware which is not an unlock device, or want higher level features, can ensure that they always have the latest versions with all of the available functions without having to pay additional for upgrades or add-ons. This is a business model that many others have gone to before us, and yes, there has been some negative feedback but we won't be the last to make this change either. I'm sorry if it doesn't fit your preference -- you can always purchase an unlock device such as a DDJ-XP1 or XP2 which provide a significant value in unlock for the low cost of the hardware, in addition to their hardware performance functions.
Software bugs are another issue, but we constantly release updates to address them. We've had 11 updates since the launch in mid-April; that's an average of 23 days between releases.
To answer your numbered comments / questions:
1. Sorry, only available as part of the Creative subscription, and we have no plans to offer a-la-carte purchases.
2. This has been discussed many times before, but I'll give you the short version here... top line CDJs and DJMs did not come with rekordbox 5 licenses to unlock performance mode as the intention was never for DJs to use $6000+ worth of hardware as a controller. Most DJs would use stand-alone mode and many clubs didn't want DJs on their computers. We heard the feedback and with the release of rekordbox 6, started offering hardware unlock for the new CDJ-3000's and DJM-V10. All hardware moving forward will offer that capability however we will not be providing legacy owners with the hardware unlock functions. Sorry!
3. There are technical hurdles in how AMD's CPU handles video and audio processing differently from Intel. This is the main reason you haven't seen AMD as an option for supported CPUs, but we are aware of the demand for it, especially with the processing power of the new 5000-series Ryzen processors. We hope that this is something we'll see sooner rather than later.
4. We have no plans to include automatic file importing as there is a risk it could interrupt performance, but thank you for your comments.
5. Sorry, there are no plans for a Linux version for a number of factors, including the differing number of Linux flavours available causing platform fragmentation, as well as the difficulty in supporting that extremely small market segment.
We certainly do value our customers' feedback and have made changes in our hardware and software over the years to that effect.
You mention Serato with an outright purchase, but I'll point out that they too have a subscription option... it won't be long before their single-purchase option disappears as well. ;)
As for major version updates - our plan is that customers won't have to pay for an upgrade as it's available at no additional cost with their subscription. You always have the latest software with all features.
Thanks for seeing things from outside the box.