Hi Ben,
via Google I found this thread. I do not know if you are still active in the forum. If not I hope that some other member of the NCH staff will read my posting.
In the meantime more than 2 years (!) have passed and absolutely nothing has changed! I downloaded yesterday WavePad from your website and had exactly the same experience as vapors in January 2016:
In my case I got the message that I could not save a file (MP3) as this action is only possible with the Master's Edition. (Fortunately I did not loose any work because I had installed WavePad only in order to test it, but the problem is identic.)
There is such a lot of terrible confusion about WavePad. I will mention the most important issues I discovered: 1. There is no clear distinction between "demo version" and "free version". The expression "demo version" (or" trial version") does not even exist on your site. 2. On your page about WavePad* there is at least four times a download link: a) "Download Now" (in the red field), b ) "Download in seconds ..." (beside the Windows symbol), c) "download the free music editing software here" (within the text), d) in the column on the right side ("Sound Editor - Download now").
*) this one: http://www.nch.com.au/wavepad/index.html / respectively the German version of the site I had used: http://www.nch.com.au/wavepad/de/index.html
That's already an overkill of links. But things get even more confusing: As I found out after a lot of experiments, all the links lead to the download of a file with the same name ("wpsetup.exe") but behind this name almost in every link is hidden the demo version - and only in one link (I don't remember which one) the "wpsetup.exe" installs the free version (as a user expects when reading your site).
Even after installing you will not detect easily which version (demo or free) you have on your machine now. Finally I realized that you can see (?) the difference in the bar where the demo version has a button "Purchase" and the free version a button "Upgrade". 3. There is no information at which point (days, weeks, savings transactions ...) the full usability of the non-paid versions is ending.
My experience was:
- The one version (obviously the demo) suddenly did not allow me any longer to save an edited file as MP3 (see above).
- The other version (obviously the free one) suddenly did not allow me any longer to make a certain cleanup procedure (see below). 4. The next problem:
Both non-paid versions (either free or demo) want to push the user to buy the Master's Edition. But what's with the (cheaper) Standard Edition?
On your page for ordering/buying ** you mention that the Standard Edition has "All Master's Edition features without VST plugins support nor SFX Library".
**) https://secure.nch.com.au/cgi-bin/register.exe?software=wavepad
In case that this is the correct information about the difference, something is wrong with your free/demo software:
As mentioned above, with one of it suddenly I got the message that I cannot (longer) perform a certain cleanup procedure (I think it was "Auto Click/Pop Removal") in my file as this feature is available only in the Master's (!) Edition.
So it is not available in the Standard Edition? How would this be in harmony with the information on your buying page that only VST plugin support and SFX Library are missing in the Standard Edition (whereas all other features of the Master's Edition are available in the Standard Edition too)?
As potential buyer of a software I would like to know exactly what a software - and a certain edition of a software - offers me (concerning its features). For this purpose usually every software company presents on its website a comparison table showing in a clear way which feature (and other properties) can be found in which edition of a certain software.
Why is the company NCH not willing (or not able) to present such a comparison table (or at least another clear description of the differences) which concern obviously at least three editions/versions:
- the free version / - the Standard Edition / - the Master's Edition (with which apparently is connected the demo version)? 5. If the above assumptions are correct: Why is there no demo version for the Standard Edition too? Personally I would be possibly interested to buy the Standard Edition and surely not the Master's Edition. But it seems that there is no possibility to test specifically the Standard Edition.
I will stop here as it is very cumbersome to describe all these confusing issues I had during the last hours.
I think it's time that finally you start to respect your potential customers by giving them correct, trustworthy and clear information about your products - both on your website and in the installation files you offer for download.
