richardein wrote:
In short, you get half the installs you had before when you upgrade. An interesting business plan.
This is true, however if the public release of 64-bit PLAY works as well (or better) than the public BETA of the 64-bit engine, the reduced numbers of installs may be a moot point because it won't require as many computers to load up the entire EWQLSO, for example. The other side of this issue is simple portability where, say, one laptop and one desktop can be authorized for libraries that only need one computer to run effectively. That indeed makes some of this very awkward for many people.
e-loo wrote:Just to clarify -- here is how I understand it. Some of this is speculation on my part. But I think this situation is EASTWEST's fault, not Native Instruments.
EASTWEST decided to no longer use NI's player and decided to develop their own.
....
I think this was based on a CHOICE by EAST WEST. The reason I think this is:
1. Native Intruments Kontakt 2 Player works on intel and powers several libraries like VirSyn and the Garritan Products.
2. Furthermore KOMPAKT libraries are compatible with Kontakt 2.2
3. Hence KOMPAKT based libraries like EWQLSO could probably easily work with Kontakt 2 Player intel.
If EastWest wanted it to . . .
So in my estimation, for whatever reason, EASTWEST decided not to use NI anymore and build their own engine.
It is similar to what Spectrasonics has done with Atmosphere and the UVI engine.
In both cases the companies seem to have left a technology that works in favor of a technology that so far seems a little iffy>
And herein rest the problems: when "the decision" was made to not continue Konpakt Player support for EW on Intel, there was no PLAY engine update for older EW libraries. The Mac-Intel is now into its third year, and as of today there is no public release of PLAY versions for libraries formerly powered by NI players.
I understand that it takes time for these things to mature to the point of usability, and I'm increasingly empathetic to the difficulties involved-- but the gap is horrid for users! Some of EW's PLAY versions have been imminent for a fairly uncomfortable period of time.
Just to further support and clarify, the NI Players created to run various third-party libraries were
unique to each library. This is quite different from using Kontakt 2 which is the same bit of software for any compatible library. Therefore, for each third-party library one had to have a
different NI Player installed, registered, and authorized.. one per library. There was an inherent awkwardness with this.
So where the NI/GPO alliance (re: players) continued, the NI/EW alliance ceased except where having to buy Kontakt 2 was part of the price the end user was expected to pay to continue using the EW libraries on the Intel at all. For a lot of people, the full version of Kontakt was really more than they actually needed as they paid for additional features they'd wouldn't use.
Personally, I think EW should extend the free update to the PLAY version to all registered users who had no choice but to shell out cash for Kontakt 2 or for those who were forced to continue using their PPCs against their needs and wills until ALL of the PLAY versions have been released. The problem with this is that it's unlikely that EW would extend their offer any further to more legit users by giving away PLAY for free while NI benefits from sales of K2/K3 because of EW's release delays.
Getting Kontakt 2 as a universal sampler for its own purposes is one thing. It is a good bit of software. However, for those using EW and who perhaps had little use for K2's bundled samples, the need to use things like SC and SO far outweigh the perceived convenience of using different (if arguably inferior) collections to the same effect.
For those Kontakt users who have no interest in EW, however, Kontakt2 becomes a whole different animal.
To boot, it appears that some of the defenses I've read (elsewhere) in support of what's going on seem to ignore the fact that the library is no good without the playback medium and the other way around. You spend thousands on a library and can't use it without spending hundreds more.
EW libraries aren't cheap, and when the choice is to either set them aside to wait 2+ years for the PLAY version or to pay for K2/K3 it creates a two-fold situation of awkwardness:
1. Those who paid for K2/K3 must also make a decision as to whether or not they'll pay for a PLAY update if, for some reason, they missed one of EW's upgrade offers. In the interim, NI makes money on K2/K3 on one stop-gap while EW's own stop-gap hangs in the balance.
2. For those who bought the EW libraries prior to (or after) the sales and free PLAY offers, the options are even slimmer. It has been "reasoned" that these people either just missed the boat or have likely "made good" on using the software over a period of time, but for those who paid $3500 for EWQLSO Plat it feels messy when other come-latelies paid less than $1k for the same library and are getting the PLAY upgrade for free.
I was among the come-latelies, fortunately, but I'd feel the same way had I paid the higher price and gotten less.
Regardless of where the blame rests for this, it's a wide range of users who pay for it in time or money, not only for a format change but for the yawning gap where old promises have yet to be kept.
But, it's awkward and not impossible where a few hundred bucks are involved. I'm still pondering how fair it might be, though. For many, buying an EW library has meant also spending $150-300 (or more) on Kontakt 2 to only later find that if the PLAY update is not free for them (pending date of purchase) and that there is an
additional $49 to switch to PLAY and a $99 fee to be able to retain Kontakt and PLAY compatibility concurrently. That the PLAY versions for said libraries remains in its "imminent vaporware" phase of development doesn't help, either.
Wait for PLAY or pay to PLAY. Hmm.
