Future of Alt.Binz

[Pantera]

With how everything came to a halt I hope that it could become open source as well.

[bugmenot]

I don't pay for software sorry. I can't pay for software wich i'm downloading warez with :p such a great program.
But at least make it open source

thnx for all your work i appreciate but i don't pay :p

[Goody]

I just discovered Alt.binz yesterday when it was referenced in an exchange on the Newsleecher forum. I promptly downloaded it and have it up and running now and am in the process of checking it out.

First, some background which should base my comments.

I have used most of the news clients over the years and finally settled on Newsleecher because it was fast, easy to use and worked.  I had a Giganews account in the beginning.  My subscription to NL was for 2 years and about half way through the subscription, the author decided to give his program away to new users if they signed up with Giganews.  Needless to say, this offended the current user base, as they were expected to continue to pay renewal fees while new users skated along free.   No concessions were given to the current users, who, through beta testing put the program where it was. The author also, in collusion with Giganews, made it impossible for any current user to take advantage of the free offer.  This resulted in a lot of users terminating their accounts with NL.

I personally reacted by canceling my Giganews account and moved to a different hosting provider which was just as good as Giganews.  

Unfortunately, there was just nothing out that came close to NL so I kept my subscription active. Now, discovering Al.binz there is a viable alternative to NL.  

I would be willing to pay for using the program as long as it is reasonable. Also a lifetime, one time pay option would be great. MediaMonkey (MP3 Client) has has this option for a long time and it works very well for them.

Having to renew every year is fine, as long as there is development worthy of renewal, meaning useful feature adds and  not just bug fixes. I realize programming is time consuming (retired IS Professional) but forcing users to renew to get fixes for bugs that should have not been there in the first place is just plain dishonest.

I hope Alt.Binz remains in development as my first impression is that it is a well designed and logically functional program.  I have a few suggestions that , IMHO, would make the program more user friendly but will reserve those for later once the future of Alt.Binz has been decided.

Thanks for the opportunity to post my comments
Goody

[Ladynaye]

I would like to keep it free, but if there was a paid version, it would be nice if it was $10 or so.

This is a nice app though and I would like it to be free overall and give a donation, so I did vote no.

[taltamir]

this is funny, because MOST people here are pirates... asking them to pay for software is... well, seems futile.

And btw, there is NO better news downloader out there... I got a list of every single nzb supporting news reader software from wikipedia and extensively tested every single one of them... and then decided that altbinz is by FAR the absolute best.... it also doesn't need much improvement (a few bug fixes and thats it).

If you want to actually browse headers instead of using nzb files then altbinz was never for you in the first place... use xnews or something (which is what *I* use when I want to browse headers instead of using newzbin.com), altbinz was just not intended for that.

I would recommend the route daemon-tools and winamp took. Make a professional and a free version. with the professional version having much more features and functionality.. AND make a donate button...

[apeman]

Like proabbly a lot of people here, I have over time used a whole lot of different nzb based down loaders and my feeling is that this one still is a bit rough round the edges - it still needs further work in making it more stable and robust that what it currently is. A point in hand is the way in which it can feel a whole hd up whilst downloading what is after all an 800 archive.

Sort these things out and give it the option to run remotely through a browser and you will then have a winner and I would have no problem paying for it.
As it stands, I feel that there are better totally free products that already does everything that this one does (and more) and what's more they are free.

I would strongly advise the author to 'move on' as he suggested as I don't think, no matter what,  he his going to make a living out of this program. Better to open the source code and let the community continue developing it.

Somebody here wisely pointed out that asking a bunch of pirates to pay for software is like trying to sell cakes in a bakery. I could not agree more on this. After all how many people currently using newsleecher have actually paid for the licence?

[simtel]

Yeah.. I wouldnt pay for altbinz. He's asking as much as a premium newsreader costs. Altbinz doesnt download headers and is a newsleecher ripoff. He's not even posting or responding to anything here in his own forum. Common sense should tell you guys to stay far away from this kinda thing. Dont give your money away so easily people. There are better newsreaders out there for the same price or even free. From what it looks like its a take the money and run kinda thing.

Rather the opposite, newsleecher is ripoff, adding new features there was always after other products including altbinz features. Programs like altbinz would be preferable since at least the altbinz author is not collaborating with Usenet providers to increase mutual sales and while active he was more user minded. Thus there would be more chance to have development truly driven by users rather than only by competition with other products. Unfortunately as this thread shows most users prefer to be led by their noses all along.

[guapo]

I love the program, although it's not entirely finished.

But there's no sense in trying to sell it if just a few people are willing to pay for it... Are you trying to get a living out of this?
Then better go with ads or something, that would provide some steady cash flow, although I'm not sure if that will provide enough income.
(I don't mind ads the program runs most of the time in my systray)...

Just stick to it as a hobby, I think that would give you more hapiness then all those paying customers demanding this and that.  (they're a lot more agressive if it wasn't free...)

If you don't have the time, you could also ask other people to help???

[taltamir]

the ads route is a good idea... put some ads (without pop ups/sound though, please) on the front page... that can definitely generate some revenue.

[supersmithy2]

Normally, i'd say hell no..

However, as altbinz is easily the best and most used program installed on my computer, i'll say yes!

$30 for a lifetime, I can handle.. Anymore than that, and i'm gonna have to say no.

[Perkele]

$30 is too much for most ppl, ask $10 and you'll get 5x as much ppl paying for it. At $30 most ppl would just download the cracked version from usenet.

If you decide to discontinue this program, then please release the source code, let's make this program a newsleecher killer.

[Varg]

$30 is too much for most ppl, ask $10 and you'll get 5x as much ppl paying for it. At $30 most ppl would just download the cracked version from usenet.

If you decide to discontinue this program, then please release the source code, let's make this program a newsleecher killer.

if the creator set up donations...he could keep updating it till it had no bugs or very few atleast...then maybe sell it for $20 or something...which i would easily pay

[Jere_Tristan]

I like this program so much, that I'd pay.
anywhere between $20~$35 is fine.

Keep up the good work!


Just don't go investing tons of money into stupid protection ala newsleecher, since it will be cracked anyway making your investment a bad one.



Or do like DVD-RB. Those guys set up a VIP program, in the sense that you paid $15~$20 and got lifetime updates for the first few (a lot of) VIP's. Its more of a donation to, uhm, get the ball rolling. Afterwards, the plan was to get the price to $30.

I'll gladly be a VIP here as long as you accept Moneybookers.

[Jere_Tristan]

To all those who say they'll never pay for software: if you don't, ever, software development will cease to exist. You try the programs, if you like 'em a lot, support the software dev's.

If I really like a program, I'm always donating and/or contributing with them in one way or the other. It's my way of saying tnx for making my life easier.

[Varg]

come on Rdl...give us an answer   whats going on with alt.binz??