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Show HN: A macOS app to prevent sound quality degradation on AirPods

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Re: Show HN: A macOS app to prevent sound quality degradation on AirPods

#101

Post by crazygringo »

mrtksn wrote: post #94
simple10 wrote: post #77

This is great! I've been needing a solution to this problem. However... I would pay $20 one time for it. But a subscription is a deal breaker. My guess is you'll make a lot more revenue by doing one time fees tied to a specific AirPod version. So each time I upgrade my AirPods, I pay a new one time fee instead of the subscription.

Thanks! Much appreciated. Unfortunately I don't see how 20$ one time fee will works for such a niche app. After commissions and taxes $20 becomes $10. Anywhere in the developed world the money required only to survive is at least 2000$, which means I will need to be selling 200 copies every month as long as the app exist only to get basic level of income and accumulating customers that I will have to support the year…

> I will need to be selling 200 copies every month as long as the app exist only to get basic level of income

First of all, it's probably an unrealistic expectation that a small utility like this should be able to provide you with a basic level of income.

Second, in terms of pricing, you seem to be trying to make moral arguments about greed and scams here. But you should simply be realistic about the demand curve, and try to maximize your profit. If there are a lot more people who would buy this as a one-time purchase than as a subscription, you'll be losing money going the subscription route.

Re: Show HN: A macOS app to prevent sound quality degradation on AirPods

#102

Post by Flowsion »

mrtksn wrote: post #94
simple10 wrote: post #77

This is great! I've been needing a solution to this problem. However... I would pay $20 one time for it. But a subscription is a deal breaker. My guess is you'll make a lot more revenue by doing one time fees tied to a specific AirPod version. So each time I upgrade my AirPods, I pay a new one time fee instead of the subscription.

Thanks! Much appreciated. Unfortunately I don't see how 20$ one time fee will works for such a niche app. After commissions and taxes $20 becomes $10. Anywhere in the developed world the money required only to survive is at least 2000$, which means I will need to be selling 200 copies every month as long as the app exist only to get basic level of income and accumulating customers that I will have to support the year…

I can understand this logic, but does every app generate enough revenue to sustain a developer full-time? I would think that some niche apps are able to bring in solid revenue for the amount of work put in.

I'm unsure how much time would go into general upkeep and management. Could some of the others suggestions here work, asking users to pay for future updates?

I'm in the same camp as most of these users. I have this problem while using Discord and a game on STEAM (Counter-Strike). The mic quality is degraded heavily and I would be more than happy to pay a one-time fee. But I do not like adding too many subscriptions, no matter the cost, especially for apps that I could see myself requiring no serious updates unless I upgraded my physical products.

Re: Show HN: A macOS app to prevent sound quality degradation on AirPods

#103

Post by olliej »

Schnitz wrote: post #86

Love the app but you lost me at “subscription”. I would totally pay for major upgrades when fixes are indeed needed, but not per month or year by default.

I really feel this isn't the devs fault, it's a product of the accursed App Store payment model.

The issues I see:

* Devs can't make paid upgrades: to make a paid upgrade the options are a new app, except the security model for the apple app stores ties a lot of things to the app id, so a new app disconnects the user data from the old app. To keep the information tied together the "solution" is subscription or in app purchases (which also means you essentially have to have your app contain multiple versions embedded and you base what actually loads based on user purchases).

* Devs can't do free trials: again the option are subscription or in app purchases.

The alternatives are subscription or in app purchases, but there's no way for a user to distinguish an app that has those as a mechanism to support upgrades from a bait-and-switch app: As a result if an app is listed having either I generally don't consider installing it (esp. if it requires an initial payment) which is unfair to the reasonable devs but there are so many bait and switch apps nowadays (App Store review technically has a lot of value, but that this kind of BS is allowed remains a plague and substantially undercuts the benefits).

Re: Show HN: A macOS app to prevent sound quality degradation on AirPods

#104

Post by mrtksn »

Schnitz wrote: post #86

Love the app but you lost me at “subscription”. I would totally pay for major upgrades when fixes are indeed needed, but not per month or year by default.

> I would totally pay for major upgrades when fixes are indeed needed, but not per month or year by default

That's one model I like too and unlike one time payment for lifetime support, it's sensible. However, there's no straightforward way to implement it. How do you do it? Ship all the versions every time and show the user the latest version they have a license for? Ship a "shell" which will download the latest binary the user is licensed for? Disable new features for users who purchased the app some time linger than the introduction of the feature?

I don't know, it adds a lot of complexity in the implementation, distribution, license management and working with Apple's rules.

IMHO it's much more sensible to have a low monthly fee and use it as long as you like it.

Re: Show HN: A macOS app to prevent sound quality degradation on AirPods

#105

Post by mrtksn »

dijit wrote: post #99
mrtksn wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks! Much appreciated. Unfortunately I don't see how 20$ one time fee will works for such a niche app. After commissions and taxes $20 becomes $10. Anywhere in the developed world the money required only to survive is at least 2000$, which means I will need to be selling 200 copies every month as long as the app exist only to get basic level of income and accumulating customers that I will have to support the year…

Are you implying that developing this software and maintaining it is a full time job? I'm not saying it's not, I'm actually curious. If it is indeed a full time job I don't think it's worth the time investment required to be perfectly honest. :\

It is a full time job even when you have a single user, you can't just get the payment deliver the app forget about it. It doesn't work like that, bugs happen the environment changes etc. People don't simply shrug and go buy a new software, they expect the thing get fixed.

Re: Show HN: A macOS app to prevent sound quality degradation on AirPods

#106

Post by wahnfrieden »

mrtksn wrote: post #104
Schnitz wrote: post #86

Love the app but you lost me at “subscription”. I would totally pay for major upgrades when fixes are indeed needed, but not per month or year by default.

> I would totally pay for major upgrades when fixes are indeed needed, but not per month or year by default That's one model I like too and unlike one time payment for lifetime support, it's sensible. However, there's no straightforward way to implement it. How do you do it? Ship all the versions every time and show the user the latest version they have a license for? Ship a "shell" which will download the latest bin…

The first one or per feature

Re: Show HN: A macOS app to prevent sound quality degradation on AirPods

#107

Post by Vegenoid »

olliej wrote: post #103
Schnitz wrote: post #86

Love the app but you lost me at “subscription”. I would totally pay for major upgrades when fixes are indeed needed, but not per month or year by default.

I really feel this isn't the devs fault, it's a product of the accursed App Store payment model. The issues I see: * Devs can't make paid upgrades: to make a paid upgrade the options are a new app, except the security model for the apple app stores ties a lot of things to the app id, so a new app disconnects the user data from the old app. To keep the information tied together the "solution" is subscription or in app…

I do the same - if an app is "free" but has In-app purchases, I'll simply avoid it, even if I'd be willing to pay some price for it if it works. I don't have time to download every app, open it, and navigate to its pricing page to see how much it costs.

You should be able to see the name, description, and price of all the in-app purchases from the App Store.

Re: Show HN: A macOS app to prevent sound quality degradation on AirPods

#108

Post by dijit »

mrtksn wrote: post #105
dijit wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you implying that developing this software and maintaining it is a full time job? I'm not saying it's not, I'm actually curious. If it is indeed a full time job I don't think it's worth the time investment required to be perfectly honest. :\

It is a full time job even when you have a single user, you can't just get the payment deliver the app forget about it. It doesn't work like that, bugs happen the environment changes etc. People don't simply shrug and go buy a new software, they expect the thing get fixed.

But do you have to work on the program for forty hours a week or four?

Re: Show HN: A macOS app to prevent sound quality degradation on AirPods

#109

Post by nullindividual »

olliej wrote: post #103
Schnitz wrote: post #86

Love the app but you lost me at “subscription”. I would totally pay for major upgrades when fixes are indeed needed, but not per month or year by default.

I really feel this isn't the devs fault, it's a product of the accursed App Store payment model. The issues I see: * Devs can't make paid upgrades: to make a paid upgrade the options are a new app, except the security model for the apple app stores ties a lot of things to the app id, so a new app disconnects the user data from the old app. To keep the information tied together the "solution" is subscription or in app…

Affinity managed this just fine. Release the first version. Then the second version is a new product on the App Store.

Not complicated.

Re: Show HN: A macOS app to prevent sound quality degradation on AirPods

#110

Post by mrtksn »

dijit wrote: post #108
mrtksn wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a full time job even when you have a single user, you can't just get the payment deliver the app forget about it. It doesn't work like that, bugs happen the environment changes etc. People don't simply shrug and go buy a new software, they expect the thing get fixed.

But do you have to work on the program for forty hours a week or four?

How much do you think is my fair price? I will leave it here because it's weird to higgle on it. If I'm going to be "on call" I expect to get paid and I don't think this is greedy or unreasonable.
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