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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

#281

Post by mrtksn »

joenot443 wrote: post #277

Sorry, chief. I've been a macOS dev for 10 years now. I think charging a subscription for a menubar app with a singular use-case is just the absolute worst. "not one time payment because I don't know what would the right price be for supporting an app for years to come and still have people willing to pay for it" The right price would be about $5-10. If you want to be kind, $0.

I hear the feedback but no way I'm doing get payed once support forever or give away for free support forever. I've done these mistakes it the past, I might re-consider if I get rich or something and start donating my time to passion projects.

Even the simplest apps end up having problems, even the perfect one can break when something in the environment changes. Working on even the simplest app is always a full time job, not because you write code 40hr/week but because you need to have you attention on it, retain the information about the architecture and more importantly the "gotchas". If you don't, you will end up spending hours and days for the simplest things to study your code and re-discover everything again so you can work on it.

Or maybe that's just me, maybe other people can work on 10 projects making simultaneously and fix a code they wrote months ago in seconds. If that's the case, those people should make all the apps so we can use em for cheap or free and we can go do better things with our lives.

I can experiment with the subscription pricing though.

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

#282

Post by mrtksn »

joenot443 wrote: post #279
mrtksn wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apologies for the bad writing, wrote everything at once and posted right away and looking back I see plenty of room for improvement. The app simply sets the system default sound input/output device in a specific way depending on what’s connected. This fixes the sound quality degradation on Bluetooth headphones with mic. The issue arises when the computer tries to use the Bluetooth mic, in most cases it’s better to us…

If you're announcing a product on HN, it's worth going back and doing some edits on what you're posting before you click submit. You only get to do this once, and as many have learned, you can't go back and edit. There are a good handful of English and spelling errors which even a quick pass through a spellcheck may have caught :)

That's true, however I have this observation: When I don't think and edit too much I end up getting much better reaction. Writing in the flow with the emotions somehow is detectable by the reader.

It takes a few seconds to run the text from ChatGPT and make it "perfect" but when you that you also sterilize the text, remove the sharp corners and make it dull.

Of course the basic English grammar errors and the typos could have been fixed!

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

#283

Post by mrtksn »

joenot443 wrote: post #280
mrtksn wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Right, makes me wonder how did companies even exist before the subscription model. They abandoned their products once the growth stopped and/or switch to subscription and gave their one time purchase makers a year of subscription to make it up. One time payment for lifetime support doesn't make sense whatsoever. If it is a large company they have to employ people for a product that doesn't bring in money and for ind…

> They abandoned their products once the growth stopped and/or switch to subscription and gave their one time purchase makers a year of subscription to make it up. That's categorically untrue and if you're doubtful, I'd be happy to give you a list of wonderful software I've bought over the years for a singular license which has remained well supported and functional for years to come :) I understand a lot of people a…

Sure, I can I have the list? I wonder how the success looks like, maybe we simply don't agree on what a good business is. I'm strongly against get paid once support forever, I will skip on that success.

Are you by any chance an employee at a large corporation, working for them then donating your time as free apps or apps costing you more than bring in? If that's the case, I will skip this success too.

Are you talking from position of a business person who made more than they spent or are you working from position of a corporate philanthropist?

Anyway, I think you should just clone my app and sell it on your rates and on your terms. Everybody wins.

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

#284

Post by joenot443 »

mrtksn wrote: post #283
joenot443 wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They abandoned their products once the growth stopped and/or switch to subscription and gave their one time purchase makers a year of subscription to make it up. That's categorically untrue and if you're doubtful, I'd be happy to give you a list of wonderful software I've bought over the years for a singular license which has remained well supported and functional for years to come :) I understand a lot of people a…

Sure, I can I have the list? I wonder how the success looks like, maybe we simply don't agree on what a good business is. I'm strongly against get paid once support forever, I will skip on that success. Are you by any chance an employee at a large corporation, working for them then donating your time as free apps or apps costing you more than bring in? If that's the case, I will skip this success too. Are you talking…

Here are three I've bought in the last few months :)

- BettterTouchTool: https://folivora.ai/buy

- Synergy: https://symless.com/synergy/purchase

- Loopback: https://rogueamoeba.com/loopback/buy.php

Mertol, I'd encourage you to check out those apps, consider what the product does and the utility it provides, and then try and rethink the pricing on CrystalClear Sound to be more in line with what other professionals in the industry are doing. I hope that's helpful :)

Ah - I've seen your edit. It sounds as if you've already decided what you want and aren't looking for advice. Perhaps you'll get used to your idea of skipping success.

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

#285

Post by KingOfCoders »

adastra22 wrote: post #270
KingOfCoders wrote: post #268

"you want to hear from your AirPods but be heard from your internal microphone" I wish all people would know this, I have CTO coaching sessions and when people attend with AirPods microphones, 60minutes is such a drain because of the bad mic quality of AirPods - and people seem not to realize this.

Internal microphone being what? The laptop or the phone? These have absolute shit input when sitting relatively far away on the desk or pocket. In my own experience, AirPods offer the absolute best microphones for zoom calls, other than professional-level equipment.

"sitting relatively far away on the desk or pocket."

So it seems to be primarily about your convenience vs. the other persons fatigue.

We need an Usenet Etiquette for Zoom calls.

Just google for "airpods terrible microphone"

MacBooks and iPhones have much better microphones than AirPods.

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

#286

Post by xattt »

cfn wrote: post #253
nepthar wrote: post #241

Well, one thought about your pricing model - you’re thinking that it might need work in the future, but you’re charging each month without delivering any additional value to customers. How about charging additional money for each new major version, corresponding to either new feature development or support for new versions of the OS?

This is a big issue with the App Store. Either you charge a subscription or you charge a on-off and all upgrades are free forever.

Why can you not create a new app with a similar name but name it v2, 3, etc?

Things and many others did this.

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

#287

Post by xyst »

A subscription for an app that fixes what is considered a minor annoyance?

It’s a menu bar app at best. This should be a one time payment. If maintenance is required for future macOS versions, then publish new app and charge one time fee.

Many app devs use this same model with success (rogue amoeba comes to mind).

Don’t be greedy

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

#288

Post by xyst »

viraptor wrote: post #87
Osiris wrote: post #75

This is really a Bluetooth issue. The same happens with any headphones that have a mic on any OS. When Bluetooth mode is switched from Headphones to Headset (with mic), only much lower quality audio codes are used. Does anyone know if Bluetooth 6 adds support for higher quality codes for Headset? It's a big issue, in my opinion.

It was a Bluetooth issue years ago. Now it's only an Apple issue where it can't use a more decent codec. On Linux you can choose the mSBC codec and get decent two-way quality on a modern headset.

Yet another Apple gotcha. I stoped paying the Apple tax long ago. The “ it just works” mantra is long gone

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

#289

Post by appendix-rock »

mrtksn wrote: post #281
joenot443 wrote: post #277

Sorry, chief. I've been a macOS dev for 10 years now. I think charging a subscription for a menubar app with a singular use-case is just the absolute worst. "not one time payment because I don't know what would the right price be for supporting an app for years to come and still have people willing to pay for it" The right price would be about $5-10. If you want to be kind, $0.

I hear the feedback but no way I'm doing get payed once support forever or give away for free support forever. I've done these mistakes it the past, I might re-consider if I get rich or something and start donating my time to passion projects. Even the simplest apps end up having problems, even the perfect one can break when something in the environment changes. Working on even the simplest app is always a full time…

If someone I employed said that something “is a full-time job because I need to keep myself familiar”, I’d really have to hold in my laugh of disbelief, to say the least. You’ve taken the “people should pay ongoing for ongoing work” discourse and applied it beyond the degree to which most intend. Even if I wasn’t already using a perfectly adequate and free menu bar application to do exactly this, there’s no chance in hell that I’d ever see an apparent lack of documentation ability as justification for an ongoing subscription for this.

This is all ignoring the fact that you’d very likely need to maintain this application in its entirety to continue scratching your own itch.

I pay for a lot of software, including subscriptions. I am almost always happy to do so. This is a rare occurrence where it comes across as a piss-take.

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

#290

Post by ncr100 »

xyst wrote: post #287

A subscription for an app that fixes what is considered a minor annoyance? It’s a menu bar app at best. This should be a one time payment. If maintenance is required for future macOS versions, then publish new app and charge one time fee. Many app devs use this same model with success (rogue amoeba comes to mind). Don’t be greedy

> This should be a one time payment.

> Don’t be greedy

Pot meet kettle. The dev says they need ongoing cash for ongoing updates, and this message here instructs them to charge less.

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