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Show HN: Descript wanted $24/mo, I built an open-source alternative in a weekend

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Re: Show HN: Descript wanted $24/mo, I built an open-source alternative in a weekend

#11

Post by saulpw »

ezekg wrote: post #7
ray_v wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where it pays off is not when you reach parity with the built product compared to the vendored product - it's when you can continue to extend or customize the capabilities when the original vendor can not or will not support the features you can now build

I promise you something like this will never monetarily "pay off."

I don't think they mean "monetarily". But once you have some reasonable parity you can implement your own features/workflow as you want them and not be reliant on Descript.

Re: Show HN: Descript wanted $24/mo, I built an open-source alternative in a weekend

#13

Post by darepublic »

saulpw wrote: post #10

I hate Descript, not because of the cost but because of their dark patterns. (I learned recently that their CEO is the former CEO of Groupon, which explains a lot.) So I'd love something like this. But I need to edit an audio-only podcast. Is there a reason that it only accepts video files?

I think you can use ffmpeg to turn your audio into a video file

Re: Show HN: Descript wanted $24/mo, I built an open-source alternative in a weekend

#16

Post by wassimgr »

pajamasam wrote: post #8
ZiiS wrote: post #3

Whilst I love opensource; hitting with $24/mo saving when you invest 100x that much in your time is probably not the way to sell it.

From the commits, it looks like it only took OP about 4 hours with Cursor.

^ this :)

Re: Show HN: Descript wanted $24/mo, I built an open-source alternative in a weekend

#18

Post by sunnybeetroot »

wassimgr wrote: post #17
sunnybeetroot wrote: post #12

Posts like these now feel the equivalent of “I didn’t want to order Indian takeaway so I hired a chef to make me butter chicken”

It took 4 hours and 20 commits :)

That would make a good butter chicken

Re: Show HN: Descript wanted $24/mo, I built an open-source alternative in a weekend

#19

Post by dgellow »

I will never understand that thinking. You didn’t like that a service you need asks to be paid, so you paid an LLM to create a free competitor that you now advertise online. Do you not see the race to the bottom you’re contributing to? $24 doesn’t sound outrageous at all.

Such a weird way to frame your project

Re: Show HN: Descript wanted $24/mo, I built an open-source alternative in a weekend

#20

Post by isawczuk »

dgellow wrote: post #19

I will never understand that thinking. You didn’t like that a service you need asks to be paid, so you paid an LLM to create a free competitor that you now advertise online. Do you not see the race to the bottom you’re contributing to? $24 doesn’t sound outrageous at all. Such a weird way to frame your project

It's was always a case to describe your idea in context already known to users. Examples Uber for X, or eBay for Y. I think it's a great way to learn to build alternatives for payed services. Look at cal.com
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