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The registration system
Fishy - 10-8-2005 at 02:15 AM

Audiosoft.

Don't you believe that you could save yourself from a lot of stress and work by giving all of us a permanent registration code?

I honestly suggest, before you do any further programming on ejukebox, that you build a system that provides a permanent registration code for everyone (both new users and those registered already). Serials should be sent out right after paypal verifies the visa card, automatically.

Yes, this will result in some pirating of ejukebox, but one should prefer that before general annoyment. I guess a lot of potential new users will turn around, after reading some of the comments in the forums lately, which will not give any profit in the long run anyway.

Also you do live in a country where lawsuits can do a lot of interesting stuff, so I think you should consider making the registration system more valid in a legal kind of sense. I think users should get what they give away money for: An unconditional copy of ejukebox, even if they choose to uninstall windows daily or not. There is nothing mentioned in the download area which gives me an idea that ejukebox is unsuitable for advanced users.

Personally I would love to reinstall windows myself, just because I haven't done so in two years. But I can't do it. Why? Because it seems to take a while to get access to one program that I've already paid for and depend on. It just doesn't make sense to me at all. And it doesn't seem legal, even after norweigan standards. I don't know how legal it can be in a nation where people sue eachother for having a bad haircut, but I guess it can't be that different.

I think you've done some great work on ejukebox so far, and sure hope you will keep it up. But the registration system seems unfair. If you disagree on this , I would be grateful to hear your points of view.




Thanks

Trond


Audiosoft - 10-8-2005 at 04:57 AM

Quote:

I honestly suggest, before you do any further programming on ejukebox, that you build a system that provides a permanent registration code for everyone (both new users and those registered already). Serials should be sent out right after paypal verifies the visa card, automatically.


Fishy,

Paypal orders are supposed to get a key right away but for some reason it doesn't always work right, so as soon as I see an order come in I email the person their code. I realize how having to wait for a new code when you upgrade/reinstall windows/format, etc is a pain but if you need a new code that means you have a 30 day trial. I actually do send out new code requests within around 15 days (sometimes 20, sometimes 5, sometimes the same day)...people complain because: emails bounce or get treated as spam...people forget to enter their APP ID#...people email instead of using the web form...people ask for multiple new codes every month like its all for the same computer. In the end they all get their codes. I just hate when people complain in the forums after sending an email (I get a ton of spam because i get everything@audiosoft.net in my box) and do not post their APP ID# or even give me a hint as to what their real name is. How am I supposed to make sure they are taken care of when I do not know who they are?

I would love to have a system that is pirate proof and gave a permanent reg key...it would save me allot of headache. It would have to be a internet enabled key - that is the only way and even that has some major drawbacks. If it is not internet enabled (or based on hardware) then the reg code is not secure at all...if a single code gets out that would mean I would receive even less for all my effort. Why get your credit card out when you can just lookup a serial on the internet?

Part of the problem is that people tend to think Audiosoft is some big company. They want immediate response. When they don't get it they complain and think Audiosoft is ignoring them. I really do care allot about my customers and I want to make sure everyone gets their new key before their trial is up.

I wish every CPU had an accessible unique serial number which could be used for registration purposes...it would be so easy to create a reg system for that. I also wish I had enough money to get by on...that way I could just give eJukebox away for free and not have to worry about it. Until then you will all have to bear with me while I get paypal working correctly, get regular credit card orders back online, make instructions for reg code requests more clear, reply to all the reg code requests, reply to all the forum posts from people who did not even fill out the webform yet, try to think up a new reg system and get 4.0 out the door and on to all your PCs.


Quote:

Personally I would love to reinstall windows myself


Go for it! You will get your new reg code way before the trial is up.


Willum - 10-8-2005 at 07:07 AM

[QUOTE]
am thinking about creating a system which would allow you to enter some of the information you your name and email address phone number and email adress you ordered with.

generate your own new registration codes via the audiosoft.net website. You would login with the email address you ordered with then you would be able . It would have a limit of 1 new code a month...so it aligns up - which must be the one you order with (i'll add an option to allow changing of the email address [/QUOTE]

Sound good to me


Audiosoft - 10-8-2005 at 07:42 AM

Thanks for the support Willum....after thinking about it I have edited my post...I think I have come up with an even better game plan than having users generate their own codes on the website...and I think it will make it easier on everyone...

OK, after my rant I realized something. ;) I can't keep dealing with sending reg codes because it is cutting back on my time with the eJukebox source code. Plus, if eJukebox catches on more I will be even more swamped with reg requests. I have to fix this problem and fast. It must be totally automated.

Here is my plan: a permanent code will be given to users when they order and be entered into the eJukebox like the old code. The code will work for an offline installation but only on the original machine with the app id # given when you ordered. Any future re-registrations and multi-user code registrations will require that eJukebox be connected to the net in order to verify the code's standing.

The app id# of the latest successful registration will be stored in a database online with the reg code. If an extra registered installation (old app id#) goes online after the new registration it will be unregistered and the user will notified as how to add users to their reg code. The code will no longer work on that copy (That app id#) unless more users are ordered. The code will still work on any new installation (when connected to the net) but will end up unregistering any extra old installations. There will be a 1 (or more for a multi-user license) successfull registration limit per 30 days...the user will be informed when over the limit to wait X number of days to try the code again and to enjoy their trial. This will discourage reg code trading and the whole thing will allow me to have a system for ordering multiple copies on a single code. Plus it will make it easy for people to move the registration from one computer to another by just using the permanent reg code on the new installation.

The new permanent reg codes would be based on the users email address and the code for the original offline installation. i.e. aname@gmail.com#7643253

It would be nice to just have the code be the users email address (so they wouldn't be able to forget it) but then anyone could just search the forums and put in someone elses email to register. Plus offline registration would not be possible without the number.

So I guess if people forget their permanent reg key I can make it so they can fill out a form on audiosoft.net to have it automatically send the key to the email address they registered with.

How does that sound to you guys?

I'll check in tomorrow to see your thoughts...let me know if you have any ideas or adaptations for the plan...or if you know PHP and MYSQL and want to help create the online system...right now it is back to the eJukebox code for me...


MTownley - 10-8-2005 at 01:41 PM

One of the main problems with this is if people change email addresses. You are going to need some sort of system for people to change their address, although it doesn't have to be automatic.

At the moment, I will just be happy to get any sort of registration system working (I bought a second copy for my laptop on Sept 25, and am still waiting for a reg-code :( )

Mark.

p.s. on my laptop, the right side panel is six albums wide. I can't find anyway to get this same setup on the PC I have connected to my amp (there I only get 3 or 4 albums wide). Any ideas?


Fishy - 10-8-2005 at 02:43 PM

I am glad you take this seriously and I think the idea sounds good!


Willum - 10-8-2005 at 03:08 PM

Good anaugh for me, mabe (don't know or there is already) a direct link to the 'shit, have installed window's again and need a new reg now' :D


Khirsah - 10-8-2005 at 05:57 PM

Quote:
people complain because: emails bounce or get treated as spam...


My appologies Audiosoft for being so harsh in my post. Its been a long week at work without music.. I did indeed get a code on Oct 5th.. and it did indeed get put into Spam by gmail. Thank you for your support.. Again sorry for being so harsh..

Its good to hear that you are still alive and are still working on the software. Keep up the good work.


Audiosoft - 10-8-2005 at 08:54 PM

Quote:

p.s. on my laptop, the right side panel is six albums wide. I can't find anyway to get this same setup on the PC I have connected to my amp (there I only get 3 or 4 albums wide). Any ideas?



Hmm..make sure the cover size is set to LARGE in the album list options. What screen resolution is your laptop using?


MTownley - 10-8-2005 at 10:25 PM

My resolution is 1680x1050.

I really like having six albums wide - it would be so nice in 4.0 ;)

Thanks,
Mark.

p.s. Thanks for sending me the code I needed - it is so nice to be able to listen to my music on my laptop on the road.


Audiosoft - 10-8-2005 at 11:15 PM

Your Welcome...:D

Actually, if you want the 6 per row on your PC you must select the "Small: 4 per row" album list option. It will load 6 albums per row instead of 4 when you are running 1024x768 or higher (and have the artistlist hidden) - just make sure you are using EDV so that the right panel is wide enough otherwise it will only show 4 per row.


stsirois - 10-9-2005 at 10:21 AM

Regarding your new proposed registration system, how will it work with PC hardware upgrades? I foresee upgrading my HTPC with a new CPU & mobo in the very near future.

Thanks,
Steve


Pirk - 10-9-2005 at 10:42 AM

Quote:
Message original : Audiosoft
Your Welcome...:D

Actually, if you want the 6 per row on your PC you must select the "Small: 4 per row" album list option. It will load 6 albums per row instead of 4 when you are running 1024x768 or higher (and have the artistlist hidden) - just make sure you are using EDV so that the right panel is wide enough otherwise it will only show 4 per row.


I also like the "small albums" option, 6 is great indeed... But actually I never use the small images because the albumlist looks too bad: Covers are not centred at all in their frames! I hope you could fix that in v4.0.

NB: All my images issue from cover.jpg files.

Thanks.


Montana - 10-9-2005 at 11:10 AM

A couple of people have mentioned here about "new email addresses" and "Hardware upgrades".These are two things that I will be going through soon.
So to that, I would say to Audiosoft would be-

If you need a new reg key for whatever reason, when you log on to the site for you're new key, as long as you remember your original registration email address and ID number, that is all that you need.
You could never have a problem as you have only paid for 1 copy of EJ, and as you have said earlier Audiosoft, you would make the older key redundant,and to make it even MORE secure to people not ripping you off, you could make it compulsary to have EJ recognise a new reg key and have it connect to the web site within a certain amount of days E.G 2 or 3(maybe a week) to verify the new reg.

Sorry if this sounds a mess, but am writing in a hurry.Any feedback on this, I thought might plant another seed of an idea.

Andy


Fishy - 10-9-2005 at 04:33 PM

Pirk: An elegant sollution on the problem you're describing could be to add an option to remove frames around albumimages totally? :)


Pirk - 10-9-2005 at 06:25 PM

Quote:
Message original : Fishy
Pirk: An elegant sollution on the problem you're describing could be to add an option to remove frames around albumimages totally? :)


Sure that your solution would be radical, and easy... ;)
You seem so expeditious these days !? :D
NB: In the past I have already tried to put some colors close to the background in order to mask the bad frames... But that remains a desperate trick! :(

I would prefer if Audiosoft could make a per-fect-ly regular frame around each album image, allowing a different color for the selected album: It's indispensable to have a frame for remote control use! :)

Besides, even the large frames are not perfectly centred! There's nothing to it, but that looks not professional compared to other similar softwares.
Also the Album images in the albumlist, and in the songlist too, are stretched in height (2mm!) instead of to be perfect squares like the originals CD cover arts.

Sorry if I'm so finicky, but I think that counts in final result... :P


Audiosoft - 10-9-2005 at 09:24 PM

Pirk,

The only reason they are not regular is because the eJ lookedup images contain transparent border pixels in the image itself on 2 sides - which makes those images non-uniform. So I had to compensate for that...images you add yourself are centered in large view...but you are right the images should be square...I will be working on trying to get all of this taken care of for v4.0. Notice how all the albums in your large screenshot look centered except for Zep III which is probally an eJ lookedup image with the transparent border pixels.

Quote:

Regarding your new proposed registration system, how will it work with PC hardware upgrades? I foresee upgrading my HTPC with a new CPU & mobo in the very near future.


The new system would give you a permanent key period. No messing around with needing a new key...u would just enter the same key after changing hardware.


Pirk - 10-9-2005 at 10:02 PM

Ah great Audiosoft! I'm happy if you can find a better solution concerning the images frames in eJukebox v4.0.
Led Zep III is a bad example (look the original "cover.jpg" image...)


Pirk - 10-9-2005 at 10:12 PM

Sorry if I persist, but even the large images are not totally centred. The top and right sides of the frames are 1 pixel larger than the bottom and left sides, really!

So Audiosoft, according to your explanations, the centring errors would be probably due to the compensations you add for looked up images having some transparents pixels? Ah ohh... in this case, I would really wish you remove such compensations in eJ v4.0 for all images added by the user.
And if you can preserve square forms for all the albums covers everywhere in eJ... ;)

Thanks a lot.

Here is a large album image, zoomed into my previous albumlist screenshot: (coming from the cover.jpg file I've attached in my next post)


Pirk - 10-9-2005 at 10:20 PM

Here is the original cover.jpg:

Sorry, i ruin your topic about the new registration system...

Thank you very much for your work on eJukebox. :cool:


rllercstr7 - 10-10-2005 at 01:56 AM

I am not sure I quite understand how this new registration system will work, but thank you so much for changing the method Audiosoft!

I understand that every user will get a permanent serial number. When you first enter your serial number into eJukebox it will sent the application ID and serial number to an online database where they will be stored. Then for each reinstall this info is again checked against the database to make sure the application ID and serial match. Correct?

Does this mean everyone will get an installer that will always generate the same application ID? If not when the serial number and application ID are sent and found to be different from the initial matching combination wouldn't it not allow you to register? This is where I am confused. Can someone please clarify this for me. Thanks :D


Audiosoft - 10-10-2005 at 04:59 AM

rllercstr7,

The application ID would still change but that doesn't matter because the permanent code will still work when you enter it as long as eJukebox is connected to the net. The new app id would be saved in the database online and made the valid copy. Old registered copies detected online using the an app id# different from the latest one you registered (using the same permanent key) would be disabled unless the user pays for additional users for the key.

It would work like this:
1. User orders a reg key and gives initial app id#
2. A permanent key is given which has the regcode for the initial appid# embedded in the key so that the first copy doesn't need to be online in order to be registered.
3. User wants to move the liscense to a new computer so installs eJukebox on the new pc and gets a new app id#
4. User enters permanent key
5. The app id# doesn't match the regcode embedded in the permanent key so behind the scenes eJukebox goes online to get the regcode for the new app id# and registers the copy and then links the new appid# to the permanent code.
6. The old computer with eJukebox goes online and is automatically unregistered when the appid# doesn't match the lastest registered appid# for the given permanent code. That old app id# is blacklisted from using that permanent code until more users are ordered for the key.
7. 30 days later the same single user permanent code could be used to register any pc outside of the one with blacklisted app id...and once again if a new pc is registered it would disable any old registered copies detected online with the same permanent key.

Note: The only time a users will need to actually enter an app id# is when they make the original order. If they miss the app id# on the order form the key will still work as long as the eJukebox copy is connected to the net. So basically the user wouldn't have to worry about the app id# anymore...it would just be used behind the scenes to make the latest registered copy the valid one and invalidate old copies.

Pretty complicated but should work really well...at least in theory. The whole thing would just be a hidden layer over the old reg system that uses the internet to generate the old style reg key for the app id# when a permanent key is used. So all you would need is the single key you are given and it is guaranteed to work on any new installation and would automatically disable the old one. Plus it would allow for the ordering of multiple users on a single key.


Dyno Don - 10-10-2005 at 01:41 PM

Audiosoft,

I like it, of course anything is better than now.

I hope your site stays online for some time!! I believe if you marketed this right you would make big money. Nothing has the features I need like eJ. And I appreciate your need to keep away piracy. Almost everything you could want, you can find on the net....except a crack for eJ. Good job! (Maybe you should sell your reg system, it may even be more successful ;) )

I am glad you are back....


rllercstr7 - 10-10-2005 at 02:46 PM

Sounds like a winner to me! Thanks Audiosoft


Fishy - 10-10-2005 at 03:54 PM

I think this will save both you and new users for a lot of headache :) Great stuff!


Willum - 10-10-2005 at 05:10 PM

Just a little question about this:

Current users will get also a permanent id or is the current id the permenent id?


Audiosoft - 10-11-2005 at 05:08 AM

Quote:

Just a little question about this:

Current users will get also a permanent id or is the current id the permenent id?


Actually, current users will have to order again in order to get a new permanent key. ;)

OK that is Not true...but I would really appreciate it if some did. :D

Already registered copies will not need a new key when the system changes...they will stay registered. When you need a new key again, you would use the web form one last time and I would setup and send you your new permanent key.


cbsoundman - 10-12-2005 at 01:41 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Audiosoft
Quote:
... (I get a ton of spam because i get everything@audiosoft.net in my box) ...


Audiosoft, if spam is an issue (and I know you are not a big company), I can resell you spam filtering off of our spam filter ASP. It would be hands off for you, realitively cheap and extremly effective. E-Mail me at khilzinger@net-x-solutions.com if interested.


bhauxwell - 10-12-2005 at 10:08 PM

I like the idea of the new registration system, but have one question which is what happens if ejukkebox can't connect to your site, for some reason. Such as a registered user is no longer connected, or not connected when using ejukebox, or your site is unavailable.

Will ejukbox still work, or will it time out? because it can't check the validity of teh code.

Thanks

Brian


Audiosoft - 10-12-2005 at 10:25 PM

The reg key will be able to register the initial copy without a net connection. If you want to use the reg key to register after that you will need net access. Our server should be able to handle the volume because it will only need to send/receive a tiny amount of data. Once a copy is already registered it will continue to work if the daily validity check is unable to connect to our server. If the server is down when you are trying to enter a key to register a copy you would get a message to try again in a few minutes.