Why can't I buy a downloadable version of Komplete?

I'm not talking about Komplete Ultimate. Just Komplete 10. It's around 50GB. About twenty years ago, 50GB was serious bandwidth and was a cost concern. Now companies and home users alike deal in terabytes. What is the deal?

I just actually ordered Komplete 10, and then had to cancel the order, because I have a new Apple Macbook Retina Pro, and they have phased out DVD/optical drives on these (which I have not used in something like five years, maybe more!).

I assumed that even though the screen said "Box Set", I would be able to download it. Why? Because the NI website FAQ says this is exactly the case: http://www.native-instruments.com/e...an-i-download-my-native-instruments-software/

It shows DVD .ISO download links for Komplete bundle. However, that was not the case, and fortunately I was able to cancel the order before it went out. I refuse to go through hoops, copying it to another computer, imaging it, transferring it, etc, just to use this software, when there are other products on the market, and I can just take my business elsewhere.

Frankly, I work in software in the US, and I have a friend who moved to Germany a year ago and works at a web design company there. To put it politely, he talks about how nice it is that Germany holds on to 1990s values... Suffice it to say, NI needs to move on, and offer a downloadable version of Komplete. This is backwards.

The product lineup makes no sense. Because they sell $400 and $100 products, which, if you buy at least two, you are already at the $500 price of Komplete Bundle, which contains most of the major products (and then some)–it's worth literally thousands of dollars, but is locked away to increasingly more users (and now, to literally 100% of Macs, a large share of the creative market), thus cannibalizing more and more sales every day. I posted in the Reaktor forum because I'm most interested in it, but it makes zero sense at $399, when I can get all the products for $499, making Reaktor worth about $10, per their own math; therefore, other products make more sense.

Great software, but the marketing makes zero sense whatsoever!

 

Okay, a downloadable version would be nice for sure, but why don't you just get a external drive for that? Thos things are between 10 and 20 dollars ... thats what I did when I got my Macbook Pro.

It's true that there is no real sense (unless you really only need that single product) in buying Kontakt, Guitar Rig or Reaktor as a standalone product. But that doesn't mean Reaktor is only woth 10$, its still worth 399$. This just means Komplete is the hell of a deal. It's up to you to accept it or not.

 

Thanks for the reply.

I hear you, though the Apple addon DVD drive is about $80–about the price of another synthesizer. IMHO, one software company cannot expect everyone to buy outdated hardware (in an industry where prices have come way down) just for their one piece of software; that simply isn't a working paradigm (in today's world, it's just *delete* and download another app mentality). It also makes accepting a a $399 and one or several $99-$199 products (e.g., if you need Reaktor/Kontakt/etc and perhaps a couple of the other synthesizers like Rounds, Massive, etc), completely pointless when it is all packaged with a million other things for less than that, except you can't get it without buying that outdated piece of hardware and waiting on an outdated form of delivery. And bizarrely, it was made instantly available for download with versions up to 9, so with 10 its a step backwards. This may have the effect of cutting Mac and other users out of buying the new hardware keyboards, as well–a substantial long-term revenue source.

And like I mentioned, elimination of optical drives isn't going away–it's permanent, across the board, and will soon affect all of the user base.

I personally travel almost constantly, too, so waiting on the mail for me would mean I wouldn't get a mail order for at least a couple of weeks. But I could just download Komplete in several minutes and be using it for music in the meantime, and I already showed them the money.

Perhaps I'm in the minority but I'm sure others are in the same boat; so NI has to be losing money, whether they realize it or not, especially as basically all computers move away from optical disc as it is outdated (not to mention the trend of people becoming increasingly less patient for software purchases, with everything having moved to digital, downloadable sales).

The worst problem is that one cannot buy a standalone downloadable product and later buy the bundle because there is no trade-in value on the deal; once you've spent the money on any standalone product that's in the bundle, the bundle no longer makes sense, so it ends up not making good sense all around.

 

The apple drive is very expensive, you can surely also get a good drive for less than half of that. Anyway, you're right, discs are outdated no matter which kind. I have honestly no idea why they would still put Komplete on a bunch of Discs, instead of downloads or using an HDD as they do with the Komplete Ultimate versions.

Actually, that is not right. When you purchased one of the "major products", meaning Kontakt, Reaktor and Guitar Rig (I think), you can do the Crossgrade which is 399$ for Komplete and 799$ for Komplete Ultimate (Instead of 499$ and 999$)

 

so why did you choose the Reaktor Forum for this debate?

it is Kontakt that takes up most of space in terms of the library.

sowari

 

Strange. I use my optical drive regularly. I still buy CD's, then rip to FLAC for better audio quality. Don't have to worry about any DRM type nonsense either.
It is also very useful to have physical backup locally in case there is ever a problem with 'the cloud' - e.g. someone hacks you and steals your identity, and you lose EVERYTHING. Sounds melodramatic, but is not impossible, and I don't trust solid state memory for long term backup/storage yet.

 

Point taken for sure, but it doesn't change the fact that Apple has largely phased out optical drives (and soon will have completely phased them out–probably within the next year). And it has already phased them out on its most purchased and most popular products, including all MacBooks (which is a huge share of the music production and live music performance market). Nor does it change the fact that everyone else has moved to software downloads (just look at Sony, Microsoft, Valve–they offer insane numbers of 50GB downloads daily through their software sales platforms without any issue, having largely replaced Blu-Ray already, so DVD is outmoded!).

And it is not only Apple–most laptop manufacturers have already done this, including PCs, Chromebook, etc. Lighter and thinner is better and optical is a relic of the past because broadband is ubiquitous. You can make arguments for reasons why old things are better, but when it comes to technology, the reality is that the hardware industry isn't looking at that; they're looking at the next thing and ways to downsize, make things cheaper, faster, thinner, lighter, less power hungry (a big one with moving parts–see SSDs), and so on.

By the way, DVDs have nothing to do with the cloud. Back up more simple than it ever has been–you can back up whatever you want (to the cloud, optionally, or) to very cheap removable hard drives, and you can get like a 2 TERABYTE (as of this writing–probably better next month) hard drive for less than what a DVD drive cost not long ago. Next to nothing.

... Which is probably why they sell Ultimate ON a hard drive.

 

Good question; just because it seems like the best product NI makes; or most advanced, anyway. Or alternatively, I'd like to buy it standalone, but at $399 it makes no sense when there is a $499 bundle that I cannot use.

 

Thank you for this; I was unaware. Seems like it should be a $101 crossgrade, apples-to-apples, but at least it's something. I appreciate the info on this.

Do you know if any of the products (Reaktor, and/or Komplete 10) have any free upgrade path to the next version, or is every new version always a paid upgrade?

 

Minor versions (5.x to 5.y) are always free (via Service Center).

Major versions (x.0 to y.0) are almost always paid, but discounted.

I've only been an NI customer since 2010, I think? And in that time I don't think I've ever seen them offer a grace period upgrade (i.e. you register Komplete 10 today and Komplete 11 comes out tomorrow- no free upgrade to Komplete 11), but I think I once got a free major upgrade to one of my Komplete products. I could be misremembering, though. If it happens at all, it's rare.