Almost 20 year user will NEVER buy another magix product ever again.

haywire666 wrote on 2/15/2016, 10:50 PM

First, let me say I have been using magix video products for many years.
I believe I started with magix music video maker on windows 98.
Eventually, I upgraded to magix video edit pro 10,11,12,13,14,15,16, all bought
on amazon, as I prefer boxed copies with installation dvd. The last purchase I made
was magix video edit pro 17 (download version) from your website.

I can't tell you how many times over the years I lost an installation dvd and bought
another copy. In short, I can't even count the number of times I have purchased magix
products,but its alot.

Over the years I produced many projects with this video editor, some made it to broadcast
television, others to dvds, film festivals, music videos, youtube videos, vimeo videos,
a television documentary and more.

For most of my needs now, I use linux. I suppose I should explain I'm also a part time
computer science student, so money is always tight. Still, I have always supported this
company financially, and purchased legal copies of magix video editor and many other titles
from them over the years.

Recently, I deciced I shouldn't have to reboot to windows to do some of the simpler projects
I am often tasked with. I installed windows in a virtualbox install, and then attempted to install magix

video editor. Here are the results :

Its unfortunate that your company apparently has a problem with people running pirated copies
of your software, however, your drm procedures only punish those buying legal copies. Your
anti piracy measures are not even effective. Do a quick search of a torrent site and you will
find that any magix software is available there. Still, I choose to support the producers
of the software tools I use. Why then, am I constantly punished by your company and treated
like a software pirate? I tried several times to get through on the phone to have this
activation counter reset. I was not able to. I paid you for the software, why can't I use it?

This treatment of your long time loyal and paying customers is both disrespectful and unacceptable in a crowded field of software providers. So whats the lesson here? Pay for software then be told by your company I can not use it? How will that inspire me to continue to support you and your company?

Time and time again over the years your software has aggravated me with its refusal to
let me work. I paid for your product in good faith. Why do I still get treated like
a criminal so many times when I change computers (Which I do incredibly often) or try and re-install software I paid you in good faith for?

I was determined, despite your company attempting to stop me, to still use magix video edit
on my main computer (which happens to run linux with windows in a virtualbox install.)

Next, I searched my through my basement to find a boxed copy. I recently moved and things are still
a bit of a mess, so I was only able to find a really old copy. (Magix video pro 12)
Still, for my simple projects that will work, so I installed a new copy of windows xp in
virtualbox and installed it. Great, now I can get some work done. Except I can't, because MAGIX anti piracy measures treat me like a criminal for trying to use software I legally purchased.

Once again, I am getting treated by a pirate by your company, and being told that I
can not use sotware I already paid for ages ago.

I assure you, I have the original disc and the retail box. (I can send you photos if you like) I assure you the original disc is in the drive. I purchased this off amazon. Its worked in the past. Won't work now. I suspect the problem is that your disc checker anti-piracy measure is treating virtualbox dvd drive as a pirated image copy somehow. Once again MAGIX stands in the way of me using software I paid for ages ago.

I paid for this software in good faith. I supported your company many times and bought just about every version of this over the years. I paid for this software and its continued development. But once again, Magix will not allow me to use software I already paid for.

My final issue is your mpg activation procedure. Why, if mpg and mpg4 worked when I originally purchased Magix video 17 pro (download version) does it no longer work and now require me to pay again? When I originally purchased this software, MPG's just worked. I could load .mov and .mpg files from my camera. I could export finished projects to any mpg format.

Now this software, which I already paid for, does not allow this, and asks me to pay you an additional fee for this feature. This was a working feature I already paid for. Why then should I pay a second time for a feature I have already purchased previously? Does clicking accept on a eula mean you can just change me again for features I already paid for whenever you want?

Here again, MAGIX software treats me like a criminal, trying to steal a feature I already paid for once.

Once again, MAGIX software stops me from getting work done. Once again Magix software won't work when I paid for it in good faith and need to finish a project for a client. How many times is a user supposed to be aggravated and treated this way before he or she decides to jump ship? In my case it has been far too many times over the years. At times I lost the sleeve to a dvd of this software but had the box and DVD. Try to install... No forget it, MAGIX strikes again I don't have a serial number for software I legally purchased so I have to buy it again. So wait, I have to pay for another copy?

It is extremely unfortunate that I have used magix video editor for so long, but because of your procedures and treatment of long time customers and supporters, I will shop elsewhere going forward. It is allso extremely unfortunate that your company does not realize how common my frustrations are among your user base. I know so many people who started digital video with MAGIX and jumped ship when these annoyances became too much to handle.

I suppose I liked the software enough that I tolerated these things for many years. I can no longer tolerate or justify continuing to use your software. I am an almost 20 year supporter of your company that you have driven away by your unfair and unjust policies which do nothing to stop the piracy of your products but only harm the paying users.

The final video I will be making with Magix video editor will be my thoughts on your company, its software, and its anti piracy procedures and practices and how these procedures negatively affect only paying customers. In the video, I will show specific examples of how I feel I have been mistreated as a paying customer. I will screen cast torrent sites (with addresses blurred) to show these measures are completely ineffective and only affect your paying customers negatively I will be using some screen casting sofware and cite specific examples to show in full detail how your software has affected my business negatively.

For the rest of my existence, I will never buy another of your products. I will never recommend any of your products to my fellow students, friends, family, coworkers or associates. I will never support any of your products or your company. My creative endeavors have been held hostage by your company for far too long now. I'm breaking the chains your company has unjustly constricted me by. I will be Magix software free by 3-1-16. I will consider that the day of my liberation from the software slavery you have imposed on me for years now.

You will most likely delete this message from your forum. I expect as much from the way I have been mistreated over the years. I will make sure a copy of this gets to your customer service manager.

Best regards,

Steven Luniewski,

CEO, Spectral International

"Either the user controls the program, or the program controls the user." - Richard Stallman

Comments

haywire666 wrote on 2/15/2016, 11:17 PM

Posted to facebook, twitter and more :

"I have used their video editor for almost 20 years. No more. Magix is the worst software company on planet earth. All three of these screen shots are from legally purchased software that refuse to work. Their anti-piracy measures only negatively affect paying customers. Go search a torrent site, you can get pirate copies of anything they make. Me? I paid for legal copies and my software does not work. If you download pirate copies? Then the software works. What kind of message are they sending here? I find it both incredibly troubling and a bit ironic that if I download a pirated copy of their softwares, then the software works. If I pay them for legal copies? Well then, their anti-piracy measures kick in and the software refuses to work. Its both ridiculous and laughable to be punished for buying software products from them. I will be MAGIX software free by 3-1-16. I will never purchase any product they make ever again. Why should I? I get treated worse than the pirates stealing their software. At least the pirates software works!"

browj2 wrote on 2/16/2016, 12:49 AM

Bad news! No one here works for Magix.

i have never called Magix by phone, always used online support, always had replies and help, and I have a lot of Magix products. All of my serial numbers are registered in my Magix account and I can always download the program again if need be, and simply copy the s/n from my account and paste it. No more lost s/n's.

The anti-piracy routine was a little problematic at the beginning but has been improved. The only drawback is the monthly s/n check through the internet, which, for me, is transparent since I am almost always on-line.

I can de-activate a device in my Magix account, and activate a copy on another machine. There is no longer any problem of using up the 5 s/n chances before being shutout. So the new system is far better in my opinion.

I don't recall you asking for assistance from other users on this forum about your s/n problems, but it seems to me that you should have done that first.

Good luck elsewhere; the others all have their own anti-piracy systems too.

haywire666 wrote on 2/16/2016, 1:08 AM

No one here works for magix? Yeah that was what I expected. Kind of like no one that works for magix answers their support phone #'s. The fact that they could disable software you legally purchased from them, then tell you to call a phone # for help that they never actually answer? That speaks volumes about their treatement of their users.

Cinelerra is drm free. Open source free software. I am most likely switching to that.

They obviously own this forum, as evidenced by the fact that my user id and password from magix main website work here. What cowards they must be to just say its a user forum and refuse to answer questions or offer support here. That is very convienant (for them) My opinion of them keeps getting worse, based on these very slimy practices.

Markus73 wrote on 2/16/2016, 1:54 AM

At times I lost the sleeve to a dvd of this software but had the box and DVD. Try to install... No forget it, MAGIX strikes again I don't have a serial number for software I legally purchased so I have to buy it again.

Don't be silly. Of course you need your serial number. You can find it in your account

https://www.magix.com/us/support/my-service-center/

once you've installed the software successfully. There you can also download the software in case you've lost the DVD. So don't blame it on Magix!

haywire666 wrote on 2/16/2016, 4:12 AM

At times I lost the sleeve to a dvd of this software but had the box and DVD. Try to install... No forget it, MAGIX strikes again I don't have a serial number for software I legally purchased so I have to buy it again.

Don't be silly. Of course you need your serial number. You can find it in your account

https://www.magix.com/us/support/my-service-center/

once you've installed the software successfully. There you can also download the software in case you've lost the DVD. So don't blame it on Magix!

Some of us only bought boxed copies on amazon, so we did not have to sign up for the MAGIX online system, which BTW, is useless because it did not keep track of the last 20+ years I have bought boxed copies with cd or dvd install discs of magix software.

Only at magix video pro 17 did I relent and purchase a download copy, but hey the provided serial # for that purchased copy does not work. Why? Because If I was an asshole and just downloaded it from torrent sites at that time it would still work...

But since the people who run this company have their heads up their asses, I got penalized for buying a legitimate copy. If at the time of Magix video pro 17's release I had gone on a torrent site and just downloaded and installed it for free? Then right now my software would work.

But since I did the right thing and paid money to magix for a copy, I am getting penalized. My copy does not work. And BTW, Markus73, I have the serial #. But this is not enough. Magix will still not allow my purchased software to work.

But again, If I just downloaded it from the pirate bay back then, instead of paying magix for it, then right now my software would work.

DRM only punishes the paying users. This case alone makes that clear. Where is MAGIX? Why does no one from MAGIX address my issues? And don't give me this line of bullshit that no one from magix works here. They own this. Cowards. Software enslavers. They do not want to answer for their actions. Cowards.

johnebaker wrote on 2/16/2016, 4:59 AM

. . . . Why does no one from MAGIX address my issues? And don't give me this line of bullshit that no one from magix works here. They own this . . . .

This is a user forum provided by Magix for the users of their software to help each other.

Older versions of MEP or VPX have a restricted number of activations before you need to contact Magix to have the activation counter reset.

Magix have a legitimate right to protect their software - the registration / activation / recovery process is relatively simple compared to some software manufacturers systems.

And NO I do not work for Magix

John EB

ralftaro wrote on 2/16/2016, 8:13 AM

Dear Steven,

Sorry you were inconvenienced by the copy protection and the temporary activation limit kicking in. I do appreciate your frustration, but I'm not sure it warrants the strong reaction. Let's just quickly put this into perspective:

You're essentially reporting problems for two separate products here. Movie Edit Pro 12 is an obsolete product that hasn't been supported in years. In fact, the operating system that it's running on is no longer even supported by Microsoft, and we would recommend against using it. You would probably want to focus on your much newer Movie Edit Pro 17 here. The problem with the activation limit is extremely easy to fix. All it takes is a brief e-mail to support/sales, e.g. via our support website (http://support.magix.net)

After you did raise a ticket earlier today, via the contact funtion on our Facebook page, the problem was addressed in a matter of just a few hours, and your activation limit was raised. There was no other support ticket in our system from you, at least not under your registered e-mail address, and not in any recent years. We looked this up, because we were trying to understand what previous or ongoing problems you'd be referring to. However, we didn't come up with anything.

Just for future reference: The forum here might be a good place to discuss the program and exchange knowledge with other users, but it's never the right place for any problems or question specific to your personal account or product licenses. These issues should always be raised with MAGIX customer service. Thanks for your understanding.

Best regards