They do quite clearly explain their refund policy - and they also provide software for free evaluation.

http://www.abyssmedia.com/refundpolicy.shtml

Note: I removed the name of the second product you installed, as it is a commercial product and competitor to ISound - and including that (as well as this being your first forum post) makes your "complaint" sound more like an advertisement than a legitimate complaint about the abyssmedia refund policy.

[quote]
Don't buy this software...it is a scam. I did, wasn't satisfied the next day (computer started freezing). Reply I got was that it was impossible. Deleted it and installed *name removed*. Works perfect but no refund from ISound. Use it if it's free but don't buy!!

Go by Help & About say "registered version. you OK,Is this going to expire? don't know may be a cleaner or Registry may kill

On following the insructions to install today's software, Batch Picture Protector, there was a popup that says it is an evaluation copy. Looking at the Help and About tab, it says it is version 1.4 and "registered version." Which is it? Is this going to expire?

BuBBy,
thanks for the definition!

Same thing happened to me with mymovie(?) and I couldn't access my database of movies I spent days building. It was a version of the program with a glick that the company only used for GOTD so they didn't even have the file for me to download to gelt my database back.

what does "bump" mean?
Bump: Wikipedia

I'm not sure what your "second question is" - you only asked one question.

two questions
what does "bump" mean
what does "Here is a bump of another thread from the same company kevinyunlai :)"
I'm not joking, I'm kind of new to this country and my English is not too well
anyways,
Desktop Icon Toy turned back into trial to me too Swan
I'm not complaining, because I did not like it that much, but the point is we are not getting full version, just extended trial
I'm guessing that companies do this on purpose
1. if you are "complaining", means that you like the software and that you might buy it (they are completely wrong....)
2. if you are not "complaining", then it means you don't like/need the software so it does not matter if it works or not

Please do not bump threads - post a link to them instead.

Here is a bump of another thread from the same company kevinyunlai :)

Well Face, you probably don't have any firewall, anti-virus, or anti-adware protection programs running under safe mode. And especially without a firewall (either a hardware one or a software one), a hacker could gain access to your computer while you are online. And they could possibly install very nasty programs that you won't even know is running in the background.

Yep, that's the one - Thanks!

Now I have to figure out why I can't download anything (except GOTD and GGOTD, which will only d/l in safe mode - which is probably not recommended, but all I have, at the moment).

If the link you are referring to is http://www.abyssmedia.com/downloads/isoundgotd.exe then yes, it is still working.

Does the link still work (it didn't for me, but I can't seem to d/l anyting today!)?
Was this announced anywhere? - I never saw this thread when it started.

It has been over 2 weeks now, guy's is there any news on wether a fix is in the works for Audio Converter Plus by Abyssmedia or not?

Well I-Sound had a bug in it which turned it back into a trial version. The version was fixed here. Thanks to abyssmedia!

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/forums/topic/761?replies=24#post-4368

I didn't remember seeing anything about Audio Converter Plus. But I just checked mine and it switched back to a trial version too. Maybe we need to contact abyssmedia about this one too.

nbr,
Apologies for misunderstanding you. Obviously, if a GOTD program automatically tries to update itself, that's going to be a problem with some giveaways as new versions are put on the developers' websites.

Sorry, I guess i wasn't clear. My point is that the program appears to attempt to update itself automatically, with no option provided to the user to abort or disable the process. (At least, if there is such an option, I couldn't find it.) In any case, I started the program, got the message "Your software is out of date," etc., closed the dialog box (there is no "cancel" button), and voila, it had crippled itself. I didn't go to the Abyssmedia website or attempt to download an update or upgrade. I just tried launching the program normally.

When a program is provided by GOTD, it specifies this is the version you'll get, and that no updates will be supplied. So I think, unless exemptions are made by the producers, that if you try to update it, you'll find your GOTD version will revert to a trial version. Best not to risk it, I think, if you want to continue using the program free. Otherwise, if you want upgrades, you'll probably have to buy the full version of the program.

I downloaded and really liked both i-Sound and Audio Converter Plus. Recently, both have reverted back to crippleware. In each case, I launched the program and it apparently checked for an update from the Abyssmedia site. I got a dialog box informing me: "Your version is outdated, please go to the abyssmedia site to update" (or something similar) with an "OK" button. On clicking OK, I got a nag screen telling me to register. On checking the registration section of the prefs, I see that the Giveawayoftheday username is still there but the registration code is gone.

I see now that a patch for i-Sound has been made available. I wish I'd thought to check the forums earlier. I liked i-Sound so much that I actually bought a copy. So... kudos Abyssmedia for a nice piece of software. I'd rather not pay for the converter, though, given that there are so many functional alternatives out there. Is there any chance of a similar patch being made available once again?

I know this problem was mentioned on another thread (link) but it looks like there haven't been any recent posts so I'm adding a new one.

Thanks,
Nathan

Guys, I suspect Earth911 is only trolling for an argument.

What he says is indeed correct. Most of the downloads are trial versions.

But GOTD also provides the means to register or license the downloads converting the trial download into a fully functional and non-expiring license - usually by running "Activate.exe"

Not suprisingly each day there are always some newcomers who do not read the instructions and "jump in" claiming the program is "unregistered".

As there is not yet a single giveaway that has reverted to unregistered status or stopped working for everyone, clearly the lone voice of protest, who claims to know the "real story", is obviously wrong.

Same as when one person screams "Todays giveaway is broken" - yet everyone else says "works fine for me", it doesn't take a rocket surgeon to work out who "stuffed up".

Before making crazy generalizations and thinking you know a secret everyone else has overlooked - ask yourself, "Before I blame or accuse GOTD or the developer for something - is my discovery unique to me... is it possible I have done something wrong or missed a step".

If indeed you do hit a snag, or cannot get the giveaway to work - come in an ask for some help - chances are very good that others in the forums might be able to help you get it working. We are nice people. :)

From all the good I have seen of the many giveaways, a couple have been absolute gems, several have been ok, and the rest I have little or no use for. But I feel that by visiting GOTD and downloading these (at no cost to myself) I have:

- Learned a lot about software & companies I would otherwise never have known about.

- Had a lot of fun.

- Found out about other freeware programs and special offers.

- NOT got a single virus.

- NOT downloaded any Spyware or Adware.

- Become more intelligent and better looking (YMMV).

Now, the first bug (in I-Sound Recorder Pro) which resulted in a giveaway timing out is fixed immediately by the developer, and an update made available at the official site. That's great support for you!

GOTD and the giveaway companies are not trying to rip off anyone or trick you into installing a trial. Sadly some people seem to think that everything on the internet has to have a catch or a cost.

If at the end of the day you really cannot accept that something can be given away for free - another option is always available to you... if you like the program enough and don't trust the giveaway - don't complain, just purchase a registration from the developer (then you can both sleep happy at night).

I am amazed at what the folks at GAOTD and Abyssmedia did. They went out of their way to solve the problem, and on top of that, we get the latest release of the software too! I didn't see this thread until today and the patch still works even though it is 2 days old.

Simply amazing.

Like Bill, all the programs from GAOTD still work.
THANKS GAOTD and Abyssmedia!

All of my GAOTD downloads have continued to work except this one. But thanks to abyssmedia, it was just a bug in the program and it is now working fine again. ;)

Ya'll don't really think you're not using a vesion of software that will always function like a bought one. Most of those downloads are trial version.Wake up America

@Been Taken. One thing I have noticed is in some situations GAOTD takes action first and advises a bit later. One example is when their server WordPress had crashed resulting in the give aways having been cancelled many hours before scheduled time. GAOTD negotiated with the developers and got extended give away time for each of the programs from that day. The programs were back up first, GAOTD posted explanations after. They likely did that as they could not have known ahead of time if the developers would say yes.

It's possible they also had a hand in fixing the Abyssmedia problem. Either they alerted Abyssmedia when users began posting complaints or Abyssmedia was still monitoring the comment section for possible problems. Either way it would still have been through this site that Abyssmedia found out the problem.

Maybe it comes down to expectations. If this site had paid memberships or imposed registration requirements before visitors could download software then I would expect a higher level of service like that offered to customers. But they don't require anything at all, not even an email address. Participation in comments or forum membership is entirely voluntary. Considering all that I think they are doing fine. They provide comment and forum sections for visitors to help each other and that seems to be working. For this particular problem it hardly matters anymore as the fix is already here. I hope it worked for you as well as it did for others.

Thank you LadyGodiva but this is not about Abyssmedia.

F.Y.I. I "Did Read" their post and all the others here prior to posting. I came here prior to posting at the software page initially and Abyssmedia had not yet made their posting about the updater bug. Based on the removal of my post and the GAOTD team's response to it I removed my software. At that time your first post about the problem was not even here.

Again all this occurred before Abyssmedia made their posting and it's not about the software developer anyway.

Thank you for your response. GAOTD is the one who should be responding.

My i-Sound Pro is back too and working great. Thank you very much Abyssmedia, and such fast response! It seemed suspicious when it appeared the registration number had been remotely removed. Glad to hear it was just a bug within the program itself. Thanks for fixing it and providing the updated version to us here on GAOTD! It's terrific for recording streaming audio in choice of .mp3, .wma, .ogg, .wav or .ape.

"Been Taken", you have not "Been Reading". Did you not see the message in this thread from Abyssmedia? It was posted long before your complaint. This was not a problem caused by GAOTD. The developer explained it was a bug in their (the developer's) own program that affected the program's updater. It's always helpful to read threads before posting rather than merely reacting to the subject line.

Download and install the new file from the link provided in the above forum message from Abyssmedia and all will be well. It doesn't matter if you already uninstalled, the linked file is not just a patch. At the time of writing this message it still works as the developer wants to correct the problem with the version that had previously been offered at GAOTD. At the time GAOTD offered i-Sound Pro it was the latest version but had the updater bug. GAOTD and the developer could not have known about that bug as at that time there was no upated version to reveal the problem. This newer version fixes the update problem in the previous one. It was very nice of Abyssmedia to provide it.

Thanks to what I can only think could be GAOTD's attempt to blame anything that goes wrong on it's user base I uninstalled my software after it stopped working.

I posted to the comments section of the iSound Giveawayoftheday software on April 4, 2007 along with two other posters about this problem. This was my post which was removed after a short period of time and is now no longer is visible there:

"My mother always told me you never get something for nothing.

After two months this program has unregistered itself and is now alerting that you need to pay and register it in order to have the use of it you had when you downloaded it on the giveaway day.

When I click on my program to open it I get an alert first telling me

"This version is outdated. Please visit http://www.abyssmedia.com to get a latest update."

I must then click OK or X in order for the program to load. When it loads it is no longer a registered version. It's an evaluation version just as if I had never downloaded it from Giveaway Of The Day. It stops recording after 1 min and 40 seconds and a nag screen for registration pops up.

If this is whats to be expected of the software I've been downloading from this site I'm glad it's been only a few programs. I feel sorry for those who have loaded up. They may have a lot of cleaning up to do.

Comment by BeenTaken"

They removed the above post and posted this:

"Read closely Terms and Conditions (look through the readme file that goes with the everyday’s giveaway package)

Terms and conditions

Please note that the software you download and install during
the Giveaway period comes with the following important limitations:
1) No free technical support
2) No free upgrades to future versions
3) Strictly non-commercial usage

Comment by Giveaway of the Day project team — April 4th, 2007 at 7:24 am"

Why is this information not being announced as everyone who downloaded this program is having this issue? Many will uninstall their software once they read what is posted on the software giveaway page as it is totally opposite of what is really going on. The incorrect information posted by this Givaway project team is terrible. It's flat out wrong. You told your users one thing and tried to play with words to make the situation fit because you just don't know the answer or were afraid the company took back their deal. Well they didn't but Giveawayoftheday is making them look like it.

With each issue you have to be made to do the right thing you lose the trust of your user base. Will good software vendor's really want to do business with you?

This is my second experience with your website where you had to be called out before you would do the right thing. I'm not waiting for three strikes. I don't trust you anymore. People have a right to know after 24 hours GAOTD will try their best not to have anything to do with the software they offered even if it was registered timely with them.

Mine is working once again. :) Thank you again abyssmedia!

Yep, I got the same error message about "trial version" last night. I'll download the new link and see if that will solve my problem.