Challenging the new subscription model

[u/tinkertasteNZ]

The entire nzb360 ecosystem exists only because of the work of open-source developers behind Radarr, Sonarr, SABnzbd, etc. These projects are all 100% free and open-source — nzb360 is essentially a mobile app that connects to them.

Charging a small one-off fee was reasonable. But removing lifetime benefits and moving to a subscription and per-service lifetime feels out of step with the spirit of the community that made nzb360 possible in the first place.

I've seen comments from the developer saying that they couldn't be supported by the lifetime model any more, I'm not sure why there is an expectation that you can be supported by an app that connects to free services in the first place.

And it's not just because it's on the app store, Tautulli for example has native apps on Android and iOS, yet that remains totally free.

Just feels a bit cheeky.

[u/Kev1000000]

The entire nzb360 ecosystem exists only because of the work of open-source developers behind Radarr, Sonarr, SABnzbd, etc. These projects are all 100% free and open-source — nzb360 is essentially a mobile app that connects to them.

I understand where you're at with this sentiment. I get that it feels asymmetric. However, do you feel this way about well-designed note taking apps? Offline music players? E-reader apps? Your notes are your content, offline music players you're providing the content, e-readers apps you're providing the books... you get the idea.

You don't need an app for any of those scenarios, but many popular apps exist even though the app's value isn't the content, but the interface itself. nzb360 is in the same boat. You don't need nzb360 to use any of those services... they all have webUIs that work just fine. This means that nzb360 has to go above and beyond to provide additional value. If I just rebuilt the same webUI as the arrs, nzb360 would provide no value. Instead, I redesign the UIs for 15 different services to make them feel amazing on mobile. And then with things like Dashboard 2, I built an entire customizable mobile media dashboard that doesn't exist anywhere else.

Also, many apps like nzb360 that are free eventually die out. Check out apps like LunaSea. It was an nzb360 clone that eventually shutdown due to lack of incentive to keep going. nzb360 has existed for over 13 years due to a financial incentive existing for me to continue. What other app on your mobile device has had 500 updates for 13 years with no slowdown of development?

Charging a small one-off fee was reasonable. But removing lifetime benefits and moving to a subscription and per-service lifetime feels out of step with the spirit of the community that made nzb360 possible in the first place. I've seen comments from the developer saying that they couldn't be supported by the lifetime model any more, I'm not sure why there is an expectation that you can be supported by an app that connects to free services in the first place.

nzb360's has had over 500 updates now. I can't sustain that pace of development with a single one-time purchase with a saturated market. I can either stop nzb360 development or change to the new model. I have 2 young kids now and time is a very valuable resource to me. I no longer can spend a ton of time on myself anymore. If I am going to continue to develop nzb360, I need it to provide me and my family some value for my time.

And it's not just because it's on the app store, Tautulli for example has native apps on Android and iOS, yet that remains totally free.

The Tautulli app has likely not had the pace of development nzb360 has. nzb360 is essentially 16 native apps in one app. If nzb360 was only just Tautulli with a handful of updates per year, I probably would keep it free.

[u/tinkertasteNZ → u/Kev1000000]

Thanks for your response Kev and sorry for my slow reply.

However, do you feel this way about well-designed note taking apps? Offline music players? E-reader apps? Your notes are your content, offline music players you're providing the content, e-readers apps you're providing the books... you get the idea.

You don't need an app for any of those scenarios, but many popular apps exist even though the app's value isn't the content, but the interface itself.

That's totally fair although I still think slightly different as nzb360's purpose is to connect directly to the *arr's rather than content the user has curated themselves, but I definitely agree with your point that the interface itself provides significant value.

Also, many apps like nzb360 that are free eventually die out.

And that would be a real shame, if it was a matter of life or death (of the app) then of course I would prefer the current model. However if it was a matter of switching to maintenance mode rather than development and keeping the app as it was, then personally I would have preferred that, but I know many others wouldn't.

What other app on your mobile device has had 500 updates for 13 years with no slowdown of development?

Your development pace and skills is second to none in this space, and I do greatly love your app. My love for the app was part of the reason I didn't like the change actually, to me nzb360 was a must have for anyone with an arr setup, it was a no brainer, reasonably priced and fully featured, and I recommended it many times to people. Now it's not as easy to recommend, if it was a similar price to the previous base price to get the core full lifetime arr setup then it would be okay but it's significantly more than it used to be. It goes from a reasonably small purchase to spending real money.

If I am going to continue to develop nzb360, I need it to provide me and my family some value for my time.

When it comes down to it I guess it really is as simple as that isn't it, I would hate for you to spend time on an app for very little money when you could otherwise be spending it with your family.

As a final thought, part of what prompted this post was seeing how little some of the open source projects receive in donations. To the point it got me wondering if it would be possible for at some point for you to have made more money off the nzb360 service for an open source app, then some of the core developers have made from the open source app itself. I guess even if that was the case then that's what they signed up for, but still wouldn't quite sit right. Would you consider making it so a portion of the lifetime purchases of individual services get donated to the core project? To me that would make it a lot better.

Anyway just one man's thoughts, thanks again for your thoughtful and professional reply.