thats only partially correct. It would be fair to say that the majority of buyers would purchase PMDG well after playing around with lighter add ons that dont have a re download fee hence there is a good chance they will get stung the 1st time around with PMDG simply because they dont know any better.

 

If they don't know any better it's because they didn't read the purchase email they got. It very clearly states that the link is valid for 7 days and that EDS will be required to redownload after that period.

Ok if PMDG makes us pay again for downloads, why keep the same liscence key? That key should be the key that gets me a free copy again. If I am paying again it is for a new key, I do not mind that. It is paying for a second download for the very same key that I already have. Having the key is like having the cd, because you would obviously have the key that goes with it. You wouldn't need to pay again. I am sorry if I am the only person that feels this way. Why such a short turnaround? What if something happens day 8 and you lose the file? Why not a longer period before having to buy the thing again? Dont get me wrong I love PMDGs aircraft, I just wish there were a better way of dealing with the what ifs than having to pay again to get my aircraft back.

 

Patrick Boynton

Why not back it up? You say you purchased multiple back ups. Each is good for 12 months. At what point do you take responsibility? PMDG has their policy and I doubt they will change it because you can't keep a copy on a thumb drive, CD or one of the free back up services they mentioned. They should instead change their policy just for you. Makes sense to me.

Every PC I have had since running fs addons, have a spare HDD to store downloads , especially since with fs you tweak and tweak and wreck your system or upgrade hardware or just plain re install everything all the time why not keep your most important files backed up on a separate disk ?

EricW

Ok if PMDG makes us pay again for downloads, why keep the same liscence key? That key should be the key that gets me a free copy again. If I am paying again it is for a new key, I do not mind that. It is paying for a second download for the very same key that I already have. Having the key is like having the cd, because you would obviously have the key that goes with it. You wouldn't need to pay again. I am sorry if I am the only person that feels this way. Why such a short turnaround? What if something happens day 8 and you lose the file? Why not a longer period before having to buy the thing again? Dont get me wrong I love PMDGs aircraft, I just wish there were a better way of dealing with the what ifs than having to pay again to get my aircraft back.

 

Patrick Boynton

 

Or you can just backup the first time externally and not have to go through this every time.

Hi Patrick,

 

As a huge appreciator and fan of PMDG's work, I too have had to pay 3 times in the last 6 months for "extended download" of products I've purchased from them...(due to a sudden HD failure), and agree with you;  the practice is in my honest opinion, not in line with all other aspects of the professionalism, quality and integrity of how PMDG run their shop.

 

....but it is their shop, so for now, as unpopular as it seems to be, I guess they'll keep doing it.

Why repay for extended download service? You need to send a support ticket if you have purchased an extended download. They last for a year..

People have suggested to back up  their installers  which is  a good idea  prevents   paying  again for it,  but  if one were to make  up a back up copy of  their whole hard drive to an external drive. So if  some happens  to  the hdd   or  a system crash it just a matter of   re installing  again or   you can simply  re install  the files  that got corrupted  etc

I'll stop since obviously this isn't going anywhere.

Ok if PMDG makes us pay again for downloads, why keep the same liscence key? That key should be the key that gets me a free copy again. If I am paying again it is for a new key, I do not mind that. It is paying for a second download for the very same key that I already have.

 

You are not paying for a new licence for the product only for the ability to redownload the installer.

One thing (that I hope I won't get flamed for it here) I might suggest is that if the software security is as good as it can be, why not allow users to upload to a torrent site such as TPB (which can be used for good!) allowing everyone to download the base package and then use their license to activate it? Better yet, if someone from PMDG actually uploaded it to that site, it would be a safe torrent to download! 

 

This would avoid bandwidth spaces, make downloads probably faster and save PMDG time for people requesting new links (just direct them to the file on the torrent server) 

 

I would like to state here that ALL my PMDG products were bought legally :-) 

LOL @ some people who just want to create an argument

 

OP - If you don't want to pay to redownload your product, then thats fine.  Burn it onto a DVD or get some drop box space and keep it on the "cloud"

 

Its not that hard, and 3 pages of forum space (which is not free to Tom) is not wasted.

 

PMDG are not flight 1, just flight or sim market.  They are a "small" company.

 

Not rocket science.

Whilst I agree that there are two sides to this, I would expect PMDG to bite the bullet re the costs of file hosting, given that much "lesser" companies offer this privilege, when their products are significantly less expensive.

 

With premium products I would expect premium after sales also, and to my mind, that should include - theoretically - unlimited access to downloads.

And how do you think they are going to cover the extra expense of doing that? By jacking up the original price.

 

I'd rather stick to keeping a copy of the install thank you very much.

LOL @ some people who just want to create an argument

 

OP - If you don't want to pay to redownload your product, then thats fine.  Burn it onto a DVD or get some drop box space and keep it on the "cloud"

 

Its not that hard, and 3 pages of forum space (which is not free to Tom) is not wasted.

 

PMDG are not flight 1, just flight or sim market.  They are a "small" company.

 

Not rocket science.

 

Flyerboy, while what some of you say is very valid, it is not just the  big companies that do this. A case example is UK2000, operated by Gary Summons. He (for the most part) works on his own and has created a website which allows people who have already bought a product to redownload without any admin activity or extra charge, with a license for 20-30 downloads (can't quite remember) . Whilst you may argue that the downloads are a lot smaller (often 100-200 mb), there are many, many more of them. This sort of blows the argument of small companies not having the means to do it, out of the water. 

 

However, like you said - there are means for people to keep it safe. Yet in this day and age, with such a saturated Cloud Storage market (leading to lower prices), I think its pretty reasonable for people to ask PMDG to reevaluate its options. Companies change policies all the time, just look at EA in the last few days moving back away from the 'online pass' for gaming due to its unpopularity. Its not an unreasonable argument. 

Hosting companies charge different rates, on the cheaper side of things I can add 3TB to an account I have with a canadian company it will will cost me $3 USD for an additional 3TB in bandwidth on a shared server with a 300mb up/down link.

 

    Looking at my amazon EMC account which has much better infrastructure with managed SLA's etc then $5 would only get me 41 gigs traffic but that is on the lowest tier - i.e, low data higher prices.   If I was to send more data the prices would come down.

 

    So yes, there is a cost to bandwidth but that cost doesnt really account for those additional charges from my experience.