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Roxio Software Downloads Utterly Suck - Wait Scratch That
When the DVD burning software Roxio Popcorn came out I bought an electronic copy of it. I then purchased the upgrade for Popcorn 2 when that came out. Then in September 2007 I purchased the upgrade to Roxio Popcorn 3 and I was a pretty happy customer.
Then the Apple repair tech wiped hard drive on my iBook. So last night I tracked down, re-downloaded, installed and registered all the software that I had purchased with the sole and notable exception of Roxio Popcorn.
I was able to log into their website and see my customer purchase history and looked up the serial numbers that I purchased however when I tired to download a copy of Popcorn their websites says that the download has expired. So I called their customer support line twice. It ends up that if you don't download your software within thirty days they want to buy a "extended download service" for five bucks that will let you download the software again but only from a two year period from purchase. Last night I wasted two hours trying to figure out how to do this on their damned user-hateful website. However if your like me that is not an option and they will not let you purchase an "extended download service" if it's too long as from the last time they got my money last September.
So they are not going to let me download the software that I purchased three times even if I give them five bucks more. I have my serial numbers I just lost the install image when the Apple tech wiped my hard drive. They now want me to pay full retail again for the same damn piece of software that I've already paid for three times.
We are only talking about moving one thirty meg file from their file server to my Mac.
Update: Roxio read my article and is mailing me a CD copy of Popcorn!
They are also in the process of reconsidering their policies regarding events like this.
It's still a new world for digital distribution of software. It's very important for Mac users since not all of us live near an Apple store. For me it's over an hour drive or an hour ferry ride across the Puget Sound to get to a retail store so most of the Mac software that I've purchased is by digital distribution. I also think Mac users are more likely to want to buy software online since we are used to not being able to run down to the store and pick up software on a CD.
I did learn a very important lesson about backing up software often and keeping it fresh.
Jake at March 19, 2008 
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