To John at Roxio

[astronomr5]

John,

No disrespect intended, and we do appreciate your time, but I have browsed this discussion board, and found that this problem has been around for about 6 months at least......it shoudn't take that long to code a patch that is so obviously needed by so many of Roxio's customers. Since most are getting the problem "fixed" with the double-triple complete uninstall then a clean install two or three more times then jump through a few more hoops for the heck of it scenario, is roxio really putting their best effort into getting a patch out? What would happen if this problem had been publicized in say a well read computer magazine, in an article that says roxio seems to be dragging their feet on a badly needed patch to fix some really buggy software they are selling? or that roxio really doesn't care if their customers' software is running or not....after all, they've already got our money. Would they move a little faster then? Or would they just sit there and let their sales plummet? Seems to me they are not looking at the possible long term negative effects these things can have on their bottom line. It's understandable to have bugs in a product (although with beta testing, there shouldn't be a great many), but it is unacceptable to take this long to release a patch for those bugs.

Roxio needs to show some return loyalty to their loyal customers and get this issue resolved!

 

Again, thank you for your efforts and time in this forum.

[pcdoctor]

Actually he is getting closer to being voted off the island…

 

For that matter this thread is going nowhere and if it continues to be nothing but criticisms, it is going to go away…

 

If someone actually has something to contribute, by all means, jump in!

This is exactly what I mean guys.

 

James I understand that order has to be kept in check, but you have to cut a little slack once and a while and not take it so seriously and personally. Especially when we are all sitting around waiting for the same thing. Sure, this thread has gone a little astray, but no one is getting vulgar or posting any thing questionable and if they were I'm sure they'd be edited. Sometimes this is what is needed, It's good theropy. If you shut down every thread that does this, then this is no longer a USER forum. It's conformity. Laughter, it's the best remidy. I even picked up on your One Liner, "voted off the island". That was funny.

 

We all have a common goal, but sometimes need to break the monotony. So, live life, have fun, know who your friends are and here, have a Coke on me. (Sorry, I don't drink. this is all I have)

[Crash Override]

Well, I understand that this suite of software is a mammoth undertaking. Even so, a problem this basic should have been caught in testing, given the robustness of your described testing procedure and the issue seems relatively straight-forward to fix since all I have to do to fix the problem is to turn off my wireless adapter. Then the program runs fine.

 

But if the problem wasn't sufficiently grave then why attempt any kind of patch at all? - even a non-finalised one?... I wonder just how 'low' the number of users is who are having this issue. I'm not so convinced that it's as small as people make out. Even if it's 1% then that's 1 per every 100 users who seems entitled to play merry hell over the fact that the software they've paid good money for doesn't do the job and since given a reasonable amount of time (~6 months) no attempt has been made to solve the problem and (from where I'm standing now) it doesn't look as though it'll get fixed anytime soon.

 

The corporate truth suggestion seems very accurate though, not so much because of the small number of users with the problem but because they actively wouldn't want the problem fixed if it actually saves them licensing-money.

 

But I don't like the way this matter seems (from my end at least) to have derived a rhetorical slant on my ability to use a computer. The fact is that I've never pretended to undertake anything like this but for those that do and want to charge money for their efforts they need be more responsible / responsive than is the case here.

[Crash Override]

I like the way they're focussing on Vista problems at the moment. Any problems with XP are due to 'old "creaking" installations'.

 

Well, I can tell you that this software has completely ruined a brand new installation of XP Professional. The DVD-RW tray won't open, driver XP-signing recognition malfunctions all the time, autorun won't work. This thing has basically destroyed my computer and it was only formatted a week ago. Uninstalling seems not to be a real option either since it's left such a huge mess behind.

 

Now, where's my friend Nero gone?

[Beerman]

pcdoctor, I tend to agree with you as I try to laugh most of my life off but I think James' intent is for the miscellaneous discussions to be in the General Chat area. There you can 'politely' make fun of others, tell jokes or whatever. Just stay away for religion and politics and you can stay on the island.

------not speaking for James of course!

[Cigar52]

Well said

[Crash Override]

*BUMP*

 

Where is my patch??? - April? it is now the back-end of May! It seems blatantly obvious that Roxio don't want users activating MPEG-2 since it costs them more for each one that does.

[Beerman]

I like the way they're focussing on Vista problems at the moment. Any problems with XP are due to 'old "creaking" installations'.

 

Well, I can tell you that this software has completely ruined a brand new installation of XP Professional. The DVD-RW tray won't open, driver XP-signing recognition malfunctions all the time, autorun won't work. This thing has basically destroyed my computer and it was only formatted a week ago. Uninstalling seems not to be a real option either since it's left such a huge mess behind.

 

Now, where's my friend Nero gone?

Are you asking for help? You don't give any computer info nor do you say much about what you were doing. If you can be more specific, you might get the problem fixed. Many times what you mention is due to a problem with conflicting software or a corrupt installation.

[Larry]

All of this "Conspiracy Theory" stuff reads like a Hollywood movie script! I would say "poorly stated".

 

The simple fact is there is no one here that is employed or paid by Roxio/Sonic unless they are designated as such by a Roxio logo, and often will be labeled as a Moderator and may have a user name indicating such, like John's does. All of the user monicors like Digital Guru, Rookie, Newbie, Apprentice, Novice, etc... are controlled by the Invision forum software. They are meant just to be a "fun" thing, and hold no special or hidden meaning. They change by themselves at whatever post count they've been set for by the Invision software.

 

I do think it would be helpful if Roxio/Sonic would post some guidelines for the forum so it would be clear as to what it is and what it is not. The statement on their support site "Join the discussion! An excellent resource to find assistance or share ideas within the Roxio user community." is obviously not clear enough to some that this is just a user forum. The old user forum had that information and made it clear that this is not a support site.

 

Knowing that this is a user area, Roxio/Sonic has no obligation IMHO to "make their presence known here". The fact that they do have some people that post here, try to share information and offer help at times is IMHO a good thing. There are a lot of "forums" out there related to products where that is not the case. And just because they don't post many replies, doesn't mean they aren't reading what's being posted. I've seen a lot of Roxio/Sonic people on here searching and reading posts almost every day. That's part of what a "Moderator" does. I think that shows that some at their company do have an interest in what their users have to say. Altho at the same time, when someone's post stoops to the level of name-calling and derogatory personal remarks towards them, I would think those posts are pretty much ignored and quickly passed over. I know they would be where I work. I'm sure the "moderators" here, like John, only pass on information from here and don't have control over what happens with issue resolutions, updates and product development decisions.

 

I also believe that if one actually reads many of the posts by the "gurus" you'd see that they (and yes I count myself in that "group" ) aren't any happier about the way Roxio/Sonic has been handling the products and updates lately. Just because they aren't so brash about it doesn't mean they're "the backbone of Roxio". It probably just means, as it does in my case, that they are willing to give them some time to correct the issues, as they have in the past. Hopefully they will fix the issues in v9 with the upcoming update.

 

Just wondering Bruce! Are you or were you an english major or teacher?

This isn't the first time that you scholded some one about their grammer, punctuation and or wrighting skills.

And I had to look at your post to see if I spelled punctuation correctly.

 

Sorry to go off topic, just curious.

 

Roxio does need to make their presence known here. Although this is a USER forum, not a Roxio forum, the fact that it is a link under SUPPORT on the ROXIO site would tend to make one beileve that you could get support from ROXIO here. The only time they seem to show up is when they feel that someone is spreading un-truths, when they feel they need to edit out the name of a compeditor that was mentioned, or when they feel that some one is revealing to much info on how to get around copy right protection. Some one is keeping them up to speed. And I can't believe that out of all the Guru's and Masters here, that none of you aren't connected to Roxio in some way. I can't see how you guys will put that much time and effort to post 15,000 plus posts (thats over 15,000 posts floks) for nada, unless you are single and retired. If you are not single then you need to put down the PC and spend more time with your spouse. If your not retired then you must be getting a check from Sonic. There has got to be some kind of communication between you guys and Roxio, at the least.

 

Here's another thought, hunch, theory, call it what ever, but I truly believe that all of us (any one that has bought and installed Version 9) have been the unwilling, unknowing and unpaid beta testers for Roxio to ahcieve their Vista certification. Think about it, what better way to test how a piece of software will really perform under the multitude of PC configurations than putting it in a multitude of PC configurations. It dosen't matter that 9.0 was here before Vista, it's called thinking ahead, strategic planning or sheer genius if you will. Some one needs to change the title of this subforum to, Easy Media Creator 9.1 Beta.

 

And to all the Guru's and Masters who will chime in and try to be the the backbone of Roxio, .

 

I'm not trying to be rude or anything like that. I just truely think there is more here than meet the eye.

 

Well, there is my rant for the month!

Yeah - how this wasn't picked up in testing I really have no idea. I'm a small-time software developer and have had small problems get past my testing but that's only because I work on my own and have few (read: no) testers. Plus: when a problem was found it was fixed the next day and the only software I've ever produced is freeware.

 

This is meant to be a Roxio support forum although their support here seems to be equivalent to that everywhere else on this issue: "Oh, just re-install it 10,000 times and you'll be great"!

 

This thread isn't really aimed at the general forum users; "Guru" or otherwise. It seems to me that Johnny-El-Roxio is the guy responsible for getting this mess sorted and he's had 6 months since an "untested" patch came out to solve the problem. I'd rather have that than nothing - how much worse... can it be? But nooo, they deleted the link as soon as someone actually tried to help everyone else by giving them it. That's what makes me think that they just don't want people accessing this codec.

 

Anyhoo: "Well said" isn't really a sentence - it doesn't have a noun-phrase and a verb-phrase.

[gi7omy]

You'll get the patch at the same time everyone else does - when is anyone's guess

 

Whether it will fix your activation 'problem' - who knows

[grandpabruce]

*BUMP*

 

Where is my patch??? - April? it is now the back-end of May! It seems blatantly obvious that Roxio don't want users activating MPEG-2 since it costs them more for each one that does.

 

Boy, that is a brilliant deduction.

 

I hope that the patch comes out soon.

[REDWAGON]

I am a part of that "guru" group that has been around for a while too. Not nearly as long as many of the others, however. Check some of the post numbers that many of the gurus have and you will see that there are some that have dedicated their free services on this forum to helping others for years. YES YEARS !!. And we are all volunteers, not employed by Roxio or Sonic. We love working with computers and helping others and I suggest that most of us have tried other similar programs (I myself have tried several others) and have always come back to EMC based on all the many wonderful things it can do.

 

I too have had problems with the various EMC versions, but I became a member of the forum to get some help. That has helped tremendously and I still have some problems now and then. But I still am able to keep pounding out great slideshows, making DVD's, archiving many of the personal files I have, working with all kinds of audio files, and many other great programs that EMC has in it's total works.

 

In the mean time, I will wait for Microsoft to get it's butt in gear with it's Vista operating system and get it in good working order (BTW, that may be something that never happens) and keep working with this forum to help others as best I can and let Roxio work with all of the many other program manufacturers they have to deal with, to get some of these problems fixed.

 

Frank..

[Nerus]

Yes, it is hard to set a deadline for the patch.

However, I think one solution would be posting a general description of processes that are needed to release a patch & what issues are causing the delay.

 

Nothing detailed, but just a general statement or description, ie., 'discovered issue with installer', 'discovered issue with burning'..etc..

 

Having an open communication is important, even if it's just to state that there's a delay due to something.

[grandpabruce]

(snip)

 

Just wondering Bruce! Are you or were you an english major or teacher?

This isn't the first time that you scholded some one about their grammer, punctuation and or wrighting skills.

And I had to look at your post to see if I spelled punctuation correctly.

 

Sorry to go off topic, just curious.

 

No, I am not an English major, and I am not a teacher. I was making a joke.

 

The post count, of most of the gurus, includes carry over posts from the boards, prior to when this one started in 2006. None of the gurus are paid by Roxio, and it doesn't matter to me whether or not you believe that.

[grandpabruce]

Well said

 

You should have put punctuation at the end of your sentence, during the editing of your post.

[pcdoctor]

I didn't mean to upset ANYBODY, if I did, I'm sorry. But if you step back and look at the big picture......

Out of the small percentage of the members here that will defend Sonic, most seem to be the Guru's. And I understand that I could post smilies all day until I achieve the Guru status. And a lot of us, and even the Newbies have been around since Adaptec. Regardless of how it appears, we do love the software and when vent with frustrations directed at Roxio the long time users of this forum will more often than not get defensive. And that makes you guys look like your PAID. You guys take this much to seriously and don't get out enough. If this is not your lively-hood then remember what your Dad used to say, "It's only a game".

 

So the next time you see some one Roxio bashing, try to understand where they are at and say nothing at all, and THEN see what happens. Try killing them with kindness.

[Ijar]

Are you asking for help? You don't give any computer info nor do you say much about what you were doing. If you can be more specific, you might get the problem fixed. Many times what you mention is due to a problem with conflicting software or a corrupt installation.

HAIL to all the GURUS I say..

For all your help..

Doing a grand job..

Thanks again..

Raji

[gi7omy]

We're not paid - we even have to buy our own beer - honestly

 

All anyone can tell you is what they have experienced themselves - and a lot haven't had that problem, or if they had, they fixed it with the 'clean install' routine. Yes, you may have to do it several times to get it to 'take' but we do know it exists and the only way any of us know how to fix it is the 'clean install'.

 

Now some people don't like being told that - that can't be helped but it's what's happening. There's very little, if anything, we can do to make them happy

[Nerus]

Sounding a bit condescending, but why not just make a general sticky that states,:

"all issues can be fixed with uninstall/install process. You might do need to do it a few times and there are no guarantees, but it's the only sure way."

[gi7omy]

Might help if people actually read them - you'd be surprised how many times we have to answer by saying 'go look at xxxx'

[Crash Override]

"Boy, that is a brilliant deduction". - Now here's me thinking sarcasm wasn't the american way. Besides as you can see - I'm not exactly a regular on these forums.

 

But yeah, some form of progress update would be nice, or even acknowledging that there's problem would be a start. They may well indeed see fit to keep the fault where it is and not fix it with this upcoming patch. It seems to suit them well enough.

 

I mean you're not telling me that installing a bad program twice or a hundred times isn't going to produce the same 2 or 100 bad results. It just smacks of complete dishonesty quite frankly. This is the last bit of roxio software I'm using. It's not a question of bad coding, it's a question of how badly the issue's been handled.

[Cigar52]

Any news as to a time frame for the patch?

[grandpabruce]

Any news as to a time frame for the patch?

 

We will all hear about it, at the same time. The last that I remember reading was sometime in April.

[barryware]

Yes, you may have to do it several times to get it to 'take' but we do know it exists and the only way any of us know how to fix it is the 'clean install'.

Insanity - Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results..

[Nerus]

Insanity - Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results..

 

Shotgun approach.

[grandpabruce]

I like the way they're focussing on Vista problems at the moment. Any problems with XP are due to 'old "creaking" installations'.

 

Well, I can tell you that this software has completely ruined a brand new installation of XP Professional. The DVD-RW tray won't open, driver XP-signing recognition malfunctions all the time, autorun won't work. This thing has basically destroyed my computer and it was only formatted a week ago. Uninstalling seems not to be a real option either since it's left such a huge mess behind.

 

Now, where's my friend Nero gone?

 

 

Did you do a "clean" install of XP? I never seen posts with the problems that you mentioned.