If there’s one thing that really hacks me off it’s companies who play the freeware game as a marketing tool, to fool you into thinking you’re getting something you’re not. Sleaze-ware I call it.
Mufin MusicFinder Base is a classic example. Visit the Magix site – a German company – and you’ll find the program listed under a Free Software section, alongside a separate category called Trial Versions. Oh you think, a nice freeware MP3 player, and so you download and install.
But little do you know that lurking inside the heart of this piece of garbage is a €19.00 license fee requirement, and you’re actually using a trial version. A SEVEN DAY trial version at that, unless you register for an extension.
Oh sure, the trial version has all the Pro features enabled, but nowhere do they tell you what the baseline features are, and what you’ll lose after the 7 days are up. In fact there’s no mention of the word trial anywhere on the sales site AT ALL, and the word Free Software is prominent on the main product page.
And even the URL supports the illusion –
http://www.magix.com/us/free-downloads/free-software/mufin-musicfinder-base/
This is stupid and underhand marketing at its worst and it’s the sort of thing that eventually annoys people so much they stop buying from that brand. I will be avoiding this company in future. You can make your own call.
This is Petar from mufin. We have removed the registration requirement in the new version of the Mufin MusicFinder, its also called "mufin player" now. Its a (really) free download and has also a lot of other new interesting features, you can check it out at http://www.mufin.com