I got a chance to try it out yesterday, and I tried it again today but . . . it sounds wonky no matter what speakers I use (either hollow, bloated, tinny, sound coming from wrong places). I guess my HRTF is too far off. In terms of positional accuracy Dolby Headphone wins for me. In terms of actual quality Isone sounds better. As such I can't justify it at this time.
The only opinion I can offer is more HRTF profiles that may fix the sound issue and less obtrusive DRM. Yes, I echo the DRM concern. The DRM is more crippling than Windows DRM. It's not like the company has the almost guaranteed stability MS has either. If the company goes under, is sold, or ends up abandoned for whatever reason (owner passing for example) then the DRM may very well be locked to a machine that can never be upgraded or fixed.
If the software gets popular, it will get cracked - that's just a fact. This DRM though would turn me off even if it worked perfectly, and I imagine others would DL a cracked version out of spite.
Hi Shike,
First, thanks trying Out Of Your Head. And thanks for your review, really.
I always knew that since Out Of Your Head is dependent on HRTF compatibility, that there will be a segment of the population that it will simply not work well. I have listened to OOYH with some other people's HRTF which sound completely off to me, but I know they sound great to the person whose HRTF I as using.
That's why there is a trial version. If it doesn't work for you and you don't like it, that's totally fine and expected for some people. I wish there was a way to make it work well for everyone, but that's like saying I wish there was a way to make a pair of headphones that sounds good to everyone. Or using my "jeans" analogy again, I know there are people for which it will not be a good fit. One size does not fit all.
I really appreciate that you assumed it was an incompatibility with your HRTF rather than just saying it's bad software.
The only thing I ask is that people try it for themselves rather than hear that one person didn't like it, therefore it's no good or not worth trying.
At THE Show in Vegas this week, I can't tell you how many people that I gave demos to literally said, "Holy cr@p!!" when I played them a surround music track. Yes, a couple people were not impressed, but again overall, a majority of the people found that it worked well.
With regard to DRM:
DRM sucks! Yes, I wholeheartedly agree. So why should I have it if it sucks?
I would argue that the smaller the company, the more that piracy affects them. I know this has been said before, even in this thread, but every copy of my software stolen has a much bigger impact on my bottom line than a huge company like Microsoft. I don't buy the argument that someone who steals it would never have bought it in the first place. I think that if someone wanted it bad enough and they couldn't steal it, they would buy it.
Also, if someday my software gets popular enough and someone cracks it, that's OK because if it's popular enough to spend the time cracking it, I am probably selling enough copies such that a few stolen copies is not going to affect me as much as it would now.
Sure we could argue the pros and cons of DRM forever. It would not be the first time. But I decided it was important to me to try to protect my software. Will I potentially lose customers because of it? I am sure I will. But will I sell more copies because of it? I think so. Who knows, I could change my mind someday, but for now hopefully people will understand why it's there. Sure someone may steal it just to spite me or punish me for having DRM, but I don't know if that same person would voluntarily send me money if I made it donation-ware to reward me for the lack of DRM.
Or if you are worried about the future of me or my company, you could wait until we release something on the App Store or the Google Play Store. Then you could feel secure that Apple or Google will be around to help you with your licenses if I die.
But seriously, thank you for taking the time to give Out Of Your Head a try. That's all I ask. I think negative feedback is the best way to improve and grow and learn.