Re: Letter to PocketPC Mag

[jamesryan]

Hello

I'm sending you this letter in response to an article printed in your March Magazine.
I have religiously purchased your magazine since I acquired my first PDA, and find that your review and comments are honest and insightful.
But all this changed last week.

Based on the article "SnapStream Personal Video Station" By Diane Alicia Dumas all this creditability is now lost.

On her recommendation is went forth an spent a large sum to buy a product she recommend. Well now I ask you "Did she even test the product?"

Having installed and faced the enormous amount of issues in implementing this application I went back and re-reading the article. I now find most of her information listed and even written are sourced directly from the SnapStream web site.
There are so many blatant mistakes\missing detail that I honestly don't believe she even loaded the software.

The article never mentions a single "Bug" or problem, Yet if you would only spend 5 minutes on the support boards you will see the huge amount of disappointed customers and a COMPLETE AND TOTAL lacking of response \ customer support from SnapStream.

Half the stated features ARE NOT AVALIABLE, and the rest and completely bug riddled. Most companies call this type of software BETA and release it free.
Well I paid $150 dollars for it based on:
1 - Downright false claims this application \ Company is making.
2 - And an article printed in your magazine

I understand there is nothing you as PC Magazine can do about this, But there is something you can do about the article.
As a starting point can I suggest INSTALL and USE the application.

James Ryan
Please Note: I will also post this letter on the SnapStream Web Site.

[Hurl]

Interesting letter. You struck a chord with me when you made the point... Umm, heck, you made no point. Can you list specifics?

I bought, loaded and run SnapStream. I use it every day. I am extremely pleased with it so far.

Again, maybe you could be s*p*e*c*i*f*i*c with your complaints and someone would help you resolve them.

[zigguratt]

Uh, Hurl... take a quick look around here and you'll see MANY people expressing similar sentiments. Normally we're ignored by SS. In James' case it actually took writing a letter of complaint to a magazine to get a response from the SnapStream people. Can you believe THAT?!

If you're wondering why I'm still here it's because I was foolish enough to pay for the software in the hope that SS would re-enable support for codecs other than the horrendous WMV set. I'm sure they're fine if you just want to watch TV on your iPaq but they're certainly FAR lower quality than MJPEG or MPEG2, AND we get the added bonus of huge CPU load. What a deal.

I'm wandering in and out here just to see if they're even thinking of moving toward this support. So far it seems not: they're apparently doing a complete rewrite of the code in an object model. Welcome to the '80s, SnapStream!

[Hurl]

I've lodged complaints against SS myself. My point is that his letter to the magazine listed no detail. It does not stand on its own.

[giab382]

I have same issue, I am also writing to PC magazine. This is a rubbish product which was released to quickly make money without checking if the product is ready for customers. Every thing is letf for customers to buy and do experiment and spend there valuable hours on such product. I strongly say NOT to buy this product and spend there hard earning on the thing which is not ready.

[DigitalMad]

I purchased SnapStream and am EXTREMELY pleased with it. It has worked beautifully for me!
For this ability I am more than happy to pay the price, which isn’t unreasonable.

If you want a magazine to decide how you spend your money, why not just send them your cash and see what you get. I’ve spent months on the SnapStream forums and testing the free versions, which is a generous opportunity. I have read all the complaints, and quite honestly, I think your whining sucks.

The product is good, and will only get better. The staff obviously reads the forums, and with that comes opportunity that our constructive input will influence future versions. I definitely do not want to see the developers get burnt out by you, and lose their passion for this great product.

SnapStream, your happy customers are out here, we may be too busy enjoying your software to argue on your forums, but rest assured, we are here!

[PBMax]

The free version is available for you to test. If the free version didn't work why would the full version work? Try before you buy. That is the reason for the free version in the first place.