Passkey is a great alternative of AnyDVD. I have buy 1-year license for 50% off.

Daphne: Interesting. I googled Passkey vs. AnyDVD and the consensus seems to be that AnyDVD is better. DVD Fab (the company that produces Passkey) is subject to the same issues as SlySoft, so neither product is any more "protected" than the other.

I'll stick to AnyDVD.

Cheers, Julian

Slysoft’s resurrection RedFox announced that they will have to make the previous customers repay for the incarnated RedFox products. Although they said there would be some discounts offered, I was still pissed off as a lifetime subscriber who has been supporting it for damn so many years. Why not just honor your reputation by honoring your old loyal customers, RedFox? This is absolutely not the business practice I am expecting from a well-known company.

This is pure scam. I see there are naive people who believe Slisoft closed, employees laid off, etc. The old fairy tale. The question is - my money back 109 euros for a lifetime license or not? Something tells me that no one, do not return anything.

Ailsa: First, since you couldn't be bothered to link to the announcement about RedFox charging for the new AnyDVD HD, I will: you can read it here.

Second, in reading that initial post -- and I'll admit to not reading too many of the follow-on comments -- it seems they want to move to a subscription model. Personally speaking? Good for them. The lifetime licensing option essentially was a pyramid scheme: updates to the app are only paid for by new purchasers, and once those started drying up, no income.

And being in the software biz where the company I work for sells its products on a subscription model, your throwaway "I was still pissed off as a lifetime subscriber who has been supporting it for damn so many years" made me laugh incredulously out loud. You paid them $X or €X "many years" ago, and then what? Supported them by downloading the updates once every couple of weeks? Wow, what support. It really puts the bread on the developers' table, that. Let's see: I bought my lifetime subscription in May 2008 for $62.30 (it must have been some one-off deal at the time, I can't recall) and haven't paid them a cent since. (Now I looked it up, that makes me feel somewhat guilty: in the end, SlySoft got, essentially, $8 a year out of me for so many updates, I didn't even refresh every notification I got.)

In conclusion: a subscription model for an app I depend on and use regularly --- oh look, Amazon UK just sent me four more Region 2 DVD sets to play -- is fine by me. And the prices quoted are extremely reasonable. A scam it is not.

Cheers, Julian

Hello, may I add my opinion? If you laugh out loud that a company does not have to honour its contracts when they see fit I think their is something wrong with you personally. I have spent thousands over the last decade on their software (Slysoft) and have been using it for over 13 years. (Yes, I know it goes quick) But due to their "closure" (new logo more like) and not even an email from Gordon to announce it, I believe this is nothing more than a scam. I lost my temper with the forum mods last night on the new RedFox.bz Forums, and was given around 5 warnings for my use of language. Then this morning when I tried to log in, I was greeted with your ip has been banned. Thus, making me feel that this is even more of a scam than I originally thought. I've contacted PayPal to see if they can get my money back, and hopefully they will.

Also the source code for the programs that they are going to be selling does not belong to them either, even more proof it is a scam.

I think even Elby are starting to distance themselves from them.

Just my two cents....

A warning to those who are considering purchasing any product of theirs in future. Be careful, these sort of scams seem to be the norm now in the software industry. They got closed down for Piracy, and now they seem to promote it even, it wont be long before it happens again.. Kind regards

@Private: Sure you can add your opinion.

• "If you laugh out loud that a company does not have to honour its contracts when they see fit I think their is something wrong with you personally." Unless I missed something, SlySoft is dead (hence the title of my blog post). Sure it's fun to throw in unsubstantiated gossip that they're still there under their new name, but that's all it is. In the general, I agree with you; in the particular, I think you are misled.

• "I have spent thousands over the last decade on their software (Slysoft)..." Bloody hell, not sure what you spent $200+ per year on (assuming $2000 over 10 years) -- as mentioned above I spent $62.30 once and once only -- but you have my sympathy.

• "nothing more than a scam" Sorry, disagree, the news as reported makes sense to me. Doesn't have to be a scam. Unsubstantiated opinion.

• "lost my temper [...] been banned" Tough. It's their site, their forums, they can ban who they like. Piss them off, or to quote them, "enough with the foul language, threats and other things", you're gone. Nothing to do with being a scam or being legit.

• "the source code for the programs that they are going to be selling does not belong to them either" Says you without any proof at all. I could just as easily state that SlySoft was just the business arm of the developers of the software and now they're setting up another business arm in another country, and be just as convincing as you and with just as much proof.

As to your warning, it seems you have a chip on your shoulder about software, software companies in particular, and this perceived slight has been annoying you for a while. SlySoft/RedFox is just the latest incarnation. Oh well. C'est la vie.

Cheers, Julian

I have been an LTL holder of all the Slysoft products for a decade or more. The rebranded Slysoft is a scam! It's developers are trying very hard to convince people that they are being honest but they are not. Are we to believe the software, all the users info, and the website all just mysteriously fell into the other company members hands with no prior communication from the owner. They knew the closure was coming and they planned for it and saw it as an opportunity. It's a load of crap and now when someone post on that redfox forum if the clowns with deletion abilities don't like the posting they delete it. It's a butt kissing contest on the forum. Moderators are to cowardly to say anything, but with good reason they won't have to pay Slysoft/redfox fo their use of the software.

I'm personally cheesed off with RedFox's pricing. After promises of discounts for previous license holders, my lifetime license that I purchased just 9 months ago is dead and I am received NO ADDITIONAL DISCOUNT. I have to pay the full amount, less the 20% promo they are currently offering. So anyone that paid the extra for a lifetime license in the recent past (excluding those from December 2015 onwards that they are giving a free 1 year license to) are seriously out-of-pocket. That's no way to treat their customer base. And yes, I do say their, for it is the same developers using the same code, just under a different name.

An item I have not seen discussed is what type of privacy can customers expect? Will the customer list ever be compromised to outside parties? Must we use anonymous VPNs and Bitcoins for total anonymity/privacy/protection?

It is a calculated risk to repurchase a lifetime license. However, if we assume the new company will last at least as long as the old one, the yearly rate works out to be a real bargain, compared to the sum of several yearly licenses. And, currently you would be "getting in" at the very beginning, so your overall savings might be even more.

So, both pros and cons to consider.