A question about licenses and subscriptions

[Paul Siu]

Hi,

I read through the FAQ and it indicated that you can need to buy separate license for firefox and chrome. This is fine since I am pretty sure they require separate development. However, I have some further questions.

1.  How many installs can do I for each license. Keep in mind that I am the only one using it, but I have lots of machines. Just wondering about the terms of the license.
2. Is the license specific to platform, too? If I buy Firefox license, can I use it on a Mac or Linux Firefox?
3. There appears to be a youtube download limitation on Chrome version. I can understand that this is imposed by Google. Will this limitation also stand if you use it on a non-google Chromium browser like Brave?
4. In the post, there are a lot of people talking about losing their license. What does this license look like? Couldn't I just save the license key into my server for backup?
5. I am assuming license is a lifetime? There were talks in the post about subscriptions.
6. Can you explain the conversion feature that is available on the premium? I don't think I have ever used it.

Thanks.

[Wild Willy]

In addition to the FAQ on the VDH web site, there is also this:

https://groups.google.com/g/video-downloadhelper-q-and-a/c/BzPLK2YyL-s

If you do a string search for "philosophy" in there, you'll find a link to a discussion
that probably covers much of what you want to know. To get to your questions
specifically...

1. In one sense, as many as you want. But in another sense, when you reach 6 installs,
the license locks up. This is explained in the thread whose link I just gave. Search on
"lock" in there.

2. No and yes. The license is for each browser so, for example, you can use the same
Firefox license on Windows & Mac. But there is no license on Linux. Michel (the
developer) loves Linux. He develops VDH on Linux. So he coddles the Linux community by
not insisting on a license on Linux.

3. You are sort of correct. But the only supported browsers are Firefox, Chrome, & Edge.
If you get it to work on anything else, like Brave (or Waterfox, Safari, Opera, etc.), it
is considered a hack & you'll be on your own. Maybe it will work, maybe it won't. Don't
look for any help if it fails & consider yourself lucky if it works.

4. The license comes in an E-mail which you should keep. Back it up to a server if you
like. That sounds like a good idea. There's also an invoice, which you should keep.
There's more information about that in the "philosophy" discussion above. If you lose
your license, you can get it back using a link you can find in the thread whose link I
gave above. String search on "lost" in there.

5. Yes. The subscriptions refer to a state of affairs that no longer is true. The
Chrome license used to be managed as a subscription through Google Pay. But Google
discontinued the service a while ago so VDH had to react. The Chrome license is now just
like the Firefox & Edge licenses.

6. Conversion is a rather obsolete term. It refers to the way VDH used to work in older
releases. But Mozilla changed the architecture of the interface between the browser &
extensions a while ago. If memory serves, it was somewhere around Firefox release 57.
They called it Quantum. We're up to Firefox 99.0 these days so that's ancient history.
VDH had to be more or less rewritten to continue to function after that sea change.
You've missed all the fun. Be grateful. The VDH web site has not been updated to
reflect a lot of these changes. That's what prompted the appearance of the thread whose
link I gave above.

Welcome to the community!

[Paul Siu]

I thank you for your informative answer. I will see if I could purchased the product. My main concern was that the license would be restricted to one machine and that if that machine died the license will go away, too (I actually had this happen for a different software). 

[Wild Willy]

I don't want to discourage you from buying a license but you should understand that VDH
is not guaranteed to work on every web site. The situation is rather chaotic around the
web for the presentation of media content, what with there being no fixed standard. It's
actually a bit surprising that VDH works on as many sites as it does. But VDH does work
without a license. You should make sure it works on the sites on which you want to use
it before you pay for a license. If VDH doesn't work on a given site, buying a license
will not make it work. The license doesn't affect whether VDH works or fails on any
given site. Give it a free test drive before you lay down your cash.

[Paul Siu]

I actually have tested several solution and is aware of the limitation, and vdh appears to work better than most of its competitors. I am mostly purchasing license to support the author. However, if I am purchasing the software, I want to make sure that the license actually fit my needs. I don't want to support obnoxious licensing.

[Wild Willy]

No obnoxious software & no obnoxious people here. Welcome aboard!