Whatever the approach, once any trial period is over the author expects you to make a donation or pay a registration fee to carry on using the software, although this fee is generally a lot lower than the cost of commercial releases because shareware authors' overheads are much lower - generally no commercial premises need to be rented or teams of staff paid, for instance. However, most let it run for 30 days before timing out, or provide a slightly reduced feature set, occasional bursts of low-level noise, 8-bit rather than 16-bit or 24-bit support, or add increasingly frustrating nag screens to encourage you to do the right thing.
Some shareware authors let you download the full version with no restrictions and trust you to be honest enough to make a small donation if you carry on using the software. Strictly speaking, shareware is copyrighted software that you can try before you part with any money and, unlike the demo versions available from commercial developers, you can normally download the full version to try out. The difference between freeware and shareware is fairly obvious - developers want you to pay for the latter - but the difference between shareware and full commercial software releases is becoming increasingly blurred. We round up some of the best on the current PC music shareware scene.īack in SOS July 2004 I rounded up some of the best freeware available for the PC musician, but mentioned that if you were prepared to indulge your credit card a little there was lots more low-cost software available as shareware. Shareware might be cheap, but it can also make you very cheerful. You can't always judge a book by its cover, and this is definitely true of Audiomulch, whose 'interactive musician's environment' is incredibly flexible and user-friendly for anyone who wants to create new sounds.