First of all, Hookpad and Theorytab are great in that many features are available to free users.
But why have Plus? Other than to make an extra $5 per month, why? Why force people to pay if they want to make tabs with more than one melody playing at the same time? Or looping the same part over and over again? Or TUTORIALS. WHY DO YOU HAVE TO PAY $5 FOR AN ONLINE TUTORIAL THAT SOMEONE CAN WRITE UP FOR FREE.
Same thing with exporting WAV files. You could easily do that with a free screen recorder and convert the mp4/avi/whatever to WAV.
@bigyihsuan As you noted, we try to make as much as we can free so that Hooktheory is useful even to those who can’t afford a Plus membership. That said, all this cool stuff takes time and money to develop and maintain. We gotta pay the bills. Our Plus members help support Hooktheory’s further improvements. We also think for the price it’s a great value.
Re: “You could easily do that with a free screen recorder and convert the mp4/avi/whatever to WAV.”
Hmm, I was aware of that but there are more features such as MIDI export, and I personally was pleased enough to consider the system worthy of support and to strongly recommend it to people who I hope will subscribe.
The software is a service from which I obtained a valuable educational experience; dedicated persons maintain it and must pay infrastructure/utilities to keep it going; there’s interesting research, resources, and community contributions growing out of it; it’s innovative and has made an avenue of creative endeavor much more accessible to many.
Quality software development alone is problem-solving and challenging mental work. It burns not only calories but also the finite candle of a man’s life. If it were easy and truly cost-free, then everyone could do it.
Now, if cost is a serious issue to you because of your personal circumstances, you might consider seeking out or forming a small social group of dedicated musical friends to very respectfully share a subscription. Or maybe you’ll find some other solution. Persist, believe in yourself, and I’m sure you’ll find a way.