Trying to Understand Faithlife CONNECT
I'm a long-time Logos user (11 years) and every now and then I get an itch to look into the Logos Now / Faithlife Connect subscription model. A few minutes ago I scratched that itch (sort of) and started the 14 day subscription. I would appreciate answers to these questions...
- Moments after starting the trial my library was updated with 81 resources. I assume these are resources that come with Faithlife Connect Essentials and will disappear once the trial ends if I do not begin the subscription. Right?
- Is it just me, or is there very little information out there about the details of Connect vs. owning? I'm surprised as to how little this Faithlife Connect forum is used. Could not find a single YouTube video on Connect.
- True or False: The size of one's library is not a factor in deciding whether to rent or not? (I have just under 4,000 resources)
- I just noticed on my "About Logos" page that it shows Features: Logos Cloud. Is that a result of the Connect trial? (really haven't noticed it before)
- With Connect, is there more cloud-based functions than if one owns the feature sets?
- Would love to hear feedback on those of you who have considered in the past whether or not to move from buy to rent and what factors led to your decision to subscribe or not.
- Since this particular forum seems to get little use, would I get more responses if I posted this under the General forum?
Thanks in advance,
Ralph
Comments
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Ralph Wood said:
my library was updated with 81 resources. I assume these are resources that come with Faithlife Connect Essentials and will disappear once the trial ends if I do not begin the subscription
Correct - some of the connect "temporary licenses" include Osborne's Verse-by-Verse commentaries that are excellent
Ralph Wood said:very little information out there about the details of Connect vs. owning?
There was quite a bit of information before it transitioned from "now" to "Connect"
Ralph Wood said:The size of one's library is not a factor in deciding whether to rent or not?
True
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Ralph Wood said:
I assume these are resources that come with Faithlife Connect Essentials and will disappear once the trial ends if I do not begin the subscription. Right?
I don't know if they ALL are from your subscription... but you can check by adding and checking the "license" column in the library. If they are from the subscription, they will say "temporary."
Ralph Wood said:Is it just me, or is there very little information out there about the details of Connect vs. owning? I'm surprised as to how little this Faithlife Connect forum is used. Could not find a single YouTube video on Connect.
I don't know what good a YouTube video would be other than as a commercial. What questions do you have?
Ralph Wood said:True or False: The size of one's library is not a factor in deciding whether to rent or not?
I think the answer to the questions under the question is "true."
Ralph Wood said:Would love to hear feedback on those of you who have considered in the past whether or not to move from buy to rent and what factors led to your decision to subscribe or not.
For me, the single most important feature of Logos is a digital search library. I do have a FC subscription, which is less expensive than ownership of the features. I do understand that I lose the features if my subscription ends... but I don't lose my books. I might feel a bit diffeerntly if I didn't own ANY features, but I have purchases which pre-date FC so those features are already "mine."
Ralph Wood said:Since this particular forum seems to get little use, would I get more responses if I posted this under the General forum?
This is the right forum, but the general forum does get more traffic. Normally you should post questions in the appropriate forum. If you simply want to know if others subscribe or not, you would get more responses in the general forum... but I don't know how much value that would be to you. Those who like to subscribe do so. Those who prefer to own, do so. Those who prefer not to spend any money, do so. Most people's answers will fall into their own preference category.
What is your hesitancy in subscribing? What feature sets do you already own (if any)? What is your "cost of ownership" in the L10 Full Feature Set?
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Thanks David and JT ... Some follow-up information on my part...
Thanks for educating me on the license column in the library. All 81 of the updated resources are "temporary".
It's not that I have a lot of questions - nor am I necessarily hesitant about subscribing. I just wanted to know as much as I could to help make the decision.
I purchased the Logos 10 Full Feature Upgrade in Oct 2022 for $203. Prior to that I purchased the Logos 9 Silver Feature Upgrade for $165. So, I am in good shape as far as that goes.
Sounds like it is a low/no risk situation for me to subscribe for a year and go from there.
Thanks - Ralph
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Ralph Wood said:
I purchased the Logos 10 Full Feature Upgrade in Oct 2022 for $203. Prior to that I purchased the Logos 9 Silver Feature Upgrade for $165. So, I am in good shape as far as that goes.
Sounds like it is a low/no risk situation for me to subscribe for a year and go from there.
Your context gives me a place to advise you. One of the most significant reasons to subscribe is to gain access to features... which you have already purchased. You will have to consider the OTHER benefits of FC to see if it is worth it. For me personally, it would not be... but again, you should consider the other benefits. For example, do you use the mobile ed courses? If so, then that benefit might be worth it for you.
If I were in your shoes, I'd wait until L11 to decide if you want to buy or subscribe.
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JT (alabama24) said:
If I were in your shoes, I'd wait until L11 to decide if you want to buy or subscribe.
Agree strongly with JT. You would not be gaining much since you already paid for the features. Wait until 11.
I will add this: I figured out that as long as the software is updated every two years with new features that are not free, it is cheaper in the long run to use Logos Connect. I would wait until the day Logos 11 comes out (probably October 2024).
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I do hope you are also taking advantage of a few other benefits from the subscription.
1. FREE ebooks. Yes, they are all older, public domain books, but there are still some very good ones. You'll be able to "purchase" THREE of them each month using the code Logos gives you (the code in the same each month except you obviously change the month abbreviation). To get the most bang for your buck, I suggest sorting from highest to lowest price. Do not forget about some of the multivolume dictionaries and encyclopedias. Also, try sorting them by newest to see what new things have just been added. Generally speaking, most of their community pricing public domain packages will be added (though you have to buy them individually with the coupon).
2. 6-month "rental" of ANY (or almost any?) mobile ed course. Go crazy and check out that $579 course. Keep in mind that you will only be able to access it for 180 days from the date you use the coupon, and you can only one coupon from Jan-Jun, and another from Jul-Dec (or two each, if you get the more $$ subscription).
3. 25% discount of Logos books from Lexam Press (print or digital). They give you a coupon code for that. This only seems to work from Lexam's website.
4. It does come with Faithlife TV. I like Faithlife TV for watching my mobile classes - I don't like watching the videos in Logos itself. I'll have a web browser opened to Faithlife TV on one monitor, and then Logos up on the other. You'll be able to access all your classes this way whether or not you are a subscriber. Included with your subscription are a handful of movies and documentaries. Most of the movies are also available on Youtube and other streaming sites for free, but there are a few included documentaries that are interesting.
Personally, I think Faithlife TV could use a major overhaul. I don't know if you've ever tried out Amazon Prime's movies, but I did before and it's an eyesore opening it up and seeing rows and rows of movies and half of them say "buy or rent" on them. Faithlife TV is like that. It would be nice to have the option to only see what is free to me to watch, whether it was purchased or is included with my subscription. I did find it a little odd that many of their inhouse productions (like the ones about Michael Heiser's works) are $15 or $20 on Faithlive TV but you can go to Logos' Youtube and watch them for free.
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Donnie said:
I do hope you are also taking advantage of a few other benefits from the subscription.......
....And you forgot at least one: there's a 2% rebate on all the money spent over the course of a year on Faithlife products (there may be some things carved out, like PrePubs or gift cards) - this will be calculated by FL, rounded up and given as a coupon by February, to be used until May or something on that timeline. Several people on the forums testified that this more than covered the subscription cost for them and everything else was "extra" - the value of this of course depends on how much money you spend with FL. It is a nice thing and may help taking advantage of March Matchups or such larger sales events.
Have joy in the Lord!
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The benefits that I mainly use are
- Free eBooks (although I have already picked off this list most things that I am itnerested in)
- 25% discount on Lexham Press
- 2% rebate (for me, this is the biggest benefit)
- Faithlife TV (I agree this needs a major overhaul and assume that it is just a matter of time until FL ends this service)
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