Cricut Now Wants Users to Pay Extra for Unlimited Use of the Cutting Machines They Already Own

[Captain Gecko]

Summary

 Cricut recently announced changes to their policy, expecting users to pay $10 a month for unlimited uploads, Which cannot be stored locally. Free users will be limited to 20 uploads a month. A lot of projects use 5 or 6+ uploads, severely limiting the use of the machines for free users. Previously crafters only needed to pay for access to cricuts images and projects. Storing locally is not an option without also using their cloud storage. 

 

Some users are attempting legal action against cricut. In the hopes of forcing the company to reverse their decision, or at least allow local storage of designs, without uploading.  

 

Quotes

Quote

 Over the weekend, people who own Cricut’s crafting machines—which are printer-like devices that can precisely slice up documents—learned of an upcoming update that will limit how often they can use the machines they’ve paid for. The company, whose cheapest machine is $180, will now start charging users a monthly subscription for unlimited printing, which prior to now had been free.

 

My thoughts

On the one hand, I feel disappointed by the company that was supposed to be "for crafters by crafters".  They are essentially forcing most users to either pay the subscription or be extremely limited for an expensive machine. On the other,  I understand servers are expensive to run. However they should allow users to store locally if they don't want/need the benefits of cloud storage. 

 

Sources

 https://gizmodo.com/cricut-now-wants-users-to-pay-extra-for-unlimited-use-o-1846477745 

 

https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/15/22332212/cricut-crafting-machine-design-space-upload-limit

[minibois]

Gotta admit, that's a really good business strategy. Haven't made enough from the customers purchase? Add another monetary barrier of entry.

 

At least users can do 20 cuts a month for free.. How ''''nice'''' of them.

[emosun]

If windows 10 was a printer

"look just get it out there! we'll bleed them dry later once they are stuck with it"

[Energycore]

Soon we'll have to pay a monthly subscription for each and every one of our PC components.

[WhitetailAni]

3 minutes ago, Energycore said:

Soon we'll have to pay a monthly subscription for each and every one of our PC components.

It'll be like the Tesla heated seat thing, except all CPUs will be the same core count and you can "upgrade" it by spending more money, e.g. increasing core count, increasing base and boost clock, and/or enabling hyperthreading.

 

[Energycore]

Just now, FakeKGB said:

It'll be like the Tesla heated seat thing, except all CPUs will be the same core count and you can "upgrade" it by spending more money, e.g. increasing core count, increasing base and boost clock, and/or enabling hyperthreading.

 

Thanks, I didn't want that sliver of hope anyway

[Blademaster91]

9 minutes ago, Energycore said:

Soon we'll have to pay a monthly subscription for each and every one of our PC components.

Oh no that would be terrible, imagine a CPU being locked to a dual core if you don't pay, or Nvidia charging a monthly fee to use ray tracing.

[Emily Young]

8 minutes ago, FakeKGB said:

It'll be like the Tesla heated seat thing, except all CPUs will be the same core count and you can "upgrade" it by spending more money, e.g. increasing core count, increasing base and boost clock, and/or enabling hyperthreading.

Intel has entered the chat.

[Video Beagle]

33 minutes ago, Sniperpaul296 said:

Free users will be limited to 20 uploads a month. A lot of projects use 5 or 6+ uploads, severely limiting the use of the machines for free users. Previously crafters only needed to pay for access to cricuts images and projects.

Could someone explain what this means to the interested passerbyer? Not just the issue at hand but what these do? Like, I know these things cut out shapes, but that's about it.

[Captain Gecko]

3 minutes ago, Video Beagle said:

Could someone explain what this means to the interested passerbyer? Not just the issue at hand but what these do? Like, I know these things cut out shapes, but that's about it.

Essentially that, they cut things, modern machines can cut everything from paper to vynl, and in some cases leather and even wood (to a point). They are used mainly by small businesses, but Cricut are targeted towards the everyday crafter. Their cutting machines allow you to cut things more precisely, allowing for better, more Intricate designs than using traditional crafting techniques. (I hope this explains it lol)  

[Radium_Angel]

18 minutes ago, Blademaster91 said:

Nvidia charging a monthly fee to use ray tracing.

This is nVidia we are talking about. It would be not fee/ray tracing, it'll be fee/Mhz of GPU power...

 

30 minutes ago, Energycore said:

Soon we'll have to pay a monthly subscription for each and every one of our PC components.

Dude! Shut up man! Do you know how many hardware vendors are on LTT's forums? Don't give them any ideas! 

[Statik]

I'm not sure if this is exactly new? My SO and mom both have a cricut and they've both payed $13CAD/mo for a while now.

[dalekphalm]

19 minutes ago, Statik said:

I'm not sure if this is exactly new? My SO and mom both have a cricut and they've both payed $13CAD/mo for a while now.

There is a free tier and paid tiers.

 

The Paid Tier gives you access to their Library of images and pre-made projects.

 

The free tier does not.

 

Up until now, you could upload unlimited images to the Design Space app (web app), which means you can make unlimited cuts.

 

Now, they will be changing it so that the free users can only upload 20 images per month. Now if you're a user who literally just cuts the same thing over and over again, you'll be okay. But most people are cutting new things each time. This will limit that significantly (to 20 jobs a month, best case scenario - less if each job as multiple images).

 

And there's no option to use local storage. You *must* upload an image to their servers to use it.

[Statik]

39 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

There is a free tier and paid tiers.

 

The Paid Tier gives you access to their Library of images and pre-made projects.

 

The free tier does not.

 

Up until now, you could upload unlimited images to the Design Space app (web app), which means you can make unlimited cuts.

 

Now, they will be changing it so that the free users can only upload 20 images per month. Now if you're a user who literally just cuts the same thing over and over again, you'll be okay. But most people are cutting new things each time. This will limit that significantly (to 20 jobs a month, best case scenario - less if each job as multiple images).

 

And there's no option to use local storage. You *must* upload an image to their servers to use it.

What I'm saying is, it's not like they just implemented the entire thing just now. There's always been a free, and paid tier, and I would dare say the vast majority of cricut owners already pay, because nobody buys a $300 craft machine to cut the same shape. It was 90% of the way there to begin with.

[dalekphalm]

2 minutes ago, Statik said:

What I'm saying is, it's not like they just implemented the entire thing just now.

No, but that's not the part.

2 minutes ago, Statik said:

There's always been a free, and paid tier, and I would dare say the vast majority of cricut owners already pay,

Wait a second, how can you possibly say that though? If you have some evidence that supports a majority of users being in the paid tier, I would definitely look at it.

2 minutes ago, Statik said:

because nobody buys a $300 craft machine to cut the same shape. It was 90% of the way there to begin with.

Okay but how does this have anything to do with your previous statement?

 

Of course people don't buy a $300 machine to cut out the same shape. That's what makes this incredibly unethical. They're forcing people to pay for their paid tier, without giving an alternative - literally all they need to do, is add an option to use locally stored images.

[Zodiark1593]

1 hour ago, Radium_Angel said:

This is nVidia we are talking about. It would be not fee/ray tracing, it'll be fee/CUDA core of GPU power...

 

Dude! Shut up man! Do you know how many hardware vendors are on LTT's forums? Don't give them any ideas! 

Fixed. Feel free to thank me.

 

[TetraSky]

Why do you even have to upload your design, to the servers, to use the machine... What added value does this bring to a user?

 

I'm assuming it's because of some bullshit like "by using this device, you agree that we own everything your create" ?

 

 

Edit : 

 

Wait, do you really have to be online ?
https://help.cricut.com/hc/en-us/articles/360034704133-Design-Space-for-Desktop-Offline-Feature-FAQ
It says you can cut while offline, which means that you wouldn't have to upload your design to their servers, no?

They also have guides on how to save offline

https://help.cricut.com/hc/en-us/articles/360033894014

But it's not clear whether you need to save the project online first and then "Copy" it offline?

[Kisai]

2 hours ago, FakeKGB said:

It'll be like the Tesla heated seat thing, except all CPUs will be the same core count and you can "upgrade" it by spending more money, e.g. increasing core count, increasing base and boost clock, and/or enabling hyperthreading.

 

Uh...

https://www.engadget.com/2011-08-15-the-intel-upgrade-service-once-again-charging-you-50-to-do-stu.html

Quote

Buy an Intel i3-2312M, i3-2102 or Pentium G622 and it just isn't powerful enough, you can grab a $50 upgrade card. Enter the card's code online and hidden capacity in your chip will suddenly become available for use.

 

1 hour ago, dalekphalm said:

There is a free tier and paid tiers.

 

The Paid Tier gives you access to their Library of images and pre-made projects.

 

The free tier does not.

 

Up until now, you could upload unlimited images to the Design Space app (web app), which means you can make unlimited cuts.

 

Now, they will be changing it so that the free users can only upload 20 images per month. Now if you're a user who literally just cuts the same thing over and over again, you'll be okay. But most people are cutting new things each time. This will limit that significantly (to 20 jobs a month, best case scenario - less if each job as multiple images).

 

And there's no option to use local storage. You *must* upload an image to their servers to use it.

The primary concern I noticed on Twitter was that this would completely obliterate using them for education, where you might iterate on the design or have more than one student in the class/patron at the library.

 

As it is, this is the kind of thing that would annoy people enough to block any updates and any new/replacement models downgraded. Imagine if the same thing happened with Xerox printers... oh wait. Xerox only lease/rents enterprise/high-volume printers, and they also do cloud stuff, but it's far more convoluted.

 

Anyway nobody says you need to use this specific device, but I guess it was popular with the maker community, and thus it will either force people to buy their own or group spaces to pay for it. Seems silly, but Adobe, Microsoft, AutoCad are already neck-deep in this kind of licence-cloud-storage stuff.

 

[WhitetailAni]

Just now, Kisai said:

Uh...

https://www.engadget.com/2011-08-15-the-intel-upgrade-service-once-again-charging-you-50-to-do-stu.html

Anthony pointed this out, also I was 5 when Sandy Bridge released.

[dalekphalm]

1 minute ago, Kisai said:

Uh...

https://www.engadget.com/2011-08-15-the-intel-upgrade-service-once-again-charging-you-50-to-do-stu.html

 

The primary concern I noticed on Twitter was that this would completely obliterate using them for education, where you might iterate on the design or have more than one student in the class/patron at the library.

This is exactly my concern. We use them at my Library - we have probably 5 or 6 Cricuts now.

 

I'm not sure whether we pay for the account at our Makerspace (since they might have need of the image library), but I'm fairly sure we don't pay for the other branches.

 

Either way, using their image library is usually not something we would need, since most designs are using other images (usually provided by the patron). So having to pay just to upload more than 20 images is very annoying.

1 minute ago, Kisai said:

As it is, this is the kind of thing that would annoy people enough to block any updates and any new/replacement models downgraded. Imagine if the same thing happened with Xerox printers... oh wait. Xerox only lease/rents enterprise/high-volume printers, and they also do cloud stuff, but it's far more convoluted.

The software has always had online check-ins, as far as I'm aware, and I do believe that there has been instances where it forced us to upgrade, whether we wanted to or not.

1 minute ago, Kisai said:

Anyway nobody says you need to use this specific device, but I guess it was popular with the maker community, and thus it will either force people to buy their own or group spaces to pay for it. Seems silly, but Adobe, Microsoft, AutoCad are already neck-deep in this kind of licence-cloud-storage stuff.

Cricuts are stupidly popular now. Michaels (pretty much the major home crafts store in Ontario) has an entire section dedicated to them and their accessories.

[Bombastinator]

I remember the thing came out and I looked at buying one but looked at the license and was like “nope. Sooo much nope”. Other folks said “but they won’t DO that! It will never get that bad!” I had already made that mistake with Gmail though. Yes it will always get absolutely as bad as it possibly can.  Looks like I was right.

[Video Beagle]

7 hours ago, Sniperpaul296 said:

Essentially that, they cut things, modern machines can cut everything from paper to vynl, and in some cases leather and even wood (to a point). They are used mainly by small businesses, but Cricut are targeted towards the everyday crafter. Their cutting machines allow you to cut things more precisely, allowing for better, more Intricate designs than using traditional crafting techniques. (I hope this explains it lol)  

Thanks that helps....my continued question is.. do you need to be online to use it? Like, can't you just input stuff to the machine directly? Is it worthless if you're not online, or have run out of the "20 cuts"?

[Arika]

5 minutes ago, Video Beagle said:

Thanks that helps....my continued question is.. do you need to be online to use it? Like, can't you just input stuff to the machine directly? Is it worthless if you're not online, or have run out of the "20 cuts"?

from their website, they have worded it in such a way that allows them to do what ever they like. So i'm going to so "no" 

 

Quote

How do I use Design Space for Desktop while offline?

To download and install the application, you'll need an internet connection. But once the application installed, you can choose to work offline any time. Just disconnect from your Wi-Fi network or unplug the Ethernet cable from your computer. You will still need to connect to the internet periodically to verify your Cricut Access subscription, synchronize content, and keep Design Space for Desktop up to date. 

Quote

Can I cut when I am not connected to the internet?

Yes. If you choose the option that saves your project to your computer and the cloud, you can edit and cut that project without an internet connection. You can even create and cut a brand-new project using the fonts, images, and patterns that were used in projects already saved to your computer.

Also, if you experience an internet disruption or server outage when you are working on an unsaved Canvas, you will still be able to edit and cut that Canvas. Save your project periodically as you work; it will be saved to your computer, but it will automatically sync online once your internet connection is restored.

 

Note: You will not be able to cut projects that include content you haven’t purchased (or that is not included with your Cricut Access plan). Purchases must be completed while connected to the internet, or must be part of your existing Cricut Access plan.

Quote

Can I upload images while not connected to the internet?

No. Uploading images for your project requires an internet connection.

 

[Drama Lama]

9 hours ago, emosun said:

If windows 10 was a printer

"look just get it out there! we'll bleed them dry later once they are stuck with it"

It’s even worse 

[AndreiArgeanu]

9 hours ago, Energycore said:

Soon we'll have to pay a monthly subscription for each and every one of our PC components.

If that would happen chances are 'totally legitimate' free permanent subscriptions will be released by definitely not hackers.