It changes in that using this temporal license is actually legal.

Reaper is NOT legally usable for free for an unlimited time, it’s just that the software doesn’t include any kind of protective measure or DRM to check, because its creators think that the kind of measures that actually work (iLoks, remote authorisation procedures, etc) cause inconvenience to the legal users, which are the ones that should NOT be paying for others trying to pirate the software. So they instead trust the users to respect the licenses that they offer (trust policy).

Usually you can try Reaper for free for 60 days (not “indefinately” as you say), and then you have to buy either a discounted license for $60 (if you don’t use Reaper for profit or your yearly gross revenue doesn’t exceed $20,000) or a normal license for $225.

Any other use of Reaper is illegal (such as “trying” it for free for more than 60 days, or using the discounted license for creating audio/music that you make a profit from, while having a yearly gross revenue above $20,000), they are NOT granting you the right to do that, and the fact that the software doesn’t include any kind of protective measure to enforce that license to be respected doesn’t change that fact at all.

So the difference is that they are granting everyone ACTUALLY LEGAL RIGHT to use the software for free until June 1st with this temporal free license.

Cheers!

Yup! https://bedroomproducersblog.com/2020/03/21/waveform-free/