Employing a Freemium model without having a strong path to the "mium" part (i.e. converting free users to paid users) is a weak model. In this case, it didn't

Employing a Freemium model without having a strong path to the "mium" part (i.e. converting free users to paid users) is a weak model. In this case, it didn't even sound like a real freemium model anyways - a free version and a paid version of the same one-time purchase is a pretty weak place to start with freemium. Better would have been to giveaway the first purchase and then aggressively upsell on an annual subscription offering that included variations for all holidays or something similar. By offering a free one-time purchase and positioning it against a paid one-time purchase you are making it too easy for people to choose free. Especially when they have to figure out if the higher res and other extras are worth the extra $$. Free is always a no brainer. In this case, it sounds a bit like the OP was giving away the razor and the blades in the freemium version, and better blades in the paid version. With a little bit more thinking and tinkering, I bet the author could get freemium working to his advantage.