Problem converting PT12 EDU license to regular license
 

A friend who has now graduated (so no longer a student) has a PT12 EDU license with annual upgrade plan.

The upgrade plan is about to expire (on 22nd April 2017).

My friend bought an annual upgrade plan renewal from Sweetwater, but when he tries to apply the activation code from within his Avid account, it says that the code is not valid.

He then contacted Avid. A support person there is telling him that it is not possible to upgrade from an EDU license to a regular one by buying a regular upgrade plan and applying it to his Avid account, saying that it is necessary to purchase a reinstatement plan at $299.

This seems totally at odds with everything I know about the subject. Certainly I was able to upgrade my two Pro Tools 12 licenses from EDU to regular just by buying the regular annual upgrade plan.

I can't find any information either here or on Avid's site to say that licensing T&C have changed.

It would mean that all ex EDU users would have to pay $299 as soon as their EDU plan expires to keep PT current.

Can anyone confirm what the current position is? Jeffro? Southside? Any other Mod?

Re: Problem converting PT12 EDU license to regular license
 

It certainly seems like the Pro Tools Upgrade Reinstatement Plan is the only option from what I can tell. I've sent a message to Avid for clarification. Thanks.

Re: Problem converting PT12 EDU license to regular license
 

Hey Nigel,

Welcome back :-)

The Stig is on the case and you will have an answer swiftly.

Re: Problem converting PT12 EDU license to regular license
 

Thanks guys ;-)

Yeah, I've been pretty silent recently, dealing with some serious ill health in the family, so not much time to hang out here.

Plus felt I'd probably said more than my fair share ;-)

It just seems most odd that Avid would change T&C so that as soon as students graduate, they have to pay $299 to get onto a regular upgrade plan.

I definitely only paid the $99 to 'convert' both my EDU licenses to regular.

I've spent an hour or so trawling the FAQs and other parts of Avid's site, but can find nothing that clarifies it.

Just so we are 100% clear...

My friends PT12 license is perpetual, bought with EDU eligibility, and his upgrade plan is current at the moment.

The upgrade plan due to run out in three days time, but he should then have the 30 days grace that we all get before it would be a case of buying a reinstatement license.

If he tries to renew via his Avid account, that only gives him the option to renew with EDU eligibility, and that would require him to prove he is still eligible, which he is not, as he graduated last summer.

I was away at the time, so he couldn't contact me to ask my advice. He bought an annual upgrade plan from Sweetwater instead, assuming that would work, but when he tries to apply the activation code within his Avid account he gets a message saying that it isn't a valid code.

I can see nothing in any of the DUC posts here in the licenses section to suggest that anyone else has come across this problem. I suspect there would have been plenty of people talking a lot about it if Avid had quietly changed the T&C so that former students could no longer upgrade without paying a reinstatement penalty.

So it seems quite odd.

Re: Problem converting PT12 EDU license to regular license
 

All the best to you and your family.

I've been trawling too, but couldn't find anything. I may very well have missed it, but hopefully someone from Avid will chime in soon.

Re: Problem converting PT12 EDU license to regular license
 

It definitely used to be the case that after your student life was over, you just bought a regular upgrade plan, or upgrade and support plan, whichever you wanted.

I did it myself with two licenses.

Asking ex students to pay the reinstatement fee, when their plan is up for renewal, rather than the regular renewal fee, seems most odd.

Talk about kicking them where it hurts when they are just stating out.

Re: Problem converting PT12 EDU license to regular license
 

CS has been handling these, so I can chase this one down to see what went wrong. We just don't have the mechanism (yet) to provide this option via Avid account like other renewals.

Re: Problem converting PT12 EDU license to regular license
 

Any news yet? My friend is now in the grace period for renewal. If there has been a change in policy and ex students now have to pay the $299 reinstatement fee instead of a standard $99 renewal fee I suspect he'll be passing and letting his upgrade plan lapse.

What's changed?

Re: Problem converting PT12 EDU license to regular license
 

Our rep responded to the case on 4/25, so please ask your friend to check their email (including junk/spam) and reply to the case notice.

Re: Problem converting PT12 EDU license to regular license
 

Thanks for the update Jeffro. My friend is running a session at the moment but will speak to me later this evening. He hadn't looked closely at the rep's response as he knew you were also looking into it.

Will update further when I know more.