[jasonkalman]

Like many, I've come to accept that I am paying $399 a year to use Pro Tools. Updates seem to be a nice welcome surprise. OS compatibility is also a nice surprise but at the end of the day, we are paying to use the latest version of Pro Tools, whatever that means. $3,999 over 10 years is no small price, especially for those that don't make any money using the software. I think many of us are stuck, because so many of our songs or (for some) clients songs are tied to Pro Tools. Transferring them over to another DAW is extremely time consuming and not always easy to do so we stick with Pro Tools. So yeah, many of us have just accepted that although the fee is unfair, what is the alternative? If I let my subscription lapse, eventually I won't be able to open my files if I ever plan on updating my OS, which I do down the road, in a year or so.

I'd estimate that since Avid started the subscription model, updates have decreased at least 50% or more. The difference between Pro Tools 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 were significant. What have we gotten in the last few years with the subscription? Not a whole lot. Not even the equivalent of a jump between the old numbering system. Avid is definitely on the way to irrelevance and bankruptcy. Why? Because the new generation of audio engineers don't use it. Avid is living off the older generation of audio engineers. I don't even know what Avid or Pro Tools will look like in 10 years. Who knows it might get bought out by Apple or someone with the resources to do something with it. If Apple bought Pro Tools, they could own not only the bedroom musicians, but they could own the professional users. Maybe with their resources they could resurrect Pro Tools to its former glory. I imagine if something like that happened, it would be merged with Logic. Or maybe UA could buy Pro Tools. Something needs to change and Avid doesn't seem equipped to make the leap.