whats the difference between regular pro tools and pro tools 9 academic?

[Abel0470]

i just want to know whether it is just cheaper or if theyre are actual restrictions to it. i know that u get free upgrades for 4 years but can u still upgrade after that if u wished? Also, can u upgrade from pro tools 8 LE to pro tools 9 academic or do u have to upgrade from pro tools 8 academic to pro tools 9 academic? someone please help

[Dism]

Same software. Awesome deal.

[slater05]

I got the student crossgrade. $145 after tax! Such an awesome deal, and the student element applies to anyone in any post secondary too.

[Abel0470]

aesome!
so do u guys know whether its possible to crossgrade from a regular LE system to an academic one? or do they both have to be academic?

[CME]

I'm not sure, but I thought at least with previous versions, that there wasn't incremental upgrades available for the academic versions. You had to always buy the full version when an upgrade was necessary. What I'm saying is if you had, for example, Academic PT 7.0 and PT 7.1 came out. Those with regular PT 7.0 could get an upgrade price of $49. While those with academic versions had to pay the full academic price again. Which still might be a savings overall. Eventually it would catch up with you and be cheaper to get the non-academic version.

Also I do believe older versions of the Academic had some of the DV timecode stuff that the regular versions of PTLE didn't. So if anything maybe there would be a few extra features included. However all of this may have well changed with PT 9. I'd just do some research and make sure first. If they have changed the upgrade path then Academic would most definitely be the way to go if it was available to you.

And I have no clue as to whether or not you need an Academic version to upgrade to the academic version of 9.

[slater05]

you do not need a previous academic version to get the student pricing. All you need is proof that you are a student. I believe there is also a version for faculty. The previous version of pro tools you did or didn't have doesn't matter. Unless you're also getting a crossgrade, in which you need the serial number from an mbox2(mini/pro) or 002/003.


The actual program isn't different in any of them, but they send out different packages, I assume to keep track of how much of each full price/student price versions they sell.