can't renew support plan (expiring today)

[huzzam]

hi all--

i'm unable to renew my annual upgrade plan via the Avid site. in my account, i clicked "renew support" & added "upgrade plan for pro tools" (& not "plug-ins and support plan for pro tools") to my cart, but then am told "You currently have an incompatible product in your cart. Please either proceed with checkout or remove that item from the cart." Looking in my cart, i have the item listed, but with a cost of "undefined." Have others had success renewing through the Avid site?

i see it's also available through sweetwater. have others had success with this route?

UPDATE: managed to get it added to my cart (by using a Safari Private Browsing session, for some reason). Now am unable to complete my order through PayPal. I go through the steps on the Paypal site, but am returned to the "Terms & Conditions" page of the checkout process. Stuck in a loop.

Jeez Avid... I'm trying really hard to give you $99...

thanks
~peter in athens

[ChuckS]

There's a 30 grace period, so if you continue to have difficulties you'll still be able to purchase after the holiday.

[huzzam]

Originally Posted by ChuckS

There's a 30 grace period, so if you continue to have difficulties you'll still be able to purchase after the holiday.

ah very good to know, thank you... i can relax for the rest of christmas now :)

[huzzam]

well, after struggling and failing to renew my plan on the Avid site, i realized that the main thing i want from PT 12.7.1 is for the real fullscreen mode to return. so on a lark i just reverted 12.7 back to 12.5.2 (when it last worked), and lo-and-behold, i don't see any need to update anymore. 12.6's Clip Effects (HD only) and 12.7's Session versions (cloud only) do literally nothing for me. (though changing fade shapes with a keyboard shortcut, that i coulda got with... but alas...)

so Avid just lost a sale, due to bad site coding and prioritizing dubious features over fixing bugs...

[Top Jimmy]

Originally Posted by huzzam

well, after struggling and failing to renew my plan on the Avid site, i realized that the main thing i want from PT 12.7.1 is for the real fullscreen mode to return. so on a lark i just reverted 12.7 back to 12.5.2 (when it last worked), and lo-and-behold, i don't see any need to update anymore. 12.6's Clip Effects (HD only) and 12.7's Session versions (cloud only) do literally nothing for me. (though changing fade shapes with a keyboard shortcut, that i coulda got with... but alas...)



so Avid just lost a sale, due to bad site coding and prioritizing dubious features over fixing bugs...

So long as you're aware of the cost of allowing the 30 day grace period to pass then that is a fair decision. Allow the 30 days grace to pass and it becomes $299 to get back on the upgrade plan. That means no new OS compatibility etc until you're back on the plan. Not a problem if you're not planning to make any changes for the next three years.

Just want to be sure you're making an informed decision.

[huzzam]

Originally Posted by Top Jimmy

So long as you're aware of the cost of allowing the 30 day grace period to pass then that is a fair decision. Allow the 30 days grace to pass and it becomes $299 to get back on the upgrade plan. That means no new OS compatibility etc until you're back on the plan. Not a problem if you're not planning to make any changes for the next three years.

Just want to be sure you're making an informed decision.

thank you, yes, i'm informed. Honestly, i just feel taken hostage by this licensing scheme. I wish i could just plunk down my $99 when i felt there was a reason to upgrade, rather than this speculation. Like when i decided to upgrade to PT8le (modern design, better midi), PT9 (use other audio hardware!), PT10 (a raft of small improvements), PT11 (offline bounce!), it was because i saw the value of what i was paying for. Now the main value of paying my $99 is so i won't have to instead pay $299 later, if i *happen* to need some as-yet-undetermined new feature/fix.

That's buying insurance, not a product.

Yes, PT12 has some great stuff — track freeze/commit/bounce being foremost for me — that was ALL released BEFORE i bought my upgrade plan LAST year. THAT's what I bought last December 26 with my Upgrade Plan.

So what do we hope to get in our upcoming updates?

point 1: Track freeze/commit was basically catch up to other DAWs, though Avid did them one better I'd say. I can't think of any other feature from another DAW that is lacking at this point, save for a better MIDI engine. so nothing here.

point 2: And already, we all stay way behind on OS upgrades, right? (I see you're using Mavericks!) So i'm not worried about OS compatibility upgrades. Bug fixes are nice, but each new version breaks something else (where's my fullscreen mode???) so it's a bit of a wash.

So (point 3) that leaves *hope of innovation* as the motivation for future upgrades.

But in the realm of innovation, Avid isn't demonstrating any vision that seems to lead anywhere. Cloud collaboration (with severely limited free storage, so we can't even properly try it), (broken) Application Manager, some free loops (?!), blue playlists & overlap shadows & added keyboard shortcuts... these are all a) distractions or b) minor usability tweaks. If this stuff is where PT is headed, I don't find a renewed Upgrade Plan to be a compelling gamble.

Who knows, maybe i'll chicken out and pay the $99 in the next 28 days. But it tastes all wrong, and i know i'll feel like a sucker if i do...

anyway, thanks Jimmy for the info, none of this is directed at you of course :) just got me thinking "out loud."

~peter in athens

[Extreme Mixing]

All this grief and frustration and talk of being held hostage for $99? That's about $8 a month. Seems like you're the one who's trying to hold Avid hostage over your $99! I don't think it's going to work. In days gone by, a Digilink cable was more than that! Probably still is!!! I just don't see all the blood shed, especially among those with only plain vanilla copies of the software. And what about this:

my (long-term) travel system
~ Macbook Air 11" / 2gHz dual i7 / 256GB ssd / PT12 / McDSP / Apogee Duet ~
whole studio (+3 mics) weighs 7 lbs & mixes 24 tracks without a hiccup!

That's a lot of power to keep going for $99 a year!!!

So which is it? In awe of your your power, or afraid to spend $99 on the chance that there will be some new feature that you like? For me Commit and Freeze were well worth the money last year. I'm happy with what I'm getting for my price of upgrades. I think the upgrade from 9 to 10 may have been $799!!! Basically I got Clip gain. And a path to the future.

$399 is not so bad I think. $99 is a steal. But maybe you're not working enough to justify the expense. That's for you to decide.

Steve

[huzzam]

Originally Posted by Extreme Mixing

All this grief and frustration and talk of being held hostage for $99? That's about $8 a month. Seems like you're the one who's trying to hold Avid hostage over your $99! I don't think it's going to work. In days gone by, a Digilink cable was more than that! Probably still is!!! I just don't see all the blood shed, especially among those with only plain vanilla copies of the software. And what about this:

my (long-term) travel system
~ Macbook Air 11" / 2gHz dual i7 / 256GB ssd / PT12 / McDSP / Apogee Duet ~
whole studio (+3 mics) weighs 7 lbs & mixes 24 tracks without a hiccup!

That's a lot of power to keep going for $99 a year!!!

So which is it? In awe of your your power, or afraid to spend $99 on the chance that there will be some new feature that you like? For me Commit and Freeze were well worth the money last year. I'm happy with what I'm getting for my price of upgrades. I think the upgrade from 9 to 10 may have been $799!!! Basically I got Clip gain. And a path to the future.

$399 is not so bad I think. $99 is a steal. But maybe you're not working enough to justify the expense. That's for you to decide.

Steve

I will refrain from taking your criticism personally, and simply point out that not everyone who uses (and pays for) PT lives in the US where $99 is a small amount of money. So we have to choose more carefully. Additionally, yes some of us are not "working," in the sense of making money off PT, though we are still trying to use our systems to their full potential.

Also, regarding my sig, the "without a hiccup" phrase no longer applies, given all the strange errors we got this year. That applied to PT11.3.1. I just haven't updated my sig.

So perhaps you're seeing why I'm reluctant; last year's update brought less stability along with a raft of useless features (adding complexity and instability) and a couple of useful ones.

~peter in athens