Educational licensing?

[Nico Zottos]

Hey has anyone heard what the deal is for educational licensing? I can't seem to find anything on it so I'm not sure whether or not we're expected to pay the full subscription cost while we're in school. Thanks!

[Bruce Paine]

See the Educational section of the Pro Tools Upgrade FAQ.

[nigelpry]

Originally Posted by Bruce Paine

See the Educational section of the Pro Tools Upgrade FAQ.

Bruce, can we expect some clarity on the questions I raised in this thread ...

http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=360401

They were raised several monhs ago and, as of yet, are not clarified by the updated Pro Tools FAQ or any other communications from Avid, whether via information published on www.avid.com or here in the DUC.

Key questions, without repeating the full detail here include:

1) If you are on the four years of free upgrades deal and the end date for that deal is AFTER the 31st Dcember 2015 date for signing up to a support plan, what happens?

Will people be allowed to join the support plan without penalty at whatever is the end date of their four years, or will their (ex) student licence version be frozen because they've missed the deadline?

In effect, will such students need to pay to join the support plan by 31st December 2015, before their four years of free upgrades are over, if they want to be able to upgrade into the future?

Bear in mind that people may have purchased Pro Tools with that deal as late as April 2013, so their four years would not be over until well into 2017.

2) People who were on the fours years of upgrades at $99 per upgrade deal will be 'transferred' onto the new $99 per year support plan deal. But, apart fom the higher expense involved (given that paid upgrades didn't happen annually previously), there is one crucial difference between the two schemes.

Under the older four years of $99 per upgrade deal, students only had to prove they were a student at the time of original purchase. After that, they were entitled to four years of upgrades regardless of when they finished their studies and their student status changed.

Under the new $99 per year support plan deal, there is now no time limit on how long students can take advantage of the deal for (the four year limit from date of purchase is removed), but individuals must prove that they are still a student at the time of each and every support plan renewal.

What is the plan for people tranferred between these two schemes? Someone who bought Pro Tools with four years of upgrades at $99 per upgrade will find themselves frozen out of receiving even a single upgrade at that price if they bought Pro Tools late into the last year of their studies (e.g. June 2014), unless some special accommodation is made.

I hope Avid makes the effort to clarify this, as the FAQ leaves these issues entirely uncertain for students givn the gaping hole in information provided.

[nigelpry]

People on the four years of free upgrades deal might wish to read my post here ...

http://duc.avid.com/showpost.php?p=2265630&postcount=40

In essence, the official response I've now received from Avid confirms that if your four years ends AFTER 31st December 2015 then you have two choices ...

1) Keep getting free upgrades until your four years is up, but your Pro Tools licence will then be forever stuck at the version current when the four years ends,

or

2) Buy a support plan by 31st December 2015, even though that means you are giving up your four years of free upgrades BEFORE the fours years is completed, if you want to have a licence that is upgradeable into the future.

NOTES

Avid is not offering to credit support plans with any remaining months due on the free upgrades deal.

Avid is not offering an option to buy a support plan at the end of your four years. You must, like everyone else, buy the support plan by end of 2015 otherwise your licence becomes permanenly non-upgradable.

[nigelpry]

Bump

But this now needs updating in light of the fact that people on the 'four years of free upgrades' deal appear, en mass, not to have received the 12.2 update installer links in their accounts, unlike everyone else.

Is there a rason for this?

Is 12.2 only being issued to people on support plans?

People on the 'four years' deal got a PT12 license but no support plan. Is this an attempt to for e us into buying a support plan now, instead of waiting until our four years is up?

Can we have some clarity please Avid as to what your intentions are for students expecting a free upgrade to 12.2 as part of their 'four years' deal?

[famousdan]

I too am totally confused as to how this new pricing structure applies to the Student users.

So I bought my Student version on 1/10/2012. I run out of 4 years of free upgrades on 1/10/2016. But if I understand correctly, I have to upgrade my PT 12.2 (currently) Vanilla before 2015 is up or I pay 3 times the price? If so, do I pay $99 and then I'm able to continue upgrading versions and plugin goodies until Dec 2016?

If someone has some clarification on this, I would really love to know what we're supposed to do before 2015 is up and we're potentially faced with a much higher upgrade or "stay current" cost. Thanks!

[grame99]

Has Avid revealed the education price of the plan minus the plugs and support? I know that the standard versions are $99 and $199 respectively...