Pro Tools Upgrades

[LSW]

I need to be aware of why this upgrade has been selected as not-a-free upgrade. Is it the features? Is it the fixes?

I bought 6.X, free upgrades until 7. Bought 7, free upgrades to 7.3. Free xpand and plugins along the way. But they weren't so free now, were they?

[Obsidian Dragon]

I may be wrong but lately it kind of alternates from free update to paid update. I think 6.7 was paid, 6.9 was free, 7.0 was paid, 7.1 was free, and now 7.3 is paid. (6.8 was for Mbox 2 only, and 7.2 was just for HD systems). All cs updates have been free.

So it seems to be less tied to features and bug-fixes as you suggested and more based on time or version numbers. My opinion is that it is a business decision to generate periodic revenue by charging for an update every now an then.

[LSW]

K - I wasn't here that far back in 6.x, my bad! I'm just a little leery about updates and upgrades in general - fomr many different software companys. I do appreciate DD's response to bugs and the introduction of more features - but sometimes you just gotta wonder if things you end up paying for again could have or should have been included in a previous paid release.

[JFreak]

7.3 is almost as major as 7.0 was, and the reason they're not calling it 8.0 is that it has only been one year since the 7.0 was released. Naturally this does not concern Windows people, but 7.3 is THE first version that offers Universal Binary compatibility on the Mac side, an that alone is a major effort from Digi. Also, which is great for all ProToolers, 7.3 brings LE much closer to HD in terms of features.

IMO the ability to make mixer changes without stopping playback is alone worth a great deal more than the 49 dollar upgrade price. I have heard nobody complain so far, but all I know work with Macs so that makes me biased

BTW. regarding free upgrades, this is how it has been since PT6
6.0 --> 6.4
6.7 --> 6.9
7.0 --> 7.1
7.3 --> ???

It's also good to note that 6.4 was a paid upgrade for HD, but it includes the features given to LE people in 6.7 software. Noticeable is that 001 and Mix hardware are discontinued after 6.4 version! LE people (001 users) are not "shot in the foot" with that announcement, but Mix users wanting to use the latest software will have to buy a dead-end upgrade as there will not be updates for Mix hardware after 6.4.1 version.