No PT12HD subscription plan?

[Tim R.]

Originally Posted by MaoZhengfu

Personally, I don't think that a subscription plan would make sense in this case. If you had a subscription, your HD hardware would be useless anytime your subscription wasn't active.

I'd have to disagree here. As an HD user for many years, I haven't needed "Support" for a LONG time. For me I feel like I'm waisting money on the support when all I really want is the current version of software. Give me an option to buy back in to the latest version when it has something I really need. When My hardware is no longer supported I will purchase a NEW system. That has been my SOP for many years now (for cars too). Drive it til it stops working, then get the latest greatest (but pay the mechanic in the mean time to keep the wheels from falling off). AVID's hardware upgrade discounts were always marginal anyway.

[RamblerSound]

I think and wish Avid would chime in on this and soon! I agree with a lot of what is being said and I have posted in other places as well. Here goes one more time.

I own PT HD 11, Avid HD IO 16 x 16 analog, and an HD Native card. I have paid a premium for this rig. Why as an HD owner would it cost me $399 more than others just to keep my software un to date? I don't need or want 24/7 service. I'm happy to pay a yearly fee to stay up to date but $599 per year is not reasonable.

As for a service contract the post audio studio I work for will happily pay $599 per year for each of the three machines we have. This is a great investment and insurance against downtime and this day to day studio needs that service.

My rig at home is for small revises and my own creative work. I have needed no service plan. The HD badge can not be the determining factor for who pays $199 and who pays $599.

Jeffro? Bruce Paine? Does anybody have an answer to this in a definitive manner? Let's hear it. Please!

Scott

[RamblerSound]

Any PT HD 11 users please add to this thread until we have an answer.

Thanks,

Scott

[Roulette Records]

Originally Posted by Tim R.

I'd have to disagree here. As an HD user for many years, I haven't needed "Support" for a LONG time. For me I feel like I'm waisting money on the support when all I really want is the current version of software. Give me an option to buy back in to the latest version when it has something I really need. When My hardware is no longer supported I will purchase a NEW system. That has been my SOP for many years now (for cars too). Drive it til it stops working, then get the latest greatest (but pay the mechanic in the mean time to keep the wheels from falling off). AVID's hardware upgrade discounts were always marginal anyway.

This is EXACTLY how I feel and how it should be. Anything worse would be getting close to robbery.

Trying to Figur out what was wrong with their motto from the early 2000's. This was their peak, and the reason was how their sales and updates were structured. Then they tried to please the consumer market, most likely hired too much staff (all business' #1 mistake), this caused their stock to crashed, value dropped and they wonder why.

Now to save it they make the situation worse by trying to jump on this new bandwagon of getting constant money for something someone bought and should work right from the beginning ? (Adobe) Its worse than property tax. I should not have to keep paying such a high fee annually for something I spent tens of thousands on.

Like you said, I don't want support, nor do I ever need it. I want to buy a product that I can update though for reasonable rates and whenever I want. (Skip a update or two). BUT I should get bug fix updates for free.

[NipL]

Isn't it a mystery by itself what exactly is the three times charge for HD version support plan annually about - $599 vs $199?

On track monitoring, and removed artificial track count limitation?
What exactly is so much work with that?

Seems Avid know anybody bought in on $3000 hardware is not going away anytime soon...

[V5V]

Originally Posted by CygnusX-1Bk2

[...] Which begs the question:

That phrase doesn't mean what you think it does. Check this: http://begthequestion.info

At first I wasn't sure how I felt about the pricing, but after kicking it around for a few months I think I've decided that ~CAD$750 a year is more than I want to pay for the amount of value I'll realize from Pro Tools. Maybe if it was essential to my survival, but it isn't.

I'd go USD$200 a year (~CAD$250-ish) but I need to be able to mix 5.1 and the only way to do that with Pro Tools is to buy HD.

[zedhed]

As an 11HD user, I'm sitting on the fence until an upgrade policy is announced.

I have until December to decide (providing they actually make a policy announcement by then!)

In the 15 years using PT, support from Avid (since they took over from Digidesign) has been largely non-existent. I've learned to fix things myself so going forward I have absolutely no intention of buying a support plan.

If ultimately, I'm forced to buy new hardware because of a lapsed subscription then it's bye bye Avid from me.

Frankly, I find the holdup of an HD policy announcement laughable! Seems to me the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. Avid is being run by a bunch of chipmunks right now!

[nigelpry]

Situation as of today ...

Avid told us months ago that there will be 'flexible new licensing options' for HD and well as standard Pro Tools.

Avid told us that they were 'not ready at this time' to share what those options will be. Evidently they are still not ready, as there has still not been an announcement.

Avid has/is suffering a lot of reputational damage among people for whom this policy will matter materially in financial terms, but probably not among the corporates, for whom it's all written off against taxes anyway.

For some of us, it is already too late for Avid to recover our trust/loyalty, unless one almighty rabbit is pulled out of the hat.

Personally, as I've said before, I think the news won't make good reading for those of us who are worried about the ongoing costs ... and Avid is delaying telling us because they hope that, by doing so, as many as possible will have simply resigned themselves to paying out a large annual fee and so will just sign up.

I won't be one of them, as I've already decided to let my 11HD freeze at that version. It's a dead licence anyway, as I can't ever sell it on ... it was an upgrade from Complete Production Toolkit and those upgrades were set to not-transferable by Avid when they were deposited in our iLok accounts.

BTW thanks for that Avid, it's a pity you didn't tell us that in advance ... my PT10 and CPTK licences WERE transferable, and so had some residual value.

So I don't have the added pressure of needing to keep it up to date to maintain its value. I can just decide whether to upgrade based on whether the upgrade delivers features I want, and whether there is a prospect that, at some point in the future, other features that I might want would be implemented.

Given that Avid has delivered little in the way of new features for a long time .... those that have been implemented since Pro Tools 8/9 have been mostly functional improvements rather than new creative tools/workflows ... I see no evidence that Avid is going to provide the creative tool enhancements I'm looking for. Most of what is missing for me is MIDI related anyway, and MIDI is evidently not a priority in Avid's thinking.

[roberts]

Originally Posted by nigelpry

Avid told us months ago that there will be 'flexible new licensing options' for HD and well as standard Pro Tools.

The support plan for HD is $599 and is not included with New HD systems.
Avid sates in the FAQ that they will be releasing details about the cost of upgrading expired HD support plans BEFORE the end of the year.
There were unconfirmed rumours by Avid reps (who shall remain nameless) that expired HD users would cost $899-$999 but it will be announced before the end of the year.
So the question begs me to say - Why do you need to know today?
Dec 31, is 8 months away.

[propower]

Originally Posted by roberts

The support plan for HD is $599 and is not included with New HD systems.

Where is this stated about whether support plan is included or not? Please post link. Newest FAQ deleted this AFAIK

Originally Posted by roberts

Avid sates in the FAQ that they will be releasing details about the cost of upgrading expired HD support plans BEFORE the end of the year.
There were unconfirmed rumours by Avid reps (who shall remain nameless) that expired HD users would cost $899-$999 but it will be announced before the end of the year.
So the question begs me to say - Why do you need to know today?
Dec 31, is 8 months away.

Do we need to know? I would say that those buying upgrades and new systems really ought to know what the terms are - beyond $599 a year or else - something.

The Crux:
I also think sympathy/empathy is deserved for folks who own this system already (especially for the long timers) that are uncomfortable about this uncertainty (expired licenses - terms and costs of "flexible plans" and ability to sell). AVID has implemented plans for Vanilla, MC and Sibelius that can't be done on HD (since you can't buy the software - today). So - to me - they should have revealed details in Oct when announced. Certainly in March when they started selling a new product this applies to. IMO - to not understand this it to also not comprehend the "ill will" being created (17 years of PT for me and never thought much about looking elsewhere till all of this).