Buy 12 Upgrade Plan now, activate next year?

[Southsidemusic]

Originally Posted by bad jitter

Me neither can't see that revoke access option anymore regarding AVID (there is still another one for Gobbler). And my AVID account keeps telling me its linked iLok status is linked. Doh...

Same here. Says Status linked in my Avid Account even though I unlinked (revoked) just for testing purposes.

[bad jitter]

Originally Posted by Southsidemusic

Same here. Says Status linked in my Avid Account even though I unlinked (revoked) just for testing purposes.

Really strange indeed.

[Southsidemusic]

Originally Posted by bad jitter

Really strange indeed.

Escalating this and will post my findings

[bad jitter]

Originally Posted by Southsidemusic

Escalating this and will post my findings

Thanks Christopher!

[Ghost In The Attic]

After Jeffro unlinked my Avid account, it showed as unlinked when I checked my Avid account. But, when I logged onto iLok, it still showed as linked by Avid. However, I was able to unlink it from iLok's site too.

[mlange]

So, as to the OP's question - if we buy a Pro Tools | HD Annual Upgrade and Support Plan from a 3rd party Avid dealer but do not activate or register the card in our Avid account, what are the outcomes (before 12/31/15 vs after the New Year)?

[Southsidemusic]

We can stop speculating as I have escalated this to Avid and they
(Probably Jeffro) will answer this in the thread.

The pre-answer to this is that there will be some ( a few days ) leaway for people who didn't have time to update but no way that there would be weeks or months to update after purchasing before 31st December so for those who plan on buying now and activate later down the road in 2016 it will probably go wrong pretty quickly so lets wait for confirmation on this but don't count on buying now and activate later down the road as it won't work.

This offer on the Avid servers will expire and it is a matter of a week or two but definitely not months or years as some asked. My guess is a week for those who can't activate before Dec 31st or for those that have other barriers.

[mlange]

So, the real answer is there is no answer yet from corporate.

[seanbil]

I agree with Southsidemusic that postponing activation for as long as possible isn't a gamble that's worth what little gains you might reap from it. Essentially, the risk of delaying activation is directly proportional to time. But the same can't be said for the "reward", because many will agree that most of the features they need to do their job are already in the versions of PT that they're currently using. However, in the end, your gamble is a good gamble for Avid because they can make and change the rules as they go along. So I would definitely find it troubling that there hasn't been a prompt and definitive answer from Avid on this matter, because it's probably something that they're just now addressing.

If you look at the main intent of the support plans from the very beginning, it's always been about customers paying-up on a regular basis. It was never about going back to the old paradigm of software sales and generating what would essentially be a one-off in sales revenue at the end of the year.

The real danger of trying to game the system through activations is that the support plan system is tied directly to the calendar. Come January 1st we'll be entering the reinstatement/support plan renewal phase of licensing. The problem here is that you'll be bringing with you an upgrade/support plan activation code into the new year while Avid will begin printing out "reinstatement/penalty" codes for HD11 instead.

IMO, if you currently have an activation code, then you've already made a commitment to the support plan. In this case I don't find the risk of having to pay even more for something that I should already have worth the reward of trying to eek out a little more perceived value from my money.

If you haven't already bought an upgrade code yet, and don't mind the possibly of sticking with HD11 for the long-haul, then maybe you take on the risk of doing nothing now and seeing what happens down the road. But if you're already paid-up, then why risk having to open up your wallets again for something that you already bought? Just my 2 cents.

[bad jitter]

Avid is quite clear saying that that purchase date and activation date are two completely separate actions and that the one year support plan is valid for one year from the activation date. I believe the upgrade / support plan will be the exactly same product next year just with a higher price. I also believe that Avid has no means to know when the support plan code is bought from the dealer, they can only know when it's activated.

That said, I may be wrong and hope Avid will chime in.