New Licensing

[mesaone]

Tangibly? Support is intangible either way. $600 for an upgrade (old method) , or $600 for an upgrade plus free support for a year (new method).

You only stand to lose if you subscribe every year and updates are not yearly to match. Keep the one year subscription, then renew it only when a new version is released.

[drumster]

Like Propower, I'm in the early adopter camp for Pro Tools HD 11. I can certainly see the value in having the 12 month support plan included in the purchase of a major upgrade, but it remains to be seen when I will see the value of spending another $599 for more software features that have yet to materialize.

If I was Avid, I would introduce some tangible features i.e. track freeze between Nov 1st and Dec 31st to entice existing HD users to jump on board with the subscription offer. Otherwise, what's the point of spending that kind of money when HD 11 just became stable at 11.2.1?

[Jay_uk]

Originally Posted by mesaone

Tangibly? Support is intangible either way. $600 for an upgrade (old method) , or $600 for an upgrade plus free support for a year (new method).

You only stand to lose if you subscribe every year and updates are not yearly to match. Keep the one year subscription, then renew it only when a new version is released.

Yes as long as its still only $199/$599 when you decide to opt in. As JCBigler has posted will they penalise you for not opting in every year.?
That needs to be clarified.
Tony Cariddi can you please pop in and say what the situation is regarding this please?

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by drumster

Like Propower, I'm in the early adopter camp for Pro Tools HD 11. I can certainly see the value in having the 12 month support plan included in the purchase of a major upgrade, but it remains to be seen when I will see the value of spending another $599 for more software features that have yet to materialize.

If I was Avid, I would introduce some tangible features i.e. track freeze between Nov 1st and Dec 31st to entice existing HD users to jump on board with the subscription offer. Otherwise, what's the point of spending that kind of money when HD 11 just became stable at 11.2.1?

Avid is promising Track Freeze and other features next calendar year. So its unclear to me why anybody who is already on 11 or HD 11 would purchase this now vs. just waiting for the non-free feature updates to be available and then upgrade then. If anything that is the discount to current 11 and HD 11 users and maybe Avid is just assuming they will wait to upgrade/buy support then.

Promising a set of new features as a part of this subscription may make revenue recognition even more than the usual fun stuff it is. I wonder how much of the revenue Avid can recognize from current users until the described upgrades ship. If its only as low as the value of a support phone call, etc.

[Barry Johns]

One thing for sure, this plan just made ProTools HD9 licenses much more valuable than they were yesterday!

[noiseboyuk]

Asking this question here too - http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=338851&page=31 - but does it look like Avid have quietly dropped the bundled PT10 HD licence when upgrading from CPTK to PT 11 HD? If so, I guess the choice is PT10HD + PT11HD if you buy in October, PT11HD only + upgrades / support to March 2016 from November.

EDIT - oh nuts, they've already removed the PT10HD / PT11HD upgrade from the store, so looks to me like they've withdrawn it without warning. In fact, for this month, looks like you can't upgrade whatsoever.

EDIT 2 - false alarm panic over on PT10HD, see my next post. Though does look like you can't do any form of upgrade this month.

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by noiseboyuk

Asking this question here too - http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=338851&page=31 - but does it look like Avid have quietly dropped the bundled PT10 HD licence when upgrading from CPTK to PT 11 HD? If so, I guess the choice is PT10HD + PT11HD if you buy in October, PT11HD only + upgrades / support to March 2016 from November.

What exactly are you looking at? I don't see *anywhere* Avid explicitly say that, and they specifically talk about combo license allowing you to run 10 or 11. Avid can't sanely keep mentioning the license is a combo license every time they mention "Pro Tools 11", and they have never even tried to do so in the past, so not mentioning it now means nothing.

[noiseboyuk]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

What exactly are you looking at? I don't see *anywhere* Avid explicitly say that, and they specifically talk about combo license allowing you to run 10 or 11. Avid can't sanely keep mentioning the license is a combo license every time they mention "Pro Tools 11", and they have never even tried to do so in the past, so not mentioning it now means nothing.

Actually yes - just found it in the specifications on the Avid store

"What’s included?
Pro Tools | HD 11 and Pro Tools | HD 10 with bundled plug-ins installer activation (requires download)"

Phew. Panic over, just mild irritation at being unable to upgrade this month at all.

[Bruce Paine]

Originally Posted by noiseboyuk

Asking this question here too - http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=338851&page=31 - but does it look like Avid have quietly dropped the bundled PT10 HD licence when upgrading from CPTK to PT 11 HD? If so, I guess the choice is PT10HD + PT11HD if you buy in October, PT11HD only + upgrades / support to March 2016 from November.

EDIT - oh nuts, they've already removed the PT10HD / PT11HD upgrade from the store, so looks to me like they've withdrawn it without warning. In fact, for this month, looks like you can't upgrade whatsoever. Nice one, Avid, another customer classic.

The Pro Tools + CPTK upgrade to Pro Tools HD upgrade will still be available for at least the rest of this year. It's listed in the pricing grid on the Pro Tools Licensing FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions).

The first FAQ explains that upgrades are temporarily turned off on the Avid store during the transition:

Q. When are the upgrades and new version of Pro Tools with Standard Avid Support Plan available?
A. These will be available for purchase from the Avid Store and from authorized Avid resellers in November. Upgrades/crossgrades from the Avid store will be switched off until the new pricing is available.

The second FAQ includes this:

All Pro Tools 11 licenses include a single “bundled” iLok license for both Pro Tools 11 and Pro Tools 10. All Pro Tools | HD 11 licenses include a single “bundled” license for Pro Tools | HD 11 and Pro Tools | HD 10 (bundled licenses cannot be separated, but can be used to run either Pro Tools 11 or Pro Tools 10).

[Darryl Ramm]

I humbly offer another question and answer for the Licensing FAQ...

Q. How do you correctly pronounce the "|" in Pro Tools | Software and Pro Tools | HD Software.

A. You don't, it is a silent |.