Pro Tools M-Powered 7.4.2 Academic

[axiom07]

I've recently been looking into getting a little hobby M-Powered setup.
I already have an M-Audio interface, so makes the most sense economically (being poor student and all).
There's something I'm unclear about...

I've read a few things on the internet about the inclusion of Digitranslator features, and SMPTE in the timeline etc with the Academic version.
I cannot find any conclusive evidence of this anywhere though, only talk in forums etc.

Is this actually true?

My local music store doesn't seem to think there's any difference (though they aren't exactly experts), and they're also currently selling the standard retail version for the same price as academic anyway.

So can anybody help me out here? Do I buy the Academic version because it has more features [though possibly no upgrade path like most academic software] or get just the standard version?

[tridev]

Personally, I buy retail versions when possible, even though I qualify for student pricing and even though that usually means paying more than an academic. In my opinion there are less documentation requirements to fulfil, no commercial-use restrictions to worry about, upgrade-friendly as you pointed out (which is all-too common and frequent in the world of audio software, drivers and OS's) and easier to resell/return as they are not "special" in any way.

Specific to the M-Powered academic bundle, I don't believe you are missing out on anything great by not having the "extra" features. I didn't read about the extras in that much of detail though, so to be fair see if they are really important to you/your working style and how you intend to use PT.

[Eric Seaberg]

The Academic version is no longer available as of 7.4.