PSA: Make sure to cancel your Pro Tools Expert "subscription"

[loisetale]

I hate those things. First I was on one website, they automatically renewed my subscription for a year, and I believe I paid about 100£ for it. Another was those subscriptions in newsstand. After a while I said to myself - never again - I will always read everything! So I was ok for a year or so. Now - this.
Thank you! It only ends on June, but still, I would have missed it if not you.

[DonaldM]

Okay, I have to take a contrary opinion here. In my early days of using PT I found many of Russ's video's VERY helpful in getting started, especially with understanding how to use various VI's, especially those from AIR and a few others. I think he aims his videos at those starting out...amateur and semi-professional users who want to go more in depth...and he does that very well, IMHO.

Russ helped me lay a good foundation for using PT. Then I found Groove 3, and Goia's videos to go the next level(s). But if I hadn't had the foundation, I think I would have been confused rather than helped.

The subscription service option issue is another matter. My experience with that was nothing but positive at the time of the changeover. What I like about PTE now is that it alerts me to many new things coming out that I don't find or get from other sources. So, I have to differ with some of you about PTE. I think for the market they are serving, they do a pretty decent job. And remember, Groove 3, which really has some excellent stuff, also uses many of Russ's video's on several things. He can't be THAT bad.

Just want to be fair to Russ.

Yes, I agree, Mike Thornton's vids are quite good.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by DonaldM

Okay, I have to take a contrary opinion here. In my early days of using PT I found many of Russ's video's VERY helpful in getting started, especially with understanding how to use various VI's, especially those from AIR and a few others. I think he aims his videos at those starting out...amateur and semi-professional users who want to go more in depth...and he does that very well, IMHO.

Russ helped me lay a good foundation for using PT. Then I found Groove 3, and Goia's videos to go the next level(s). But if I hadn't had the foundation, I think I would have been confused rather than helped.

The subscription service option issue is another matter. My experience with that was nothing but positive at the time of the changeover. What I like about PTE now is that it alerts me to many new things coming out that I don't find or get from other sources. So, I have to differ with some of you about PTE. I think for the market they are serving, they do a pretty decent job. And remember, Groove 3, which really has some excellent stuff, also uses many of Russ's video's on several things. He can't be THAT bad.

Just want to be fair to Russ.

Yes, I agree, Mike Thornton's vids are quite good.

My biggest bitch with the sub on changeover was they never told me when my sub was up and my credit card would be charged. Also they never said what would show as billing on said card - it was billed as some kind of video I had purchased.

Russ's YouTube videos are the worst. He seems to mumble or has his voice-over mic way low and the music way high in level when you goose the volume up so you can hear him.

[mjslakeridge]

I like Russ' YouTube videos. I have not had a problem understanding what he is saying. In fact I wish I had discovered his videos when I first started using PT about 12 years ago to lay the foundation (he probably wasn't around back then).

As for the subscription service, I didn't know he offered that, but it is not uncommon with any subscription to auto-renew unless the user explicitly cancels it - think internet service, cable tv, etc.

[unkJE]

Russ has pumped out heaps of free (extremely helpful) videos and articles for years.
You don’t have to pay if you don’t want to watch the videos. There are some Freebies on You Tube, like:
Using Vienna Ensemble Pro 5 With Pro Tools 9, 10 and 11
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGP7-bxPJXU

If you’re “temporarily between cheques/checks” (like me), check out some of the free PTE articles – like this one by Paul Maunder:

Pro Tools - Using Catalogs In The Workspace Browser To Index And Search Files
http://www.pro-tools-expert.com/home...d-search-files

Open a 2nd Workspace and search all drives on your system - drag'n drop metadata to your ("Getting Ready for Collaboration") Folder.

“This doesn’t copy the files themselves, but will reference all of the metadata about the files including file name, bit depth, sample rate, file comments and a whole host of other attributes. If you’ve dragged a large quantity of files to a catalog, this process may take a few minutes. Once it’s done though, you will have a convenient list of the files you just added, which is fully searchable. Searching is extremely quick because Pro Tools only has to search through metadata and everything is already indexed.”

I didn’t know that! Glad I read it – what a great tip.
For now, an (offline/within Pro Tools) "Getting Ready for Collaboration" Folder lets us audition Audio files, when we set up a new Folder in Workspace Catalogs in Pro Tools.
Housekeeping time.


I could list a shed-load of other articles that helped me. There's free videos, too:
http://www.pro-tools-expert.com/free...deo-tutorials/

You can sign up for a free 7 day trial:
https://premium.production-expert.com/subscribe
"If you aren't satisfied it is a good deal then cancel the subscription within the 7 day trial period and it won't cost you a penny. If you like it then for just $3.99 per month you can watch this and hundreds more videos like it.

Get 3 Months Access Free
To celebrate the 1st anniversary of our premium video platform, which has over 900 video tutorials, we are going to feature a selection of them over the next month. In addition for people who haven't yet signed up to our video platform, we are giving away codes that will enable you to access all our great video tutorials FREE for 90 days.

To redeem your coupon code, 1YEARCELEBRATION go to our Premium Video Platform and click on the Free 7 day Trial button OR use this link to sign up. Click on the button that says "Start My 7 Day Free Trial" and follow the instructions and have sure you enter the 1YEARCELEBRATION in the coupon code box to take advantage of this offer. Please note this code will expire on 5th June 2016."


I notice none of Russ’s detractors have offered anywhere near what Russ has offered for years: free contributions to all who share his love of Pro Tools (and these days, other DAWs, too).
Here in Oz, we call unfair whinging “sour grapes” – so we just "ignore’em with the ignorance they deserve"!
Anyway, nobody can please everybody, all of the time.
And what a boring old world it’d be, if we all liked exactly the same things.

Yours platitudingly …



PS - I keep a (regularly updated) Bill Chart on an A4 sheet of paper, alongside my bills, in a see-through plastic Bill Folder. Separate boxes for each week. One sheet holds an overview of 4-5 months ahead – where I can monitor any Direct Debits or Cancellations.
If I don’t check my Bill Chart daily: it’s my fault if something doesn’t get attended to in time, as I have plenty of advance warning if any bill clarification is needed

[zedhed]

Originally Posted by Drew Mazurek

Not to mention the fact that the vast majority of of their content is bush league 101 stuff in my opinion.

Probably appropriate content for the large percentage of "bush league 101" PT users these days.

I don't think it's ever been Russ's intention to appeal to the professional user...IMHO.

[YYR123]

Originally Posted by zedhed

I don't think it's ever been Russ's intention to appeal to the professional user...IMHO.

This is true, and when I started his videos were the bomb......

His and Phil Jacksons


But as the years go on....I watch them less and less. Maybe it's just me, maybe not....??

I usually click when I want to see a plugin or interface in action, but not much more.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by unkJE

You can sign up for a free 7 day trial:
https://premium.production-expert.com/subscribe
"If you aren't satisfied it is a good deal then cancel the subscription within the 7 day trial period and it won't cost you a penny. If you like it then for just $3.99 per month you can watch this and hundreds more videos like it.

Get 3 Months Access Free
To celebrate the 1st anniversary of our premium video platform, which has over 900 video tutorials, we are going to feature a selection of them over the next month. In addition for people who haven't yet signed up to our video platform, we are giving away codes that will enable you to access all our great video tutorials FREE for 90 days.

Now I don't know about the 3 month free deal you write about but that 7 day trial period - that's my heartburn. To be specific they used to ask for (and may still do) your credit card number. And they don't give you any easy way to cancel out either nor do they tell you when the 7 days runs out and they start charging. I have several ongoing charges on my card but I always get an email saying my card has been charged and if I believe this is not a legit charge there's a link to go to to dispute it or to cancel the recurring charge/subscription.

[DonaldM]

Originally Posted by YYR123

This is true, and when I started his videos were the bomb......

His and Phil Jacksons


But as the years go on....I watch them less and less. Maybe it's just me, maybe not....??

I usually click when I want to see a plugin or interface in action, but not much more.

This was my point as well. Russ's and Jackson's videos in the early days of my using PT were very helpful getting started. And I also look at PTE's videos to check out their show and tells of new plugins. Gives a good first look at many of them.

I most often go to Groove 3 these days for more in depth stuff.

[Mike Thornton]

Hi guys,

As editor of Pro Tools Expert I would like to respond to some of the comments made here but firstly let me thank musicman691, mesaone, Sardi, and DonaldM for your kind words about my videos.

Our aim is to support the Pro Tools community with as much free content as possible, but just as musicians and creatives, you rightly complain when people ask you to work for free, then please extend us that similar courtesy that we also need to pay the mortgage and support our families.

No one is forcing anyone to visit our site or subscribe to our tutorial video platform. If what we do doesn’t work for you then we are sorry but we urge you to find somewhere that does work for you, but a lot of you do like that we do and keep coming back as we see over 5 million unique visits a year to Pro Tools Expert.

To musicman691, Membership of the old site gave you access to around 500 tutorial videos for £20/$30 per year behind a ‘paywall. However it wasn’t the smoothest solution and as the site was growing we wanted to provide a solution that could grow and also enable others to be able to make tutorials for our community and earn some money. As you correctly stated, when we changed the site over in April last year, we issued codes to everyone who was a member of the old site, giving them access to the new tutorial video platform to the end of the period that they had paid for on the old membership. You would have been told in the email we sent you with the code when that code ran out and you will have had to enter your credit card details too. You are then responsible for remembering when this period expires, but even if you forget when the first monthly payment comes through, if you don’t want to continue then cancel it at that point. With Pivotshare you only have to wait one month, before you are clear. With our old system you would have to wait one year.

The video platform we use is run by a company called Pivotshare and it is their payment policy that subscriptions are on a rolling basis, which is why you will have needed to enter your credit card details when you signed up and used the code we gave you. It would have been clear how long that code would last and so if you felt that you didn’t want to start paying for our video platform then you had the opportunity to cancel. Also because it is now a monthly subscription, you are not committed to an annual payment as you were on the old site, so if you decide not to continue paying for our video platform you can cancel at any point and the longest you have to wait is one month. Yes even with the 7 day trial or longer trials like the 1YEARCELEBRATION code, which will give you 90 days of free access to our video tutorial platform you will have to provide your credit card details. This is Pivotshare’s terms and conditions, but you can cancel at any point during the free trial period whether it is 7 or 90 days and you will not be charged at all. But you have to cancel your subscription with Pivotshare, we cannot cancel your subscription for you as we do not manage their payment system.

To get hold of us simply go to the Contact Us page of our main site and Eric who does a great job looking after our community support will help you.

To YYR123, yes we have a subscription service for our tutorial video content which is now at nearly 1000 video tutorials for $3.99 per month,. In this video tutorial market place we do this, as do the big players like Groove3 and pureMix. In addition no one is forcing you to take out a subscription to our video tutorial platform. We continue to strive to make as much free content as possible on the main site.

To Drew Mazurek, I am sorry you feel that our content is all 101. It isn’t and we have a growing team of practitioners creating great content both for free on our main site and on our tutorial video platform. But even if it was pitched at 101 what is wrong with that? Everyone has to start from the beginning and so having good quality content from team members like Julian Rodgers with his A-Z of Pro Tools, and his Pro Tools Fundamentals courses, all of which are free, are great resources for people starting off with Pro Tools. But of course we don’t stop there, we have plenty of content for more experienced Pro Tools users made by more experienced Pro Tools users. Remember that Russ started the AIR Users blog because people here on the DUC were struggling to use the then new AIR Instrument VIs and so rather than moan about it Russ stepped up and did something about it.

To albee1952, how do you earn your living? Do your require clients to pay you or do you live from donations? We have families to support, there is a limit to how much we can offer for free.

To Kris75, on what basis do you make the statement that our content on our site is sponsored? We have a very clear editorial policy which is published on our site for all to read. All the brands who support our site (to enable us to bring as much free content as possible) know this and respect us for it. As editor I protect our editorial policy very strongly. We will not be told what to write by any brand, or be told what videos to make, end of story.

To mesaone we always rewrite press releases when we put together a product announcement and would never call that a review. Our reviews are that, and we often call them ’show and tell’ reviews as we try and show you what the plug-in or product can do, but equally we try and keep our video reviews short and sweet and all video reviews are on our YouTube channel and free for everyone to enjoy. We do include some product information in our review articles so you have all the information about the product to hand in one place, to help you decide whether this product is for you.

To musicman691, continuing on the subject of reviews, we always try and include our thoughts about a product and if there is a concern we will voice it. But what you may not be aware of, is that if we find an issue we go back to the brand and discuss it with them privately, before releasing the review, to make sure the issue isn’t because we are doing something wrong or to give them the chance to respond. In fact there have been a number of occasions where brands have held up a release because of issues we have found or released a swift update to resolve the issues we found.

To YYR123 and mesaone, on reviews, we are not paid to review products, as editor of Pro Tools Expert I maintain our editorial independence, which is in the public domain and all the brands we work with prefer it that way too. Of course we are reviewing products from brands that support the site (so we can bring you as much free content as possible) but we are not told what to write or say. In fact the brands value our independence because what we say is what we think, end of. We live or die by you, the community, trusting that what we say is true and not skewed by being told what to say.

To loisetale, the subscriptions for our video tutorial platform are $3.99 per month and you can cancel within a month and not pay anymore. Everything on the main site is free.

Thank you DonaldM for your comments about our content and subscriptions. As you point out our premium video tutorial platform is in a similar market to the likes of Groove3 and pureMix. One of the aims of our video tutorial platform is we wanted an infrastructure where team members and other selected folk can make good quality tutorial content and get paid for it.

To musicman691, no one is forcing you to watch Russ’ videos, there are plenty of other team members like James, Dan, Paul, Alan and Paul, making great video content. Also Russ’ role has changed now I am editor of Pro Tools Expert. He now has a role overseeing all the sites in the Production Expert family of sites including Logic Pro Expert, Ableton Live Expert, Reason Expert and Studio One Expert, each of with its own specialist editorial teams bringing great content to those communities.

Thank you unkjE for your kind comments. It is comments like this that make what we do worthwhile. Thank you for accepting responsibility for looking after your own recurring payments too.

To finish I just want to say as editor I am incredibly proud of the team at Pro Tools Expert for all the hard work they put in to provide our community with top notch content. We have grown and grown, it started with Russ and the Air Users blog and me with my Pro Tools For Media blog, then at the Pro Tools 10 launch, we decided to join forces and Pro Tools Expert was born. Both of us spent many many years running and developing our own blogs and then Pro Tools Expert in our spare time with very little remuneration but as the site has grown and become more popular we have had to grow with it. We now have at least 4 families dependent for some or most of their income from what we do but we still continue to try and make as much content free for everyone in the community to use. Thank you all for your support. Onwards and upwards.