And now, I answer your question, with a horror story of my own:
The day PT9 came out, they advertised it as "Hey, come use our software with any audio card ya want now!" Some dude on a laptop, working HD. No core cards, no nothing. I'm thinking, "wow, did Avid just grow a clue?"
I pay the $350 online, they take the money. Only AFTER selling it to me, do they ask me for a serial number to my core card before allowing me to even download the product!
These fktards took my cash even though I wasn't even qualified for the download. It wasn't like they let me download the software and then asked me for a core card serial during install. Nope. It wasn't like they asked for my serial BEFORE they took my money. Nope....they waited until they had my cash before saying, "Sorry, we're taking your money and we're not even going to give you a product in return."
Obviously it was the first day of release and everything was new to me, so I didn't fully understand the fine print at the time. I didn't understand at the time why no hardware was needed to run HD, yet, I'd had to have specific hardware to be
allowed to use the software.
So at that point, I spend another $250 for what I AM allowed to use; PT9 regular.
Since the HD license wasn't activated or used, they said they'd allow me a refund. I had to fax in something, saying I didn't steal or use/misuse their software. Only problem is, they never actually gave me a product to "misuse,"
nor did they ever give me the refund. I'm pretty sure that to this day, they still have not credited my card back. In fact, they sent me an email a month later, telling me that I hadn't downloaded my product that I paid for yet! Haha, can you believe this dysfunction? By that point, I should have already been reimbursed. It's like they didn't even notice my fax. Double whammy.
So yes, they will take your money, but if your core card's serial number was indeed kept on file by the guy who sold it to you, and he went ahead and used that serial to get his own upgrade of PTHD9.......you are effed, in typical Avid fashion. Hey, its true, and I'm only telling it like it is.
Bottom line: Buy the upgrade, but don't expect them to make good or give you your money back if they decide not to let you qualify for whatever shoddy reason they come up with. Heaven forbid they actually let you re-register hardware that you bought from somebody else!! That might actually prevent you from getting the bum end of the stick, and we can't possibly have that now, can we?
(side note:: If you buy a Universal Audio DSP card, you are more than free to sell it to somebody else and transfer registration/ownership and it's embraced by UA)
One might assume that I'm a hater. I'm not. I'm just tired of everything being a struggle with these guys. The very fact that you even had to ASK if you'd qualify or not is a TESTAMENT to how poorly they have communicated with their user base.
Tellin' it like it is! And......I'm done ranting.
