[David C Avid]

Hi there,

This is Dave Colantuoni, and I run the Product Management team for Pro Tools. I wanted to take a moment and respond to a few items in this thread to help you understand the reasoning behind the new licensing model and what you get for your money.

First I want to address the "this roll out has been a mess" comment... Actually, it has been moving along quite well, and we have had a record amount of people who are taking advantage of this opportunity. We did the same for Media Composer back in 2014 and the upgrades were delivered were huge and now the licensing model is readily accepted. We expect the same on the audio side.

As for customers abandoning Avid, we really aren’t seeing this happen. While there is a lot of chatter online, people are seeing the value of this opportunity and taking advantage of it. $199 for a year of support/upgrades cost less than 75 cents a day. Most spend more money on coffee per day.

I don’t want you to think we aren’t listening, as we certainly are, and the moderators make sure that folks like Bruce and Jeffro hear the comments. But remember, this is a new program and it will take some getting used to.

We know that the proof lies with Avid and you do have a choice. If you don’t think you want the upgrade, then just stay where you are on your existing version. Most people are taking advantage and using this year as the proof point to see if we deliver. I know we will but you need to feel that as well in order to open your wallets. I can tell you that I know that a lot of users traditionally do just that, they like the version they are using and don't want to upgrade. That's fine. If you want to wait and see if Avid provides updates this year, then wait, if your still not satisfied with the updates then don’t renew next year and you still can use your existing version forever.

If you decide after Dec 31st that you did want to upgrade, there are other options for you around subscription to get you back on the latest version. Those options are as low as a monthly payment of $30. If you look at the economics (I’ll use the PT $199 plan here), you’ll get upgrades for $199 for a full year, and if you continue for 2 years that would be $398 to receive all the upgrades for 2 upgrades. Plus…. Not to mention the Support component that comes with the plan. This annual plan provides all future Pro Tools updates, upgrades, and expert help for one year from the time of activation. That’s worth way more than $199!

We are planning a few releases a year and that can serve as a great upgrade path. In the end, its $199/year to get upgrades and support for Pro Tools Software,and we feel w priced this very fairly to ensure that everybody had access to getting the latest version no matter what product license you are using. This is about trying to ensure that Pro Tools can be accessible to everybody, it’s about making sure that we keep people on the latest version so that they have the best customer and product experience as possible.

Software companies are moving to models like this and if you haven’t already you will see more of this. For software development, its becoming impossible to manage years of users on years of old versions and outdated OS while trying to keep feature development going at a pace that customers expect. Commoditized professional products means that companies like and Avid, Autodesk or Adobe have to adapt with new business models to we can remain competitive and grow the business and provide you with the features and functionality and service you need to be successful.

I think in the end, if you step back and look at the options and what you get depending on which path you will take, the offering of choice(s) will be good for all of our customers . If you want you can check out how much the cost of ownership is over 3 and 5 years… that’s even a better deal.

Dave