question about avid subscription plans

[zwolf]

Ok, I know I'm gonna get blasted for this and I may deserve it. But I'm having difficulty figuring this out.

I'm on the auto renewal plan for $29.99/month and have been for maybe 3 years now. I'm currently on 2018.12, and in all honesty, I love it. I know that there are newer versions, but I've been so busy recording that I've never found the time to upgrade being paranoid that something could go wrong if I do. And I have no need other than being mildly curious.

I know what I'm doing audio wise, but you could say I'm far from a power user. I don't even know what's better about 2019, I could care less about upcoming 2020 folder tracks, and I pretty much have all I need right here in my current version.

What I don't know the details about are whether there's some way to just keep or buy this current version and stop paying the monthly subscription? $360/year for something I'm not updating seems like a waste of money.

I'm also an apollo user and will be taking a close look at Luna when it's released. I'm very interested, although I doubt it'll take over my current PT mixing workflow. But I'm open.

So, if someone more savvy to the ins and outs of Avid could help me out, what should I do? I've heard mention of options to freeze or purchase at a current version, but I don't see this mentioned anywhere on the Avid website. I'd be grateful for any and all suggestions and or advice!

Thanks,

Z

[albee1952]

If you're running a Mac, its probably wise to keep up to date as Apple is famous for OS updates that break Pro Tools. Assuming you are making some income with PT, the money spent on the subscription is a tax deduction. Beyond that, I would download every updated version and save to a large-capacity external drive. That DOES NOT mean I would install every version Having all the installers saved just seems like a good idea to me(I keep a drive that holds every installer for every piece of software I download).

When it comes to actually installing an update, I always wait a few weeks(to see if anyone regrets it) and I ALWAYS have a backup plan. My plan is a combination of drive imaging and drive cloning between the 3 500GB SSD's that I use as system drives. 1 of those drives stays at the previous version, so if a new version hoses the rig, I can swap back by switching system drives. For laptop users, that's not so simple so drive imaging is the best option

[JFreak]

If you have a Subscription License, then PT will not launch after you stop subscripbing. Period.

If you want a feature freeze withoug monhly payments, you need to buy a Perpetual License which includes 12-month support and update plan. You can choose to stop paying for updates if you like, but Avid stopped selling reinstatements last year so you may be out of luck when you need to upgarde later.

So which one you have? Some refer to update plan as update subscription, but Avid only talks about subscriptions when the product stops working when you stop paying.

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by albee1952

Having all the installers saved just seems like a good idea to me

This has got easier lately. Avid Download Center has all installers since PT 12.6 available.