New Licensing

[CME]

And one more quick question. You say there will be options for those HD users who let their support plan lapse. Will those be available to anyone or will you be required to prove you own HD hardware/old HD license?

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by seanbil

Probably confusing if you stopped at the first paragraph. There has been a lot of speculation as to what license you will receive as "perpetual" when a support plan is joined or once it lapses.

Your statement, "Your install of PT would be stuck at whatever was the last feature version you downloaded" suggests that upgrades and updates are based upon actual downloads and installation to your computer. What I'm referring to is the actual license itself. What actually determines the version of Pro Tools (including upgrades) of your perpetual license. Some have speculated that your license will revert to version 11.2 if, for example, you joined a support plan today, received a v11.5 upgrade in 2015, and failed to renew your support plan in 2016. I'm looking for an official position from Avid regarding how the "perpetual license" is determined as it relates to future support plan upgrades/updates.

I went all the way through your post so I know what I'm saying and asking. The term 'unlock' is what's throwing me. Anyways Tony Cariddi answered your question as did I - your install of PT would be whatever was the last version you downloaded. THAT is the version of your perpetual license asset. No one here has speculated that your license asset will revert to PT11.2 in your example. If you are on the ASS you are entitled to all feature upgrades that come out during your term under the support contract. So if the last feature upgrade you download was 11.5 then that's the one you would be frozen at.

[Tony Cariddi]

Barry, I think there's a misunderstanding here. You asked if an owner of a perpetual PTHD 10/11 license can retain that license. The short answer is yes.

However, if you purchase an upgrade/support plan for your license, then you will be eligible for future upgrades. If, in the future you decided to take advantage of an upgraded version, you would get a new perpetual license and in return we may require you give back the older one, similar to what we do today.

We do this to prevent people from selling their old authorizations on the second-hand market and devaluing the product and your investment. Make sense?

If your concern is related to retaining compatibility with legacy HD systems, we are aware and will be making an exception for those auths for some time. More info on this in the future.

I hope this clarifies.

[Tony Cariddi]

Originally Posted by CME

My question is will these new licenses be perpetual? You've seemed to imply that, but would like something more official.

Yes, if you own a perpetual license, the upgraded auths you receive under your plan would also be perpetual.

[Sugarnutz]

Originally Posted by Tony Cariddi

Of course. And our apologies for the confusion. We're working diligently to clarify further in the future.

I've got a HD 8 authorization from an authorized Avid dealer that's only 6 months old and it concerns me that I'm not able to participate in the current offerings. The only thing I would get is the ability to use HD 10 and a vanilla use of 11 using 3rd party interface and a possible upgrade for that in the future, not a lot for $599.

[Tony Cariddi]

Originally Posted by Barry Johns

I'm fine with this during historical upgrades, however HD10 should be a forever exception.

The ONLY reason I even invested in HD11 was to future proof myself, I want to remain on HD10, but had planned to continue to upgrade future revisions in the event I would move away from TDM.

Hi Barry, I understand your concern. The FAQ states:
Q: If I upgrade to Pro Tools HD 11 with this new plan, can I still run Pro Tools HD 10 on my TDM hardware?
A. Yes. We will continue to include a perpetual Pro Tools HD 10 license in this offer until at least the end of 2016.

Hope this puts you at ease.

[Tony Cariddi]

Originally Posted by CME

And one more quick question. You say there will be options for those HD users who let their support plan lapse. Will those be available to anyone or will you be required to prove you own HD hardware/old HD license?

As I said, there will be more information about this in the future. Sorry we can't be more specific at this time.

[DigiTechSupt]

Originally Posted by musicman691

I'm on the email list for Promedia Training/Protools training and got an email where. amongst other things, they mention the new ASS. They talk about the various things in the plan. In the what's included section they have this:

Standard Avid Support for Pro Tools

• Billing and administration cases - Unlimited; response time within 24 hours
• Software updates and upgrades - Included; available upon release
• Troubleshooting—web and email support - Unlimited incidents; response time within 24 hours
• Troubleshooting—phone - One phone call per month; response time within 4 hours
• Self-help - Immediate access to the video library, Knowledge Base, Avid forums, and other community pages

This last statement troubles me. I don't know exactly where they got their info for this section - was it from Avid or something they wrote up themselves from gleaning various sources - but it would seem like the stuff we get free now like the DUC, Knowledge Base, etc, would become not free. More ambiguity on this plan that Avid needs to clean up.

See this page: http://www.protoolstraining.com/Full...-software.html

Not sure about the origin (but I doubt it was something they made up). It is not mentioned on Avid's Pro Tools page, and there is no plan to change the availability of the resources mentioned so we will contact them to correct it.

Regards,
JC

[CygnusX-1Bk2]

Originally Posted by Tony Cariddi

As I said, there will be more information about this in the future. Sorry we can't be more specific at this time.

Yet this is THE most important question needed to be answered for many of us here. I hope Avid is aware and can appreciate this fact. Especially for those of us who paid for PT HD 11 earlier this year as well as invested in hardware who are feeling left out in the cold for adopting earlier.

[Alfalfa]

Originally Posted by Barry Johns

The link above your post says you have to prove eligibility each year you upgrade.

Yeah, so if you cannot prove eligibility, your license is stuck at PT 11 student, with no option to upgrade to a non-student version of PT.