New Licensing

[Drew Mazurek]

https://www.cakewalk.com/Products/SONAR/Membership

It's spreading.

[Alfalfa]

Originally Posted by Drew Mazurek

https://www.cakewalk.com/Products/SONAR/Membership

It's spreading.

Cakewalk's does have a more pleasant re-entry program. If you don't renew after 12 months, you can still renew at a reasonable rate rather than repurchasing at full price. (That's a hint, Avid. :)

[Drew Mazurek]

Originally Posted by Alfalfa

Cakewalk's does have a more pleasant re-entry program. If you don't renew after 12 months, you can still renew at a reasonable rate rather than repurchasing at full price. (That's a hint, Avid. :)

I just hate the whole idea.

[Alfalfa]

Originally Posted by Drew Mazurek

I just hate the whole idea.

I'm not a fan, either. I guess I'm trying to make lemonade...

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by Drew Mazurek

https://www.cakewalk.com/Products/SONAR/Membership

It's spreading.

I don't know if I mentioned this earlier but the fanboys over at the Cakewalk forums think this is great news. Little do they know. I used to run a Sonar system back in the day and I don't trust them. And there are three different levels to Sonar now.

[LDS]

Originally Posted by Drew Mazurek

I just hate the whole idea.

Me too. I want to know what I am getting for my money.

I used to (naively) think that digidesign/avid gave a toss about their customers at least to some degree... but I have given up complaining about it/them now. They really don't. I just want the tools to do the job I love doing, supplied in a fair manner. If Avid does follow through with these hardline policies, I am jumping ship for my own sanity.

There was an announcement by the CEO(?) of Avid regarding the subscription model. He said something along the lines of "we haven't made up our minds about it, but we will let our customer base decide if it stays or goes". So... I am predicting we will see quite a substantial software release in the latter half of the year. A decent new feature, or potentially even PT12. It will be the proverbial carrot on the stick. Something enticing enough that a decent chunk of users leap into the $599 a year subscription model for...

Which is all well and good, but I just don't think I can swallow it. While many may justify the initial year of $599 with that new and shine feature/upgrade... what about in the years moving forward? If I had to honestly ask myself "Do I believe Avid will provide enough updates and new features year in and year out to justify the $599 each and every year?", the answer would be a blunt "No."

So unless Avid do provide some form of perpetual licensing moving forward in the future, the kind that I can choose to buy when I think it is worth it... I have pretty well made up my mind that I am sticking with my current PT license until it no longer is a feasible tool, then am moving onto something new.

If the only options presented at the end of the year are paying $599 a year or your license is frozen then my disdain for Avid will greatly outweigh my love of Protools. And I really love protools... but Avid really are trying their hardest to get "everywhere", including deeper into my pocket and kinda in the way of enjoying creating music. So, if it does indeed happen and anyone follows me out the door I will happily supply them with a banner for the studio.

It will simply say "Avid Anywhere?".

Lets get on makin' music!

[JCBigler]

Originally Posted by LDS

I used to (naively) think that digidesign/avid gave a toss about their customers at least to some degree...

No publically traded company cares about anything except their bottom line and the profits they generate for their stock holders. Their marketing and PR departments may SAY they do, and push an image that they care about their customers and what they wants and need. But it's all just lip service. Their deeds do not match their words.

There was an announcement by the CEO(?) of Avid regarding the subscription model. He said something along the lines of "we haven't made up our minds about it, but we will let our customer base decide if it stays or goes".

I thought he made that statement during the Avid Everywhere speech at NAB last year, and that the statement was that they WERE NOT going to implement subscriptions. Kind of funny how they are now back tracking on that promise. But, that's how marketing works. See, it's all just a bunch of lies to get more people to buy something, so they can increase their share price and dividend payments.

Just one more reason that either Avid should be a privately held company, or they should sell Protools to a privately held company that can actually service their customers' needs.

The only publicly held company in this industry that seems to be able to balance those two opposing goals is Yamaha. But the Japanese have a different view on the purpose of business and how they should conduct it.

[Niilo Nuori]

Yep, I have lost trust in this company, too. PT11 is barely usable after close to 2 years after the release and they are talking about a new release even though the old bugs (major ones) have not been fixed. Some people here say that the last rock solid PT was version 6 or 7 how many years ago? The slowness of product development at Avid is admirable. It feels like they are a monopoly in DAW business with no need to hurry or innovate that much. PT is still pretty much the same edit & mix window it has always been. I feel like Avid is stuck with their proprietary (overpriced) HW while the rest of the industry is taking full advantage of the amazing speed that hw is becoming cheaper and multi-core computers are becoming mainstream and fairly inexpensive while embracing features that allow the user to optimally use the resources (for example the famous "freeze"). And the I/O hw and various controllers you get from 3rd parties are just amazing - except that they are not supported by PT (HUI discussion: http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=338093). Now Avid would like me to pay them annually doubling the cost with no evidence that things would be any different than what they have been for years? And to call that plan a support plan is just funny.

To be fair, there are a fair amount of people and studios that are happy to support Avid's business model, proprietary hw (lock) & sw and enjoy the edit & mix windows. I am very happy for them and wish them and Avid best of luck! They truly need the support plan to keep their Avid systems working so the new business model should work for them. I just think that especially for HD users the annual support plans are way too cheap (~$600) and Avid should think about slowly increasing the price to a few thousand annually. What they have is a closed, proprietary system and those do not typically come cheap. Also, I do not understand why Avid should keep supporting two OSes? As long as you have a closed system, pick one and go with it.

[noiseboyuk]

Originally Posted by LDS

Me too. I want to know what I am getting for my money.

I don't like subs as a model either, but I'd be delighted with Sonar's implementation.

I raised the Sonar issue a few pages back. Really, Sonar is barely subs at all, it's a totally different proposition to Avid's. When you want to upgrade, you pay either a monthly or annual upgrade price (which is very reasonable). If you buy annually, that version (plus 12 months of upgrades) is yours to keep forever. Then you can leave it for a year or two and do the same thing again. If you prefer, you can just buy one month, but if so your license won't be permanent - you have to pay for 12 months to make it so. (Perfectly fair or else everyone would just upgrade for a month's payment!)

So it's just the current retail model with some extra goodies thrown in, it seems to me. I can see why the user base is enthusiastic - there's no down side I can see. Very, very different to Avid.

[YYR123]

Originally Posted by noiseboyuk

I don't like subs as a model either, but I'd be delighted with Sonar's implementation.

Yep