CS6 Cloud subscription = Brilliance?

[Brad Ballew]

It really seems like Adobe is offering an amazing deal with this Cloud service. For starters, to get immediate access to the entire Master Collection for $49 a month is amazing! Adobe has always had a huge problem with piracy and it's simply because so many people want these tools but just can't afford the 2K+ it would cost to get them. However, I wonder if making the software more accessible with a monthly subscription would cut down on some of that piracy?

20GB isn't a lot starting out but if they make upgrading affordable then it could really do wonders for post workflow. I wonder if they would be able to design a Premier Pro touch? Something basic to do rough edits?

[Jordan Nash]

And, they've managed to get more money, and a continual revenue stream rather than having peaks and valleys. They're mimicking what cell phone companies have known for decades: consumers will pay for more expensive devices and services as long as they can pay for them in smaller (less scary) amounts over time.

[Pete Bauer]

Brad, there is a monthly option as well. I think it is $79.

See also this existing thread about Creative Cloud:
http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/adobe-cr...obe-cloud.html

[Brad Ballew]

I have spent a great deal of time working the cs5.5 master suite through my work but I have never owned it myself. I do own FCP 7 though. I am doing the subscription option and it tells me that i will be billed $49.00 a month plus tax. Its not even a single yearly payment at $49/month but a recurring monthly fee. So the higher pricepoint for the monthly must have been dropped. Unless I am misreading something. I have downloaded the trial in the meantime and have been playing with AE and PPro. Having spent a great deal of time with fcp7 and ppro 5.5 I think Adobe has nailed it with cs6. PPro is by far my favorite nle. It is so intuitive and ae's 3d tracking is incredible! You can pull a clip into premier move it to after effects, track it, create 3d text from the tracking data, and click over to premier to watch the clip w/effect in just a few minutes. Love it!

[Dominic Witherow]

The cheaper subscription is available if you sign up to an annual contract, the higher rate is if you dip in and out for a month at a time (I imagine that could be the case where people are using Adobe tools for one-off, short projects and are effectively hiring them for that period only).

[Brad Ballew]

Oh I get it. It threw me off because I heard about the higher price point but I don't remember it giving me the option when I was purchasing it. I thought maybe they did away with it and was keeping it simple. Still that's not a bad idea. Someone could get the master collection for a limited time depending on their needs. I have no problem with a yearly contract since I will be using these apps everyday.

I have really been impressed with CS6. Too bad Adobe's voodoo blurry photo fix they revealed last fall isn't in Photoshop. I have a couple of blurry I phone pics that I would love to get fixed. Maybe in CS6.5?

[Thomas Smet]

The cloud really makes sense for freelance artists or even companies who want to hire freelance artists.

As a freelance artists one could only have to rent the software when there is a specific project to work on. This is really no different then people renting gear. In most cases with gear however you can pay hundreds of dollars for example to rent a camera and you only get it for a few days.

With the cloud as you get a project you can just go ahead and bill your client a software rental fee of $79.00 and you get it for the whole month.

For companies this really makes sense as well. The company I work for sometimes hires a couple of interns in the summer. A intern is only useful if you have tools for them to use. Having to buy full seats of Adobe software to have sitting on a machine for an intern to use for two months is a waste. Now we can just rent the full Adobe suite for $160.00 for each intern for those two months.

Even indy film makers can really benefit form this new system. A lot of time spent making a movie is pre production and production. A typical short or documentary could have months involved before the NLE is even touched. Why have that software sitting there doing nothing when you only really need to edit your project in a month or two.

The cloud is also a great way for Adobe to pull in new users. While the cloud may be somewhat debatable for us long time Adobe users who have the option of upgrading for new users it is a bit of a no brainer. Even at the 1 year subscription price you are paying a fraction of the price for a point of entry into Adobe software compared to what new users had a month ago. Each year you may have to pay for the 1 year subscription again but if you want to upgrade that price would be about the same anyway.

The cloud only really has one negative and that is people being able to pay for software once and milk it for 5+ years to maximise their investment. Some people are fine with using 5 year old tools if they get the job done. If you are one of those people then Adobe still sells that version as well.

[Andrew Smith]

There is an introductory special of $30/month for existing CS5+ users. Don't know what the deadline for it is, though.

I for one will be sticking with the usual upgrade process.

Andrew

[Pete Bauer]

Actually, the offer is good for CS3 or later and is currently advertised thru the end of August.

[Richard Cavell]

It is an awesome deal. Everyone sign up now. Goodbye FCP X and Motion.

[Alan Craven]

Originally Posted by Pete Bauer

Actually, the offer is good for CS3 or later and is currently advertised thru the end of August.

Adobe is somewhat less generous to it's customers who happen to live outside the USA - somethongs never change!

[Mike Beckett]

I'm quite happy with the new £17/month price for Premiere Pro CS6 on subscription (it's all I need, I don't need the whole suite). CS5.5 was £38/month on subscription.

So I now have the joy of my own copy, rather than using my work PC!

[Victor Nguyen]

so the question is...is it worth renting or buying? also why you guys get whole creative suite, why not just production premium?

[Nevin Styre]

Considering that I can cover the cost of the creative cloud in a couple hours a month I say it's worth it to subscribe, the only cloud suite option is to get the master suite, there isn't a creative cloud option for just production premium.

I myself use premiere, after effects, photoshop, illustrator, audition, media encoder, bridge, and occasionally indesign. At $600/yr you would have to subscribe for over 4 years before you reached the price of buying the master collection outright(if the price remains at $50 after the first year). Also when cs7 comes out cloud subscribers will get access right away, already paying a monthly fee there is no point for upgrade costs to get the latest edition.

[Pete Bauer]

I get the whole creative suite (currently Master Collection but soon Creative Cloud) for all the reasons that Nevin mentioned, plus I use the additional products including Acrobat X and Dreamweaver. Adobe is also promising Lightroom 4.x will join Creative Cloud later this year; I currently have Lightroom 3.5 and look forward to the no-additional charge upgrade. For those of us who use multiple programs, the Creative Cloud offer is an excellent deal.