Shallow Subscription Plans

[trappedlightphoto]

I've been a long time Adobe Photoshop user (since Photoshop 4), and I'm glad that there is a subscription plan that allows me to use all or some of the entire Adobe Suite withouth spending hundreds or thousands of dollars every time there is a new version. I also enjoy the fact that I can have a Photography Plan (current plan) that saves me some money since I don't use the majority of what Adobe has available.

However, I feel that the pricing plans don't go very far or at least don't seem to fit my needs. I have sort of a strange background in that I've been a web developer for over 20 years and I currently run my own photography business. I was an AS3 developer for a long time and even before that, I was pleased that Macromedia was bought by Adobe. There are features in Fireworks I wish Adobe had kept, but that's a different conversation. The point is that while I don't need every Adobe program, there are programs I need that the Photography plan does not cover.

First of all, I do not care for Lightroom. I know a lot of people do, and I would love to learn it. But, since there are two versions for reasons passing understanding, I'm always confused on which one to use. I tried working my way through it, creating adjustments on one photo and then applying them to a select group of photos like I would do in Adobe Bridge. Apparently, that's only allowed in the OTHER version of Lightroom. So, yeah, I abandoned that waste of time in a hurry.

The other problem is that I do design things from time to time and so I would love to have access to Illustrator. Again, I'd have to learn it (I used to use Flash for vector graphic design if only because it was a known quantity), but it's not available through the Photography plan. I don't want to spend all of that extra money just for ONE program!

Am I missing something? Is there a way to augment a plan/add one bloody program withouth selling my house? I'm just kind of shaking my head at the obvious need for a Design & Layout package since that's a category on this site, yet no such plan exists. I'm scratching my head here. Please help!

[John T Smith]

You may add one program to your current plan... contact support to do so without having a separate subscription with a separate payment

To Change Plan https://helpx.adobe.com/manage-account/using/change-plan.html

and/or

Be sure to remain signed in with your Adobe ID before accessing the link below
-you must also allow 'cookies' in your web browser for this to work
https://helpx.adobe.com/contact/support.html

[trappedlightphoto]

Thank you, John. I do understand that there is an ability to add a program. My issue is the price spike of one program. I'd rather they remove the 2 flavors of Lightweight and replace it with Illustrator.

[Nancy OShea]

You can put together whatever package you want but à la carte pricing is always more expensive. 

I do print, web, photography and video which means the All Apps plan is the best option for me.  I don't use the entire suite of 20+ apps & services (nobody does) but it's cheaper than paying for several Single App plans at the same time. 

The Photography Plan started as a deeply discounted special aimed at photographers. It was wildly popular and Adobe decided to extend it.  But it's a special bundle package.  The last time I called my cable company they offered me 3 premium channels for the price of one.  Go figure!   That's how bundled pricing works.

[trappedlightphoto]

I'm all for bundled pricing. But to follow your analogy, I'm only using internet and want to add a phone line. Adobe's answer is to force us to also have cable tv in order to get the phone line. No cable company would do that because their customers would demand better service. I'm simply doing that. I'm sure if Adobe created another affordable subscription for designers (maybe one that includes Photoshop and Illustrator, but maybe not InDesign), their customers would make it popular, too.

[Nancy OShea]

Adobe staff rarely visit these discussion boards.  If you want Adobe's ear, submit a feature request where the product teams will see it. 

https://www.adobe.com/products/wishform.html