Subscription cost increasing AGAIN

[Erin_Hunt]

this may seem petty to some, but to me it's upsetting. I've always enjoyed using adobe products for 10+ years and was rapt when they began the subscription service. It meant that their products were now streamlined and affordable.

Now though, they've increased their subscription price twice in as many years I doubt I am going to be able to continue with it. I have periods where I work and periods where I don't, and to keep having to deal with the increase in prices when what made it all so attractive in the first place was the competitive monthly cost is making it more difficult to justify.

This is a shame, it's upset me. I really don't know if I can afford $73 per month, it stings when I think i started off paying much less than that.

[GrizzlyAK]

Yeah, that was exactly my point, Neil. I skipped CS4, 5, and 5.5 because I didn't see any advantage in the updates and the innovation seemed minimal to me, for the cost and pain of an upgrade. I come from a professional IT management background, and professionals typically prefer stability and productivity over the latest bells and whistles every 3 months - we have to get actual work done instead of spending time figuring out why your new upgrade doesn't load your current project that is due next week, or finding workarounds for a whole new set of bugs. That's why Adobe has a special release schedule for corporate clients that doesn't push out CC releases automatically (or easily for users), causing severe headaches across thousands of users.

If this wasn't really all about the continual income stream from subscriptions that I mentioned earlier, then Adobe would freeze a CC release and offer a perpetual license every 12-18 months for download to make a bunch of other customers happy like other professional SW companies do who offer a subscription-based SW option. Subscription is not the issue, especially for those who can afford the waste of time and productivity associated with continual roll-out SW just so they can play with the latest features, but forcing that on users as the ONLY option, IMO, is. It's not about customer satisfaction, it is about shareholder value.

I fear Adobe is following Apple down the road from developing SW designed for the professional in favor of the more readily available, less demanding, consumer customer. Think Final Cut Pro X and what damage that did to Apple's reputation and following in the professional market.

It would be ridiculously easy for Adobe to freeze a CC release and offer it as a perpetual license, if they wanted to. All my experience with hosted and 'rented' SW, watching it come and go over the last 2 decades, leads me to believe it is a mistake. Just reading all the grief professional users are experiencing on this forum with each new release, just convinces me further. But, that's just me.

[R Neil Haugen]

Great post.

The one thing that I've learned about the issues faced by people on this and other forums ... is that for the widest bugs out there, it's normally still a moderately small proportion of the user base. From a couple conversations I was ... "granted" ... perhaps? ... at a NAB a couple years back, a couple of the HUGE bugs only affected a small percentage of the user base. (Can't quote the number. Small.)

Well ... your comments about professional users probably fit in here pretty well. But even then, though it was clear that among the pro users that number on those two bugs would have been higher than among prosumers, still ... the number of pro users experiencing the issue was still below a pretty small percentage. One bug was nearly totally Mac-centric, the other issue mostly Windows.

So from a "corporate" viewpoint of the upper managers, it probably seemed very ... manageable.

From a user standpoint, ​if​ you were hit with one of those bugs, it could be rather a brick wall. Talking with a guy from a network "shop", some of their Macs were basically set aside for assistant editors to log things with Prelude or whatever, as they just couldn't be used for major work ... and most of their Macs just worked. They were ​not​ pleased with the situation, but ... were working through it.

I do like a lot of the Adobe products, and we use a ton of them. That said, you're correct about many of the updates seeming to come out with things that shouldn't have come out.

Neil

[crewmark]

GrizzlyAK  wrote

I fear Adobe is following Apple down the road from developing SW designed for the professional in favor of the more readily available, less demanding, consumer customer. Think Final Cut Pro X and what damage that did to Apple's reputation and following in the professional market.

Really? I thought Apple had been dumbing down all their apps... most SW out there seems to be built for idiots these days. I think Adobe do a great job with their software but the company, their support and their pricing structure sucks.

[KingMob93]

I am in my final year of school.
My plan started at $19.99.
Then next year....$31.04...
I'm in my final semester of school and just get an email that it's time for my annual year long renewal...

It went up to FIFTY bucks. For a student license...
It is literally now the exact same price as the standard sub.

This is absolutely ridiculous.

[ProDesignTools]

Hi Richard,

Adobe's student licenses are definitely not the same price as the standard subscription.

If you're still in school, then you should just be able to re-confirm your eligibility to retain the educational discount.

Generally, academic customers need to do this every year at renewal to continue to receive the lower pricing.

[KingMob93]

I may have replied to you on a different thread, but apparently it's being moderated, so who knows if the post will show up. But I am clearly getting a price hike, it even acknowledges it as the student plan.

[Nancy OShea]

Just curious.  Which country do you live in?

[KingMob93]

United States. I think my next step is to probably try customer service but from my previous experience, it is pretty terrible and if something is off script it becomes a nightmare to resolve.

[Nancy OShea]

I'm also in the US and according to the website, your rate should be $29.99/mo.  So there is some mix up on your statement.  You could try contacting AdobeCare@TwitterCare.  They might be able to resolve the confusion.

Creative Cloud pricing and membership plans | Adobe Creative Cloud

Nancy

[ProDesignTools]

If your current student eligibility is confirmed with Adobe, then the content of the email you posted is not accurate. It is absolutely not the case that the price for any eligible customer for the Student & Teacher Edition is $49.99/month.

To resolve this, please contact an Adobe Customer Care representative at the link given in your email, or via the page below:

https://helpx.adobe.com/contact.html

Posting further here will not resolve the issue. Apologies for the inconvenience, but only Adobe can take care of that for you. Live chat is another option and is often the fastest/easiest.

[Aida_s_Dad]

I've just been hit by a 61.13% in the subscription I pay for my daughter.  Up the equivalent of $153 a year (I pay in £ stg).

So yes, Adobe told us.  Yes it is part of the challenge with subscriptions.

But is it fair?  Isn't it exploiting children - once they get a taste for the product you hit then with $150 annual increase?

And for parents who want to enable their child's creative side, this sort of increase is just a kick in the teeth.

[rayek.elfin]

No, it's not exploiting children. Nor are they or you forced by anyone to keep using Adobe software, are you? There's loads of great quality open source (free) and inexpensive creative software to enable children's creative side, both for desktop and for mobile platforms.

If you dislike Adobe's rental costs, then stop paying it. Simple as that.

[crewmark]

No, it's not exploiting children.

It's exploiting everyone, unless of course you're cashed up, then it's not a problem.

If you dislike Adobe's rental costs, then stop paying it. Simple as that.

Unfortunately it's not as simple as that... if you want to be in the design industry you don't have much choice. Adobe are providing excellent products and getting more and more subscribers everyday (ie making a ridiculous income). Why keep putting the pice up when you have so many "addicts" already hooked? Pure greed by the looks of things.

[Nancy OShea]

Those design addicts as you call them want new & improved products.   New product research & development costs a lot of money.   Where do you think that money comes from?   It comes from the people who use the products.

[crewmark]

Hmmm let's think about that... In March 2016 Adobe said they had nearly 4.5million subscribers. If they charge, say $50 per month... well you do the math. If they can't produce new an improved products with over $27,000,000,000 per year then they are pretty bloody useless.

[Nancy OShea]

Where I went to school, gross receivables are not the same as profits.  Profits are what's left after expenses. 

Adobe Systems Quarterly Revenue, Income Statement, 2017 Q4, 2017 Q3 - Amigobulls

Adobe is a for-profit company with an obligation to its shareholders.  A company that's not profitable doesn't stay in business very long.   And then who would create your design software?

[crewmark]

You obviously went to school at capitalist hill then... and I didn't mention profits, but since you did, an almost $6billion gross profit for 2017 is in the shareholders best interest, not the users.

Sustained profits are unsustainable unless you keep bleeding your market... how much additional profit do they want? The end user consistently pays the big boys in this model... seriously Nancy you're sounding like an Adobe cult prefect rather than a "product expert".

Adobe produce fantastic product but are pricing many people out of the market. With system efficiencies, faster computers etc the price should be stable, not growing continuously. A lower price would attract a larger market one would think (or is it profit they are most interested in). Imagine if that school you went to was profit based... you probably wouldn't have been able to afford to go.

[Nancy OShea]

crewmark  wrote

Adobe produce fantastic product but are pricing many people out of the market.

If you're a casual user or hobbyist, that may be true.  Working professionals are the main target users.

Nancy

[crewmark]

If you're a casual user or hobbyist, that may be true.  Working professionals are the main target users.

Not according to Adobe:

Only Adobe gives everyone — from emerging artists to global brands — everything they need to design and deliver exceptional digital experiences.

Adobe Fast Facts | Adobe

[Aida_s_Dad]

I realise my comments incurred the wrath of some of the faithful! Reality

is that I'm not criticising the product. My daughter utilises some aspects

of it and is really enjoying it and at the time the most cost effective

package was very attractive. Now it has increased in price significantly

which I realise is not an issue for commercial users but in reality Adobe

don't offer a scaled down product which suits a creative teenager and now

I'm caught by not being able to afford the increase and not knowing enough

to source an effective alternative (esp for animator). But I don't mean to

offend anyone by complaining about the increase (it clearly is my fault....)

[crewmark]

I'm caught by not being able to afford the increase and not knowing enough to source an effective alternative (esp for animator).

Try 2D Animation Software for All Users- CrazyTalk Animator 3

[rayek.elfin]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Aida%27s+Dad  wrote

I realise my comments incurred the wrath of some of the faithful! Reality

is that I'm not criticising the product.  My daughter utilises some aspects

of it and is really enjoying it and at the time the most cost effective

package was very attractive.  Now it has increased in price significantly

which I realise is not an issue for commercial users but in reality Adobe

don't offer a scaled down product which suits a creative teenager and now

I'm caught by not being able to afford the increase and not knowing enough

to source an effective alternative (esp for animator). But I don't mean to

offend anyone by complaining about the increase (it clearly is my fault....)

Completely understandable. Adobe's CC suite is expensive to maintain, and the trouble is that after you stop paying the rent, you have nothing left in your hands except files that can be viewed, but not edited until you start paying the rent again.

For an excellent production-proven 2d animation alternative, try OpenToonz. Open source and free, and a very high-level 2d animation package. OpenToonz

For digital painting and animation, Krita is a powerful open source and free alternative. The digital painting capabilities arguably best the ones in Photoshop. https://krita.org/en/

Krita and OpenToonz work well together.

To replace both Premiere and AfterEffects, download the free versions of Davinci Resolve and Fusion. Both are quite heavy duty applications, and are free for up to 4K footage. Make no mistake, these are again production-proven products. It is almost crazy that  these are free (commercial versions are also available with no output limitations and some additional high-level features).

Blackmagic Design: DaVinci Resolve 14

Blackmagic Design: Fusion

For 3d animation and 3d creative work, also get Blender (free and open source again). Far superior to any 3d that Adobe has on offer. Get the 3d character generator for Blender, and your daughter will have access to high-quality 3d characters as well. Free again.

https://www.blender.org/

Manuel Bastioni official page

Illustrator alternatives include Gravit Designer (free again) and InkScape (open source and free). Or the commercial and inexpensive Affinity Designer.

Gravit Designer

https://inkscape.org/en/

Affinity - Professional creative software

Photoshop as an image editor can be replaced by PhotoLine, Affinity Photo, or Gimp (clunky). Both PhotoLine and Affinity Photo are inexpensive. I prefer PhotoLine myself.

PhotoLine: Image Processing & Design Software

Affinity Photo - Professional image editing software

https://www.gimp.org/

For web work there are too many alternatives to count out there. Do some research. Pinegrow is nice as a visual editor, but costs some money. A good inexpensive alternative for InDesign I haven't been able to find yet, though. Perhaps this summer with Affinity Publisher, but I am not holding my breath. QuarkXPress is pretty good, but expensive. Scribus is open source, but rather limited.

Anyway, even if you would download and purchase all of these, it would cost you about three months of CC rent.

[Aida_s_Dad]

Just been hit by a 61.13% increase for my child's subscription.   Not happy.   Time for massive social media to add to UK press previous campaigns I've just read

[LaOjaSAS]

And today (30/12/2017) we have received an email giving the new year's price for Adobe Creative Cloud, it is almost 40% more of last year's price. What is this Adobe? Is this the way to treat your customers? It feels more like a punishment for having Creative Cloud... very discouraging.

Has any one received the same information recently?

[Nancy OShea]

Did you join CC at the half-off introductory rate? 

Or maybe the VAT taxes in your region went up significantly since last year?