FAQ: Prior major releases of Premiere, Audition, Prelude and AME have been removed

[ProDesignTools]

It looks like Adobe has just pulled many of the primary installers that were available for previous major versions of Premiere Pro, Audition, Prelude, and Adobe Media Encoder (AME).

Notably the following base releases are now gone, and not currently available to customers via any means (whether using the Creative Cloud Desktop app or through direct download links😞

— Premiere Pro CC 2015.3 (versions 10.3 & 10.4 – June 2016)

— Premiere Pro CC 2015 (version 9.0 – June 2015)

— Premiere Pro CC 2014 (version 8.0 – June 2014)

— Audition CC 2015.2 (versions 9.2 & 9.2.1 – June 2016)

— Audition CC 2015 (version 8.0 – June 2015)

— Audition CC 2014 (version 7.0 – June 2014)

— Prelude CC 2015.4 (versions 5.0 & 5.0.1 – June 2016)

— Prelude CC 2015 (version 4.0 – June 2015)

— Prelude CC 2014 (version 3.0 – June 2014)

— Media Encoder CC 2015.3 (versions 10.3 & 10.4 – June 2016)

— Media Encoder CC 2015 (version 9.0 – June 2015)

— Media Encoder CC 2014 (version 8.0 – June 2014)

Note that this loss affects all revisions from these three years (2014, 2015, and 2016), because without the base installers available, none of the minor version updates can be installed either.

Can't say for sure why this happened, but it could possibly be related to the recent change in CC application support for the Dolby codec.

One of the great promises of Creative Cloud is the ability to use any version of the CC apps that you desire or require. This is especially important for video customers, who are urged by Adobe experts to install and maintain multiple CC versions and to always re-open their .prproj files with the exact same versions of Premiere with which they were created, no matter how new or old. This is for compatibility reasons.

Updating and Backing Up Premiere Pro Project Files: Best Practices

The loss of these major releases could also be a big issue for customers who cannot upgrade, for example, due to changed system requirements or newer versions that their current hardware cannot support. They will not be able to access or reinstall older versions of their software.

Adobe also sometimes drops features or functionality between releases, and says that if you want to use the discontinued feature, then you need to go back and install/use the previous version.

If you would like to have these three years of CC releases restored, then the most likely path to having that happen is to let Adobe know how important these are to you (their customers) – so please share why you want or need them...

Please add your feedback below, and/or click "I have the same question" underneath this text.

[andrest61770828]

Thank uou

[R Neil Haugen]

Soom,

Which features did you feel were removed for "no clear reason" ... ?

Dolby Laboratories has gone to the lawyers with several companies, not only Adobe, so the Dolby audio thing was something that happened in several other apps as well. Yea, totally a pain for us users. But once The Suits get involved, and common sense goes out the window.

So what has hurt your workflow recently? Maybe we can offer some help.

Neil

[soom1976]

Hi Neil

Well - easy - one of my recent discoveries (reason why I wrote here this angry reply): Adobe Animate can only import video in FLV format.  Most of my videos are in MOV format, so when I try to import a video into Adobe Animate, it sends me to Media Encoder to convert this video to FLV. Surprize surprize - there is NO(!) FLV format in AME! So - first question - why does it suggest to use AME? and second - what am I supposed to do? I have no way to import a video into Animate using Adobe software. Really?! A software that is dedicated to animation cannot import a video? I was long time a beta tester for Adobe Animate, and some good changes were done with my participation, and I appreciate the great work and effort that the developers are doing now to bring Animate up to the professional animation level (although I think it still laks some important features), but such basic features like not being able to import a video is simply not acceptable! Finally I had to use some online conversion tool, that created the FLV for me. Imagine converting dozens of files like that...

One more discovery was the new Brushes and Erasers system in Adobe Photoshop that so many people complain about, but Adobe wouldn't listen. Ever since beginning of times Photoshop used the same brushes for Painting and Erasing. I mean - I could just use any brush as a brush or as an eraser. Ever since 2018 it's not the case any more. Now I need to create a preset for each tool separately - long and painful process – and I cannot use a brush as an eraser anymore. Why the heck did anybody ever thought about changing something that worked perfectly for more than 20 years?! It's like taking a car and deciding - Ok, let's do something new.. hmm - what? well - let's put the clutch instead of the gas pedal, and the gas pedal instead of the steering wheel, and the steering wheel at the passenger seat, and tell everybody we made a new better car.

This is the reason I have to stay with Photoshop 2017, and never update it again as long as I can.

I still have disks with some really old Adobe software, that I thought I would never need again, but the way it is going, I am afraid it's a good thing I kept them...

[Abbie.Mess]

I currently have Windows 8.1 and a year-long subscription to Adobe Cloud. But what's the point if they don't support any older versions? It's insane to me. What am I supposed to do with all of my projects? Do I have to update my OS just for this app? And what will happen to all my project files if I try to update them into a newer version. 

I'm just very confused and unhappy about this decision and hope they bring the older versions back soon.

[R Neil Haugen]

As another user and long-time computer user for business, I hear you. Our first business computer was around 1988. I've got a drawer for the heck, of it near filled with installation disks from expensive programs ... like I think I spent over $500 for a dBase version around early 90's. Hasn't been anyone able to work with dBase for years, dead dead dead. I've got quite a few long-gone apps that had our business & client data in them. Sometimes when they went "poof" we could migrate most things forward ... sometimes ... not so much.

Operating systems never ever last more than a few years. Win8.1 is a dinosaur. I loved XP ... went from that to Win7. Then from that to 10. Set up right, there's really no working difference between 7 & 10. Except a couple older machines we brought up to 10 worked a lot faster than they had in Win7. One of them was supposedly "incapable" of using Win10, but actually it gave that rig another usable year of life.

No company ever brings back older versions. Period, end of story. They are gone. And the OS makers really push especially the large vendors to not allow the use of their apps on 'deprecated' versions because as they are not supporting them for security fixes any more, they don't want them in use.

It's Life.

Neil

[kglad]

@ProDesignTools 

it looks like the flash/animate cc 2014 links have been removed, https://prodesigntools.com/adobe-cc-2014-direct-download-links.html

[ProDesignTools]

Thanks @kglad,

unfortunately it looks like that's true.

[kglad]

@ProDesignTools 

it's been just over 1 day that i've been aware of a problem with those two (win/mac) links, so hopefully they might still come back.  

i'm pretty sure you feel the same as i do about these link removals:  i can see no business benefit to these cc removals (other than saving some server storage space), and there is the business cost of losing customers without near-current os'es. 

it's also illogical to maintain cs4, cs5, cs6 activation servers and download links and fail to support current adobe customers.  imo, it's another example the long known problem that adobe's internal communication is just a bad as its communication with its customers.

if adobe were a person, they'd be committed to a home for the mentally incompetent and someone appointed to make their decisions.

[ProDesignTools]

I agree that older releases should still be readily available, especially when those releases will run under a current paid subscription and are the only versions that many customers' systems support!

This is especially a problem for Mac users, because only the latest 3 revisions of macOS are ever supported by the newest edition of Creative Cloud. Meaning paying customers with older non-upgradeable systems can't use it. And if there's no version they can use, then why subscribe?

The right thing to do IMO would be to continue to make older versions available for those who need them, but only officially provide tech support for the most recent two major releases... So the older stuff would be "use at your own risk/discretion," but nevertheless would help so many people.

[R Neil Haugen]

I doubt there's a user that would disagree with your thoughts. And ProDesignTools has some excellent suggestions too.

This all came about when DolbyLabs filed suit against Adobe, charging that Adobe cheated on the number of daily users using the Dolby audio process. There was a license for use within the app, you see, based on daily users.

And in their suit, demanded that for a remedy Adobe be required to allow them complete online access to Adobe's basically entire accounting system. So they could supposedly track users. Right.

I don't know about you, but ain't no way in HADES anyone's ever gonna get constant access to my small shop's financials ... let alone, online access. And Adobe's lawyers jumped in and simply laid down the law: dumping all use of Dolby audio that day in Adobe apps.

And to make sure they had control came up with that "N+1" concept. The current version plus one back, as that would allow the lawyer suits to ride herd on licensing issues.

Most users think that was total over-kill. I think most of the product teams think so also. However ... what we or the devs think doesn't matter, if they're lawyers say this is how it's gonna be for the safety & security of the company.

Yea, it's a stupid situation. And lawyers ... both for Dolby & Adobe ... well, I won't comment further on that. Ahem.

But that's how we got stuck in this mess.

Neil

[kglad]

@R Neil Haugen 

that would, at least, have some logic to it.  but, if it were true and adobe were consistent, adobe wouldn't allow previous versions to be retained when upgrading.  or they would, at least, limit the number of retained versions.

and it wouldn't make sense to allow some/most older cc version downloads.

and it sure wouldn't make sense to accommodate cs5 and cs5.5 and cs6 users with downloads and activation servers.

so, i don't think i've heard a logical explanation for the current policy.

[R Neil Haugen]

Um, we're talking lawyers here ... spendy suits, right?

You expect consistency and logic? From that crowd?

That's the group that goes down not only to how many angels can fit on the head of a needle, but will argue and set conditions/exceptions for how you measure, what angles you may or may not be allowed to view the head of the pin while counting, the circumstances under which you are allowed to count ...

"But with all these rules, requirements, and restrictions, we can't be sure we're getting a complete count!!!!"

The Suit: "If you violate the rules, we'll all go to court, get judges involved in further rulings and decrees, and get to work to add MORE appendixes to the current situation."

And yes, I've both worked with major lawyers ... and have some in the extended family. That's how they view their profession. I didn't come up with the above example. A family lawyer did.

Humans are fascinating in all, at least at times ...

Neil

[kglad]

i think the lack of consistency is on adobe, not the lawyers.  the lawyers would advise something like, the fewer licensed apps in use, the less the liability. 

and then it would be up to adobe corp if, and how to implement that.

[R Neil Haugen]

This being a Human thing, I'm sure there's both.

That said, I've talked enough with quite a few program devs over the years, to know that for many, many decisions, the devs are not the ones making the call. Other higher ups do. 

And also clearly, though they are not allowed to talk about many things with non-employee types ... the devs frequently are no happier than we users.

Fascinating company.

Some awesome stuff, much human variability. Which all that can be said publicly.

Neil

[Danniel0101]

Hi 

I need my 2020 versions of Adobe Premiere Pro and Media Encoder put back as I cannot upgrade my Imac OS system anymore due to my machine's age. I have a few deadlines coming up that I need to meet! Anyone have any suggestions?

[ProDesignTools]

Hi Danniel,

You can try contacting Adobe to ask, but they only support the current release and the one prior, so it's not likely that you'd be able to get installers from that far back. Sorry, wish we could help more!