Sorry, Emilian98A2, but I completely disagree with you. I am very happy with my subscription. As you stated in your first sentence, "you know you're not the target customer". And that's the thing that every successful company must understand: who is their target market? You must understand... you're probably not the person Adobe is trying to sell a CC/Premiere Pro subscription to, and that's okay! You don't have to be.
Premiere Pro and its CC littermates are marketed primarily toward people who make their living with the products, or at least do some paid work, or who are serious hobbyists. People for whom it's a business expense, or perhaps it's just that passion they're willing to pour money into (lots of people have a passion like this). If you only use PR a few times a year, and you just want to join a few video files, then aren't those free/open source softwares you mentioned perfect for you? Why even bother with Premiere Pro?
You said "try placing yourself in the position of the regular user"... by which I assume you mean people like yourself? ... but earlier you said that you're not the "target business customer". Truth is, PR's "regular user" actually isn't anything like you. And again, totally okay... you don't have to be that person. The target user is prepared to spend money on this video creation endeavor... editors sometimes need to replace their computer every 3-5 years ($2000 - $5000), they purchase stock assets regularly (buying one 30 second clip can cost $70 - $300, and they needs lots), and plugins plugins plugins. Honestly, the actual CC subscription is potentially the cheapest part for some folks.
You said "you guess" no one needs all those features. You must assume that because you don't use those features. Adobe collects data on what is being used in its apps, and professionals do use all the crazy stuff.
Would you walk onto the lot of a space shuttle dealer (if there was such a thing) and say, why are these so expensive??? And don't you guys know that most people don't need all these features??? I'm not paying all that just to drive around town! They would smile politely and say, Toyota is down the street, sir. There's nothing wrong with their product, or their price... or with Toyotas or their price either! Just go get whatever it is *you* need. The problem is just that you're shopping in the wrong place. Space travellers should head to the shuttle dealer, and city slickers should go to the car dealer. Silly example but I can't think of a better one, sorry.
Ironically, I'm a whole lot more like you than most Premiere Pro users. I'm not a professional video editor... and I don't even create very much. I'm just a self employed music teacher who creates video for my students. One could argue to me that I'm WAY overpaying for what I'm getting. But I so appreciate the subscription model. When I first decided to get into editing, I was expecting to be asked to pay a LARGE figure for software of this caliber. (I tried all the open source stuff first... got sick of headaches/lack of documentation/lack of features/lack of support and decided, if I'm doing this, I'm getting the good stuff because I do not need more stress in my life.) Imagine my shock when I discovered I could download and start using Premiere Pro for TWENTY BUCKS. What??? I was on it within minutes. And I upgraded to the entire cloud when I was offered a promotional price.
Your declaration that Adobe is not making money is also false. Have you read about them in the news last few years, or did you just make that assumption by checking the torrents?
I don't like pirated software. I like constant updates. I like that I didn't have to pay a gigantic sum once and then I'm stuck with only those features forever. I like the way the apps all work together. I like getting support. I think subscriptions make it easy, not hard, to get started. I see it as win win, for company and customer.
I do feel your pain on "everything is a subscription now and I can't afford it all". Good thing... I think that this is making us all very choosy about what we subscribe to... only what is valuable to us, and for each of us it will be different. Rather than subscriptions making companies lazy, I think it makes them work harder. Because we are all now much more cautious about what we subscribe to. And they must compete harder to earn my subscription, which I'm not agreeing to easily or often. One time impulse purchases are easy for a company to score, even with substandard products. But you're right, I'm not about to subscribe to everything that's offered to me. If a company wins my rare subscription, it's because I've thought it through and I really believe that product is valuable to me. And I suspect that you subscribe to things that I never would. That's okay. We have different needs. I will happily subscribe to Creative Cloud and forgo 50 other things that are advertised to me daily. I encourage you to only subscribe to things you feel merit it, and forgo Creative Cloud. I don't think you really need it, honestly... nothing wrong with that.
I do sincerely wish you success in choosing the product that is right for your needs! Have a great day. 🙂
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