One of the hottest products I saw at NAB 2010 was AV3 Software’s Get, a phonetic search tool for Final Cut Pro. The idea for Get is simple: using some crazy voodoo-like “patented phonetic search technology” you let Get index all your media. You simply type in a search phrase and Get will find it, display it and mark it. You can then send those marks over to Final Cut Pro. Obviously, it’s dependent on the quality of the audio in your clips but I can tell you, it works quite well and I’ve used it a lot since its release.

One roadblock, however, is the price: Get isn’t cheap at $499 for each language license. Currently there are only three: U.S. English, U.K. English and Spanish. You can see how it could get very expensive if you work with media in multiple languages. AV3 Software is trying to address that issue with a new rental model for Get. Renting software isn’t unique in the post-production world. Companies like The Foundry have been using the software rental model for some time.

The rental pricing for Get, for all the available languages, is $59 for 30 days, $109 for 60 days and $159 for 90 days. I think the 30-day rental for $59 is the most reasonable, since the core of many shorter edit jobs can easily be made in under 30 days. Using Get on a long-form documentary, however, might not work as well. If you rent the 90-day option a few times you’ve almost equaled the software price. But if the 10-day free trial isn’t enough or you just need a Spanish version to supplement your English license then it makes good sense. If nothing else, it’s an option.