I’ve always been a big fan of Avid software but if moves like this continue, I’ll be quite lonely.
From the Avid Community Forums:
At this time, there is no upgrade pricing to 2.7.x. The price to purchace the software is $995. That gets you the 2.7 upgrade along with 1 year of Avid assurance. That means that the rest of the upgrades for the year are free too.
This is standard pricing for a new version of Avid’s software. The only difference is, this is the first time they’ve thrown in support with the deal.
Note to Tewksbury: It’s a dot release. Apple charges around $300 for a complete studio upgrade (e.g. Final Cut 4.5 to 5.0) and dot releases are free. To this observer a move like this proves Avid is less than serious about holding onto its one and two seat shops. Couple this to its still-to-be-relalized-but-long-ago-promised platform parity, and you have a situation where a once-dominant player in the NLE space is racing towards also-ran status. Anyone recently meet a 20-something editing on his or her own Avid? Didn’t think so.
Sadly, Media Composer is still a great NLE. The question becomes: How much longer?
Following up…
On March 27 Avid announced that Media Composer software-only customers will be able to upgrade for $195 instead of $995. Posted to a public mailing list by an Avid marketing person:
We have heard the opinions of our customer base loud and clear and
are happy to announce that we are addressing your concerns.To reward your patience, Avid is offering upgrade programs for our
Media Composer Software and Media Composer Adrenaline customers.Avid Media Composer software customers can upgrade to v2.7 on the
Avid Online store for $195.00 US MSRP until June 30, 2007. The
upgrade will be posted on the Avid Online store within the next
week. The upgrade includes a free copy of Boris Continuum Complete
v4.2.2 as well.Avid Media Composer Adrenaline users can obtain their updates and
all third party applications by purchasing the v2.7 $995 US MSRP
upgrade kit which will also be available on the Avid Online store.
Support is not included with the Media Composer Adrenaline upgrade
but can be obtained seperately by contacting Avid or your reseller
directly.
So let me get this straight. The same upgrade costs Adrenaline customers, who have spent upwards of $20,000 more for their systems, $800 more than the software-0nly customer. Odd thanks for being a better customer.
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