To put Adobe’s software rental scheme into prospective…
I started as a fan of their products back when there wasn’t much competition and when their software were purchases, not subscriptions. When the budget allowed, I’d upgrade every few years (Adobe CS4 Production Suite ~ $1295). A good chunk of those tools got worked constantly: Premiere, AfterEffects, Photoshop, Illustrator.
By the time I was ready to pony up for a rejuvenated Suite, Adobe decided a perpetual I.V. into the bank account was the appropriate reward for license-abiding customers. That’s when this lifelong PC guy went to explore greener pastures with his first MacBook Pro purchase. The machine’s bootcamp feature let me still use the CS4 Suite in Windows during the interim that I was getting to know Final Cut Pro on the OSX side. Didn’t take long to see why folks adored FCP. Media management alone was eons ahead of the scattershot way Premiere handled things. AirDrop footage/images shot on the iPhone over to the MacBook? I would’ve switched years ago had someone pulled my head out of Windows to demo this workflow.
One-time purchases of:
Final Cut Pro ($299) - saw many routine free updates in the 7 years I’ve been enjoying it
Apple Motion ($50) - fantastic, underrated, and robust motion graphics replacement for AfterEffects
Affinity Photo ($39 *sale) - Removed ANY desire to go back to Photoshop. Affinity’s smart nondestructive tools let me go deeper with edits. Opens PSD files.
Affinity Designer ($39 *sale) - Even before factoring the price/performance ratio, Designer provides the functionality I was previously depending on Illustrator for.
To keep drinking Adobe’s Krewl-Aid, I’d otherwise fork out around $600/year, every year… and extrapolating from the previous way I’d upgrade, that’s $1800 that I can now count on pocketing or make available toward a shiny new MacBook Pro (still happily & smoothly using that 2012 retina MBP)
Come to think about it, not having to continuously throw money down that pit is why there were funds available to pick up a Surface Pro4 in 2016 and outfit it with the Affinity trimmings.
For guys & gals wanting to stay on the PC side and seek refuge from an Adobe Premier subscription, look into the free version of DaVinci Resolve… their Pro version’s a one-time purchase of $300.
THANK YOU Adobe for changing over to your subscription model, you’ve
- Continuously saved me a roll of Benjamins
- Moved me into an ecosystem I’ve been quite happy with
- Given me financial wiggle room to pick up Glowforge & other shiny gear
