Media Composer price adjustment

[Pat Horridge]

This will cause a bit of a stir!

Its no surprise Avid is working to price out perpetual licenses and move people to subscription. For Avid editors they will need to look at the work they do and weigh up the additional cost. Its no fun paying more but set against what I charge per hour its a drop in a years ocean.

[Oliver Peters]

I know a lot of people don’t like subscriptions, but there are pros and cons both ways.

If you look at cost of the software over 10 years, perpetual with yearly updates is significantly greater than subscription paid annually upfront. If you are an occasional user, then paying by the month makes incredible sense, because it’s dirt cheap.

I know the arguments – Apple FCP, BMD DaVinci Resolve, yada yada yada – but those companies don’t live in the real world financially the way most other companies do.

So while it may be a shock to some, this does make a lot of sense.

[Job Ter burg]

I worked out the cost of the various ways to get MC. Not accepting any liability or responsibility for anyone’s purchasing decisions. Just sharing a sheet that helped me figure out the differences.

Here’s the sheet: http://www.terburg.com/EVEN/MC2021pricinglongterm.pdf

[Richard Boghosian]

Excellent comparison. Always wondered what my next move was going to be as my license has lapsed.

[Paul Carlin]

BMD DaVinci Resolve sells hardware to make up for the $300 software (no subscriptions). The software is very powerful and worth looking into if you are struggling to pay for Avid.

[Oliver Peters]

With all due respect, if you are struggling to pay for MC, then you shouldn’t be using it anyway. OTOH, if your workload is on projects where MC is expected or required, then Resolve – as powerful as it is – wouldn’t be acceptable.

Also an MC perpetual license lapsing doesn’t mean the software no longer works (like Adobe). It’s perfectly functional. You just don’t get software updates. Naturally if you upgrade the OS or the computer past the point where that version will run, then that’s a different story.

However, much of Hollywood runs on old versions of MC.

[Tim Vece]

I hate to say it but the Media Composer has been nothing but a big disappointment the last few years. I have had a dongle and a perpetual license for almost 25 years but this year I downloaded 2021 and let my perpetual license lapse. I can use 2021 for a few years.

[Eric Santiago]

I have to hang on to mine due to bigger film projects.

Sadly the last one ended in Jan 2020.

So I haven’t really had any work with it since.

Mostly the other two NLEs get the fun.