The Avid Media Composer Licensing Plan

Licensing the Avid Media Composer going forward.

For those of you in the US, happy Thanksgiving week. For everyone else, happy last week of November. December is the last month Avid Media Composer editors have to decide whether to continue with the Avid Media Composer as a subscription or as a perpetual license that can be upgraded annually.

For anyone who has read my blog titled, My Problem with Adobe Creative Cloud, you know where I stand on Adobe's decision to go with a subscription-only model.  I'm a consumer who likes to have a choice. Much like with a car, a house or video production gear, I want to be able to decide whether it's in my best interest to make the purchase or rent.

I feel the same way when it comes to all video tools. I prefer the ability to choose whether I rent or own my software (although, you never actually own the software, you license it). That's what I like about the Avid software plan. Under the Avid plan you can either rent the software from month to month or purchase a perpetual license and upgrade it each year for a price of about $300. If you decide you want the perpetual plan and then you don't upgrade the following year, you will have to start new and purchase the software outright at full cost (or rent it).

Thank you Avid for giving us a choice. I only hope Adobe takes notice and decides to offer perpetual plans as well. I miss being able to a one-time purchase of tools like Adobe After Effects, Photoshop and Premiere Pro.