The latest edition of Adobe’s Creative Suite is available in a new way of purchasing software. For years creative professionals have purchased the boxed disc set, facing an up-front cost of thousands of dollars. This time around, CS6 is available via a monthly subscription fee.
While nobody likes to think about adding yet another regular bill to their budget, this way of buying software can dramatically lower the barrier to entry and give business the flexibility to scale up and scale down software to match work demands.
As a creative that walks the line between design and development, from web to video, my only option thanks to the Adobe bundling is Master Collection. As a CS5 owner, an upgrade to CS6 would normally set me back $1,573. Instead I chose the subscription pricing for just $37 per month (Students & Teachers can get it for just $24.99pm).
At that price it’s going to take an awful lot of months to reach the equivalent $1,500+ price. Don’t forget that time can be used generating revenue from multimedia products developed with the software. As with most subscriptions like Spotify, the cost is low enough the money isn’t really missed.
Under Adobe licencing, you can install it on two machines which in my case is the laptop and desktop PC. I would like to have a 3rd, but understand there has to be a limit. Shortly after the launch of Adobe’s Creative Cloud, Lightroom 4.0 was then made available, no additional money, just part of the package.
Personally I’m a big fan of this method of buying software, but as more companies move to this method, that monthly software bill may grow significantly.
So are you taking advantage of subscription software? What do you think of the new way of paying for software?
