UKH

I've had the Adobe Photography Plan for several years.  I like Lightroom and have a large catalogue within it, but the plan is expensive considering the amount I use it.  Saw a deal on a cheap serial number from a third part seller (£9 for 3 months) and thought I would give it a go, partly encouraged by confirmation that it is 'stackable' i.e. I thought when my current subscription ended the new serial number would kick in.  After a long online chat with Adobe customer support it seems that isn't the case and if you have a subscription direct with them, there's no way of entering a product serial number.  

So I think, I'll just turn off recurring billing and hope that the serial number still works come April when my current subscription ends, but (and this is the really annoying bit), there's no way to stop recurring billing, you have to actively cancel your subscription, but unless you do this on the day it's due to recur you'll be charged a cancellation fee.  I find this very frustrating and it feels borderline scammy.

Rant over, questions for the UKC photographers

1. Has anyone found a way to apply a serial number when you've got an active licence with Adobe direct?

2. Is there a way to switch off recurring billing without just having to cancel the subscription?

What is bloody annoying is most software is going down the subscription route. I like to buy things outright and own them. I'm not interested in updates and new features, if it didn't do what I needed I wouldn't have bought it in the first place. 

Update, found the link to redeem the code via another forum and it has stacked against my current subscription.  Big thumbs down to Adobe support for not knowing their own system.

For anyone interested, 20GB Photography plan available at Gamivo for equivalent of £3/month.  Be careful you don't accidentally sign up for their ongoing 'SMART' subscription service, other than that, seems like an OK website.

Something of a deviation but for anyone who uses Photoshop to paint and draw - Krita is free and more intuitive, I think it's fantastic.

You don't 'own' software (in most cases), you normally purchase a licence to use it (usually with tons of T&Cs).

('open-source' software is different)

Does everyone remember how much a licence for photoshop (and most other complex software for that matter) used to cost?! Adobe played a blinder going on to a subscription basis. The vast majority of self employed freelancers I know used to use pirate versions but the majority of that majority now make use of the friendlier priced subs packages and make use of the various discount offers.

These things have a nasty habit of backfiring. If you dont download some sort of virus, you get caught with your pants down, now and again.

https://betanews.com/2004/11/18/microsoft-denies-piracy-accusations/

I think I recall that Photoshop and In Design used to cost upwards of £1200 to buy the full versions, which needed updating every few years or you got left behind. Presumably, all the people using pirated copies is what forced the subscription system into existence.

Tbh I think the Photo plan for a little over two quid a week is astonishing value,

Chris

Can't help you beyond advising that you have everything backed up securely. Adobe were moving to a subs-only model around the time I was looking at buying serious photography software and this was the key aspect that made eliminating Adobe products from a shortlist very easy.

Used to be around £100... last thing I bought of this ilk without being subscription was lightroom 6

Left behind is fine. I never felt the need to go beyond CS2. Bit like cars/bikes/hifi - do you really 'need' to upgrade to the latest-n-greatest?

I guess that depends if you want access to the many advances the tech guys have been working on since you last dibbed in 16 years ago (CS2),

Chris

It probably is, for people who use it professionally day in, day out.

I think Adobe could have missed a trick by not facilitating a more budget option for occasional users. I would have been willing to pay to use it on demand if there had been a scheme in place to charge only for the days used, but given that I may now want to use something like that for just a few days every few months, it really makes no sense to maintain a full price subscription. GIMP seems to do pretty much everything that photoshop ever did, so that's what I use now, but the interface is definitely less intuitive.

That's one way of looking at it. My approach is to ask "Does what I have do the job?". If the answer is "Yes", then I'm happy with what I've got. I get the impression (but I'm not 100% sure) that many of the newer features in PS are there to make things 'easier' rather than allowing you to do things you couldn't do before. That's OK, but having learned some of the subtle-but-non-intuitive mysteries of CS2, I've never seen anything in the newer versions which justifies the incremental cost.

Having said that CS2 on Windows 10 is showing some compatibility issues now, so I suspect its days are numbered. I'm not sure which way I'll jump then. Like John Arran, I'm only an occasional PS user - I go months without using it - so I'm not keen on paying a monthly subscription. I've used GIMP, but I'm too used to a layer-based model to really get on with it. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

FYI, GIMP has good support for layers too, but the interface doesn't make that too clear and it took me quite some time to realise and to figure out how to get at them easily.

Ah, thanks. I'll look at GIMP a bit deeper then.

Affinity Photo is another good non subscription option. Very reasonable too. They also have good alternatives for  illustrator and Indesign.  I use adobe daily for work and don’t see the need to buy it over affinity’s stuff at home.  Though I prefer Dxo as a lightroom alternative. 

I can understand why companies go down the subscription route but I agree it is annoying. I have a copy of Photoshop Elements 11 which I bought a few years ago when it was going cheap, because a later version of PSE was announced. It does most of what I want; I do sometimes use GIMP(free and v, good) too but I can't see me wanting anything else or buying a subscription.

Dave 

I'm  up to CS6 but for some reason Nik's software has crashed when using it and I'm unable to get it working again. But my CS6 is ok. Compatability issues I imagine.