07Jul Adobe Creative cloud has been cracked
Full disclaimer: I’m a paying member of Adobe Creative Cloud and don’t condone or support piracy even if the software is over priced. I take no responsibility for your use of illegally obtained use of Adobe CC products.
One of the big reasons Adobe made the move to a subscription based service is to reduce piracy. Adobe products have consistently been at the top of the pirated software list over the past few years and it was hoped that the new cloud model would drastically reduce the piracy problem by requiring the software to call home on a regular bases. However, after only a few days of it’s release, there are reports of Adobe CC showing up on torrent sites. Apparently all the new features are enabled and working.
Sure, there will always be people willing to nab something for free as apposed to paying for it, but it seems to me that Adobe could do a lot more volume in sales if they’d just address their pricing structure. For many people if the price of buying software is less of a burden then trying to hunt it down on a torrent site they’ll go with the easier solution.
So here’s the problem as I see it. Many thought the interdiction of a subscription model would reduce prices in the long run and make things more affordable for everyone. The problem with that assumption is that many users (including myself) would usually hold out on updates until there was a feature announced that they couldn’t live without. Sure you pay around $1500 for a copy of Adobe Production Premium, but if you can make that last for 3 years you’ve effectively saved $300 when compared to the $599 a year subscription fee. On top of that, there is still a good after market for old software, your no longer used copy of CS5 production Premium for example could easily fetch $600 on ebay. When you factor selling your old copy of production premium into the cost, the subscription service starts to look like a rip off.
Some will argue that you get access to more adobe products with the new subscription service. The problem for people like me is that I still wont be using Flash, Dreamweaver, Muse, or any of the other new programs I now have access to, but I’m still paying for them as a package. Right now as a former CS6 user I’m getting the introductory price of $19.99 a month (just about right for my budget), but that discounted pricing goes away after the first 12 months. At which point it’s back to $50 a month for all of those extras I don’t really need.
If adobe really wants to increase their subscribers and encourage more people to give them money, why not incorporate good tiered pricing. Sure you can get a single program from adobe for $20 a month or you can get 20 plus programs for $50 a month, but that really isn’t much of a tiered pricing structure. Why not make a single program $5 a month, something like production premium $20 a month, and an everything under the sun plan for $40 a month. After all, who’s going to buy Premiere Pro with out Audition and After Effects? That’s an automatic $15 a month for adobe, and if they want to use speed grade and a few other things, they may as well upgrade their plan to production Premium.
Adobe brings value to my workflow, but i don’t know if that value is worth more then $1 a day. I guess I’ll have to wait and see what kind of discounts and price intensives they offer once my 12 month membership is up for renewal.
July 7th, 2013 at 2:07 pm
Well said! The argument can always be made that yes, there is a somewhat limited market so they need to raise their prices to compensate for demand compared to something like Office which a ton of people use.
That being said, the DSLR filming community is huge and as you suggested, if they lowered their prices, there would be tons of purchases, instead of tons of torrent downloads.
And yes, of course there will always be those who just want to make videos with their friends of them doing some Street Fighter action scenes and download it illegally. But for people who, as you said, dont need all that additional software, and are passionate about what they do, it almost prices them out of buying the product.
The way Adobe has to look at it is the way Walmart does I guess. Lower the price, but sell more volume. Hell, $5 a month for software isnt $50 sure, but it’s a hell of a lot better then $0 Adobe.
September 28th, 2013 at 6:24 pm
and who will provide support pay for servers etc..? for all these $5 applications?
July 7th, 2013 at 10:29 pm
Glad they got hacked. The subscription-only system is a joke.
The marketing disaster of Final Cut X was bad, but Adobe is pretty close with this; they seem more interested with a more stable revenue stream then actually giving their customers choice. And given this lack of choice, enter the hacks.
You deserve this outcome, Adobe. Can’t wait for the free Nik/Google Image Editor in a year which will own the market. Or maybe Blackmagic Design will realize that the color engine in Resolve can be ported over to do stills.
July 8th, 2013 at 2:33 am
I think the trick Adobe missed is rental.
I don’t really need any of Adobes stuff very often other than Lightroom.
Sometimes I need Photoshop for an odd job or maybe I want to cut 3-4 short clips together to show friends and family on Facebook.
I’m not ever going to pay the £47.77 ($72.55) a month to use them. It’s just not a good decision. Up to now I have made do with a combo of free trials, lesser software (iMovie….) or free alternatives like GIMP (or a pirate copy shhh). While these work I feel the Adobe options are better.
If I could rent PS for about $2-3 a day or maybe opt in for 1 month of everything to complete a project would I do it? hell yes. Especially if I can set up an account and do a click a simple “Rent {Application} for a day for $2” yes no option once I was setup.
This is is probably a big pirate market people who want to use the tools but purchasing them just makes no sense what so ever.
September 25th, 2013 at 2:49 pm
I agree on the rental idea. I used to do professional design (back then, Freehand was king), so I’m accustomed to using the high-end tools. I work faster in them.
However, I don’t need them often. If I need to create a business card for a friend, that’s a one-day job. If I want to design a brochure, that’s a two-day job. Most of what I would use Illustrator for is like that, and I probably would use it 20 days a year. I’d gladly pay a total of $100 – perhaps buy a 20-day package (by usage, not by calendar) and use it throughout the year. I’d be much happier with that than with my ancient copy of Freehand, a pirated copy of Illustrator, or using one of the alternatives that would cost $100 to buy.
July 9th, 2013 at 10:36 am
Adobe has gone too far. In europe you have to pay about $79 a month for the CC. This is such a rip off! I will look for alternatives. Adobe will not get my money anymore.
July 9th, 2013 at 5:36 pm
I don’t know what it is about adobe, but they really like to stick it to other countries. Australia edits pay double the price, and it sounds like europe is getting it just as bad. That’s ridiculous, for prices like that I suspect even pro users would consider pirated copies.
July 13th, 2013 at 3:50 pm
Over 36,000 folks have signed.They don’t like Adobe CC licensing.Show @Adobe how you feel. https://www.change.org/petitions/adobe-systems-incorporated-eliminate-the-mandatory-creative-cloud-subscription-model
Another more fiscal way to show @Adobe you dont like the CC licensing scheme.http://adobe2014.tumblr.com #adobe2014
September 23rd, 2013 at 6:09 pm
72$ LOL. in India, there r designers who earns less than that a month.
February 19th, 2014 at 9:12 am
I remember when I paid for Adobe software. “Perhaps a legit version will be less bug-ridden and more reliable!” thought I.
Nope.
…actually CC is definitely more reliable than others in my experience. Soon as it’s reliable enough for me to, you know, rely on – I’ll pay for it again.
February 19th, 2014 at 9:27 am
If you can get the student/teacher price it’s not to bad. I’ve seen it as low as $16.50 a month and it’s stackable. I picked up 3 years of service when it was on sale. The nice thing about CC is that they update it almost every month. Have a glitch or issue and it’s usually fixed by the next update. Not sure how fast the cracked versions get refreshed.