Sounds like they are just cutting margins to the bone. The academic price of VV3.0 is as low as $147, and if you hit it lucky, shipping is free, at www.academicsuperstore.com. I expect that the V4 will be about a hundred higher than that, academic. So, $299 isn't that far off for a tight margin leader.
Note, however, that there is no future for that $299, they'll go out of business if they cut their margins TOO close for too LONG. Seen it happen several times.
Hiyah wcoxe1 . . . It's 6:35am, here in the UK. Just read your post. I've just upgraded from VF to VV3.0c. Any indeas what the further UG from VV 3.0c to vv4.0 will be? - VErrry interested!
Not a clue about upgrade pricing. I don't have any inside information, just a history of dealing with academic prices.
The price that Safe Harbor has for academic VV3 is a bit higher than some, but not totally out of line at $179 or so. Compare that to the upgrade prices for VV3 (not V4), and you can then figure backwards from the new list for V4.
Can only speak for the US, but maybe this will be of interest...
There is a LOT of competition for retail shelf space here, even if that space is virtual (ie: on-line). And a lot of the big retailers require terms approaching indecent IMO. I wouldn't be surprised then if SOFO had some competitive pricing at the distribution level. And remember, most general retail is about 200% markup or more (not figuring in the costs etc. - just what they pay vs what they get).
Musician's Friend sells the full version of Vegas 4, for $149 US.. BestBuy carried Vegas Video 2 full version for less then $200 US. if memory serves. So I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't some very competitive full version prices appearing. I would be surprised if any *Official* upgrade prices were posted, but probably shouldn't be - I've seen it in the past with other products (Adobe & Corel come to mind).
Mikkie, you mention Musician's Friend is selling Vegas 4 for $150?
Also, for everyone else, above is mentioned the Academic price for Vegas 4 is likely to be about $100 more than in was for Vegas 3? Is that really expected? What is the time frame of release? Is it usually the same time as the full release?
Just went to musician's friend online store and the only Vegas they are selling is VV3 and it goes for much more then 150 bucks. Mikkie could you please post a link to that deal?
On another note, as VV4 is coming out real soon I am sure that we are going to see a dramatic price drop on VV3 in online stores because they need to clear their stock as fast as possible.
I have a couple friends with awful low budget/income that has finally decided to go "legal" by buying a legit copy of VV3. As they can't speak english I am sort of their dude that is looking for "the best deal around town".
So if anyone sees a good deal on VV3 in the next few weeks, could you please e-mail me at NOSPAMthitabho@yahoo.comNOSPAM (plz take out the NOSPAM) or post a follow up in this thread.
... And it's going higher (ok, so less than a buck), as we speak. About 2130 Central US time, and Academic Superstores are now offering V4 for $154.95, with VV3 at $149.95.
I'm confused. If SoFo lists VV3 for over $400, but yet the same thing (or is it?) is available at Academic for less than 1/2 of that, then wat am I missing? Is it the "real-deal", or maybe just a sampler or a Lite-version?
Reason I ask, is that the probable route for V4? If so, it might be worth it to sign up for a couple classes to get a little break. Who knows, I might even learn something this time around........
I buy a LOT of software academically; it's just one of those 'perks' of having to shell out for tuition. Essentially it's just a way to get the students hooked on the tools early. But there ARE limitations-- you cannot, for example, use it in any commercial way (ie: you can't profit from it). Some of my wife's CAD programs come with a slightly crippled feature set academically, but I've never heard of that in the video world.
There's an academic package (just for an example) that I bought about a year ago-- Premiere (ugh), Photoshop, Illustrator & After Effects standard... it ran me all of $450. You can pick up Avid Xpress DV for around $400-ish. Just be careful how you use it... again, you can't profit from it.
Which is, for the record, the reason that I own the 'regular' version of Vegas (although it's only VV2)... I HOPE to make money with it someday! :)
"I'm so excited...." Have been trying to decide what to do; have been using evaulation version of VV3 - Love it!! Owned Premiere 6.0 for three years and always gave up every time I sat down with it - It's the "Industry Leading" software - Nobody can figure out how to use.
I spoke with two different representatives at South Harbor on two different days; inquired how could the software be 50% of MSRP. They both told me the discounts are $100 and $150 off of expected "street price." This seems like a logical explanation of the discount (sometimes things that sound too good are....). They also indicated the pre-orders help them determine how many copies of the software they should order (explanation sounds a little weak, but I have no idea how software is distributed to vendors). But I'm comfortable enough to give them my credit card #. Now, just hope the software does not disapear with the sale to another company - it's really cool stuff. Kevin.
Sharbor.com's and academicsuperstore's prices for pre-release are entirely realistic. AND, they are reputable companies. The sharbor also has academic pricing.
I regularly buy "academic" from both www.sharbor.com and www.academicsuperstore for my department at LSU and have never gotten anything less than the full package at the advertised price, FAST! Of course, I have never bought some of the packages mentioned above that had crippled versions. Just lucky I guess. They explain limitations, if any, if you just read their ads.
Vegas Video 3.0 was FULL version, boxed, and wonderful, and got a free t-shirt with it (WOO!).