Subject:Prior installation?? What?!?!

Posted by: Tomdini

Date:6/23/2006 9:12:01 PM

You're kidding me, right?

I have to have a prior installation for the upgrade to install...?

I just reformatted. My machine is clean. That's absurd that I have to bloat up my hard disk with a piece of software I ain't gonna use, just to install the piece of software I am gonna use!

Freakin' lame, man. If ACID 6 just overwrote ACID 5, that'd be one thing, but historically Sony's apps don't do that.

Damnit. With Vegas, I just provided my serial number when I ordered, and the app installed like normal once i received it.

What a pain... now if I ever reformat ever again, I have to install Acid 5, install 6, then uninstall 5... wretched. I'd rather have just paid full price and avoided this inconvenience.

Does 6 overwrite 5? I doubt it, but if it does... alright. That's nice and normal, I can go with that.

Otherwise - stupid.

-Tom

P.S. I'm all heated up right now because I have to go up into the attic and dig out Acid 5, wherever the hell it is... so I apologize for coming off rude, which I think I'm justified, but every "wronged" person does, so... yeah. In advance - disclaimer: Sorry.

EDIT:

P.P.S. Oh man... what if the Acid 7 upgrade requires Acid 6 to be installed first?! Install 5, install 6, install 7, uninstall 6, uninstall 5... holy hell!!! SOMEBODY STOP THE MADNESS!!!!!!!!

Subject:RE: Prior installation?? What?!?!

Reply by: billybk

Date:6/24/2006 4:54:55 AM

ACID Pro 6 does NOT require a previous version to be installed. I do not have ACID Pro 5 installed and have had to do a clean re-install of ACID Pro 6, several times, on both my desktop DAW and laptop. I've never needed ACID Pro 5 installed to initiate or complete A6's installation. There is nothing to get all bent out of shape about. Just download the latest 6a update and install.

Cheers,

Billy Buck

Subject:RE: Prior installation?? What?!?!

Reply by: miquel

Date:6/24/2006 4:56:20 AM

I have to have a prior installation for the upgrade to install...?

No.

Subject:RE: Prior installation?? What?!?!

Reply by: JohnnyRoy

Date:6/24/2006 6:40:02 AM

Did you try it? Were you prompted for a prior installation? NO! So just install the darn thing. ACID upgrades do not require a prior installation.

Now Microsoft products, that’s a whole other ball game. I had a copy of Front Page 2003 that I upgraded from MS Office 2000. Then I built a new PC and upgraded to MS Office 2003 and Front Page 2003 would NOT install. It kept prompting me for an Office 2000 installation and would not install with Office 2003 because the serial number I got was an upgrade from Office 2000!

Wait, it gets better. I couldn’t find my Office 2000 disks (I have the same attic as you) ;-) so I called Microsoft for help. They said that since they did not sell Office 2000 anymore, they could not send me replacement disks so I would have to buy Front Page 2003 AGAIN! Can you imagine that? I bought the darn thing once and they wanted me to buy it again.

I demanded to speak to a manager and I continued to escalate up the management chain until I got someone in Microsoft with half a brain (…not easy to do) who looked up my account offered me a new license code that didn’t require a previous version. That’s all it was. Just the license key determines what previous software, if any, it was going to look for.

Luckily Sony is no where near as bad a Microsoft and never requires a previous installation for upgrade versions of their software (i.e., upgrades are really full versions that you paid less for)

So, I share your frustration if that was really the case but calm down, install ACID, and write some a** kickin’ music. ;-)

~jr

Subject:RE: Prior installation?? What?!?!

Reply by: Chienworks

Date:6/24/2006 7:25:56 AM

Well, there is one case where that's not true. The CD Architect 5.2 upgrade requires 5.0 be installed. It's a little annoying because i was given a free 5.2 upgrade, but i never had 5.0 so i've never been able to install it. Oh well. Vegas handles all my audio CD burning so it's not a problem for me. It's just odd, that's all.

Subject:RE: Prior installation?? What?!?!

Reply by: Tomdini

Date:6/24/2006 2:38:50 PM

>>Did you try it? Were you prompted for a prior installation? NO! So just install the darn thing. ACID upgrades do not require a prior installation.

Yes. Yes, I was prompted for a prior installation, damn it all. I'm not crazy, man!!!! A box popped up. I had to click "OK" or whatever. I was then notified with a second box that my system was not modified, and that to complete the installation, I had to run it again.

But of course I can't until I install Acid 5.

Okay, just went and tried it again. Photographic proof is found at this link:

http://www.ridiculosity.net/insanity.jpg

Now what, eh? Eh?!?! I TOLD YA!!!!!!!!!!

-Tom

EDIT: Yeah, with the Vegas upgrade it was just a full version I paid less for. But with the Acid upgrade... well, clearly something's off. You're telling me NONE of you who upgraded from 4-6, or 5-6, ever had this prompt? Is it possible you didn't get this prompt because you already had the previous version installed...? Maybe it IS just the license key, however, and with a different one I wouldn't have to install 5 in the future just to install the upgrade... all I know is, for now it's a huge pain...

ANOTHER EDIT: Of course it can't be the license key... this prompt occurs long before I have to enter the serial number.

Subject:RE: Prior installation?? What?!?!

Reply by: billybk

Date:6/24/2006 5:38:09 PM

Hey Tom,
Do you have a fast internet or DSL connection? May I suggest you download the ACID Pro 6a version (you'll be installing it soon enough anyway) and install that instead:

http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/download/step2.asp?DID=662

Just use your same ACID Pro 6 serial number and install, as usual.
Once it is installed, you can then install Kompakt from the second DVD.

Cheers,

Billy Buck

Subject:RE: Prior installation?? What?!?!

Reply by: Tomdini

Date:6/24/2006 9:51:26 PM

You think that will actually work...?

I assume that patch probably isn't that big of a file because it only updates key parts of the application code... rather than a full install. Sony's other patchers have seemed that way, too.

I might just be an idiot and have no idea what I'm talking about. But yes, as my Internet connection is indeed broadband, I'll give it a go and report back later.

Thanks for the suggestion,
-Tom

Subject:RE: Prior installation?? What?!?!

Reply by: miquel

Date:6/24/2006 10:49:09 PM

Tom,

Please, do not assume because Acid 6.0a is FULL installation .exe file.

Miquel.

Subject:RE: Prior installation?? What?!?!

Reply by: Chienworks

Date:6/25/2006 3:53:07 AM

SONY has only briefly experimented with patches, and the experiment seems to be a failure. All of the updates are now full installations.

Subject:RE: Prior installation?? What?!?!

Reply by: billybk

Date:6/25/2006 5:20:35 AM

Yes, the Sony updates are all full .exe installs. You will never need to install, form the original DVD again. The Sony ACID Pro 6a release is almost 100MB's. That is why I asked, if you had a fast broadband or DSL connection. :-)

Cheers,

Billy Buck

Subject:RE: Prior installation?? What?!?!

Reply by: JohnnyRoy

Date:6/25/2006 9:11:02 AM

> Now what, eh? Eh?!?! I TOLD YA!!!!!!!!!!

Well seeing is believing. I stand corrected. I have never seen this before. Where did you get this copy of ACID from? I have never purchased from anyone but Sony and they check your serial number before they sell it to you. I would imagine that retail stores don’t do this so I guess the software has to check.

Where did you buy this from?

I agree with the others. Download the ACID 6.0a update (which is the full version) from the Sony web site and pray that it works with your license key.

~jr

Subject:RE: Prior installation?? What?!?!

Reply by: Tomdini

Date:6/25/2006 8:16:42 PM

I bought it from an academic supply store from which I have been purchasing stuff at an insane discount since my freshman year... most of Adobe's line, most of Microsoft's line, half of Steinberg's stuff, Sonar, Vegas, not to mention a bunch of video stuff from Avid, Sorenson, and what not... and Acid. First 5, which worked fine, and now 6.

All that other stuff has worked fine and authorized perfectly with the manufacturer's websites... I do not suspect "foul play" if you will. I've even used those s/n's to purchase upgrades for those other products... i.e., I upgraded Vegas through Sony's website using an s/n from the academic discount place.

Usually this particular site doesn't have discounted prices on upgrades, so I've always gone through Sony for them, which almost always offers them cheaper. Acid Pro 6 was an exception.

I haven't had time to try the 6a install, but I just want to make it clear I have no reason to suspect anything is amiss... I *am* surprised that nobody appears to have experienced this before, however... now THAT is just weird...

Okay, off to try 6a! I'll try to provide some closure to this escapade with a report of success!

-Tom

EDIT: Edited for spelling and grammar... damn I hate those little errors...

Subject:RE: Prior installation?? What?!?!

Reply by: Tomdini

Date:6/25/2006 10:11:39 PM

Haha. Hahahahahaha...

Okay. So the patch installs fine. I start it up, it prompts me for my s/n, which works. Then it asks for the s/n for Acid 5. Excellent! Crack open the manual (still hot, even after all these hours, from its hellish stay in the attic), type in the serial number... invalid. Invalid?! INVALID?!?!?

Son of a bitch.

This is maddening. The cosmos have deemed me unworthy of operating this software. Ever.

I'll call up Sony and get this fixed and, assuming this serial number thing can get resolved, I think the 6a installer will have otherwise worked just fine.

Thanks for all the help.

-Tom

Subject:RE: Prior installation?? What?!?!

Reply by: feign

Date:6/26/2006 6:17:43 PM

It's possible that you are not entitled to upgrade an educational version. I don't know about Sony products, but for example, all Adobe products sold as "educational versions" are clearly sold as "NOT UPGRADEABLE". In other words, you can't pay 20 bucks for an educational discount, then another 20 bucks for a non-educational upgrade and expect to end up with a full working professional version of the product. And I think that makes sense.

I bought Maya 6, educational version, for my son. Cost around $300 as opposed to $3000 for the full version. When Maya 7 came out, I had the nerve to ask whether my son could buy an upgrade. Their response was not polite. The upgrade cost around $900. Had I been entitled to, I would have paid $1200 total for a $3000 program. Obviously no business is going to allow a loophole like that! I bought him the educational version of Maya 7 for another $600 (the unlimited version this time). One of these days he'll go pro and end up investing $3000 for a full version. That's the strategy for educational versions.

When you buy educational versions, the intention is to either learn the software or to use it for specific academic purposes. It is not intended to be your entry into professional use of the program. Educational version have different serial numbers than the full versions, hence your error code that the Acid 5 serial is invalid.

In short, when you buy educational versions at deep discounts, the only way to upgrade is to buy the whole new educational version.

I'm afraid that this is probably the situation: that your professional upgrade is useless without a prior professional version of the software.

Subject:RE: Prior installation?? What?!?!

Reply by: billybk

Date:6/26/2006 6:41:53 PM

I think you are on to something feign. I was just reading the "Academic Pricing" FAQ:

www.sonymediasoftware.com/education/academiclicensing.asp

It does list specific requirements for academic licenses, including having the full prior version installed prior to installing an academic upgrade. That is probably why it does not affect the rest of us, non-academic users.

Cheers,

Billy Buck

Subject:RE: Prior installation?? What?!?!

Reply by: Illogical

Date:6/26/2006 7:36:56 PM

I thought it was a pity thing, we get academic discounts because we work at universities and get paid peanuts.

Subject:RE: Prior installation?? What?!?!

Reply by: deusx

Date:6/27/2006 12:31:03 AM

You're not crazy, I had the same thing.

Could there be differences between different Acid upgrades. For example the update of AcidPro6, bought from Safe harbor for $99 required me to have Acid 5 installed on the machine. Yes it did.

Previous upgrades bought directly from Sony ( not only Acid, but Vegas, Forge or CD Arch. ) would install even if you uninstalled older versions first.

Could there be a difference in CDs bought directly from Sony and those bought from places ike Guitar Center or Safe Harbor? It certainly would seem so. And I'm not talking about academic versons. In oher words, Sony knows CDs they sell directly are real, and that the person buying it directly is already an owner of the previous version ( registration and serial # ) therefore they let you go ahead and install without previous version on the machine, but CDs shipped to retailers do require previous versions because they can't really controll how those are handled, copied, to whom they are sold or resold, etc.....

Subject:RE: Prior installation?? What?!?!

Reply by: Tomdini

Date:6/27/2006 7:09:47 AM

Deusx --

I was pondering that possibility. I bought the Vegas upgrade from Sony and this was never an issue.

The invalid s/n is another problem entirely, however. Feign made a point earlier about academic versions being non-upgradeable... I dunno. We'll see.

Seems to me they shouldn't care at what price academians acquire the software. That's the point, isn't it? It IS a pity thing - we edify future generations with knowledge and get paid crap, but that's okay because software vendors cut us a break so we can eat and keep a roof over our heads and still do what we like to do in whatever measley hours of spare time we can eke out each weekend.

And if we ever hit the big time and get to go pro, then we'll shell out the big bucks like everybody else. I thought that's how it's all supposed to work...

Ah, well. Anyway, hopefully Sony and I can work out this little serial number debacle... I'm one freakin' prompt away from booting up Acid Pro 6 successfully for the first time. I'm not going to let a single little text box keep me down for long!!

-Tom

Subject:RE: Prior installation?? What?!?!

Reply by: feign

Date:6/27/2006 6:08:23 PM

Academic pricing is certainly NOT a pity thing. It's more like a drug dealer who offers you the first joint free. The software companies assume that students and academics are not using the program for commercial use (and if you are, you can theoretically be prosecuted for doing so). But they want students to become expert, and hooked, on their programs, so that when they graduate and go professional, they will buy the full version of that program and not a rival program. As for faculty, again the software companies expect them to train new legions of future customers for the company's programs.

It is not about pity. Otherwise they'd have a sliding price scale based on income, and struggling freelancers would get even lower prices than students and teachers. Academic pricing is a business decision. They go out of their way to discourage loopholes in that system. If you don't accept this, then write to the company or go find a less expensive program.

Subject:RE: Prior installation?? What?!?!

Reply by: jumbuk

Date:6/27/2006 9:03:36 PM

"Ah, well. Anyway, hopefully Sony and I can work out this little serial number debacle... I'm one freakin' prompt away from booting up Acid Pro 6 successfully for the first time. I'm not going to let a single little text box keep me down for long!!"

I don't think you have read the previous posts properly. You will not be able to upgrade an academic version to the full version using the discount upgrade package. Sony would be mad to allow this loophole, and all the rest of us Acid users would be up in arms about it.

On the other hand, it would not worry me if you bought the academic version of Acid Pro 6 outright.

PS Feign is absolutely right. Companies like Microsoft don't do ANYTHING out of pity. You can bet that they make dollars out of academic versions in the long run. They are plugging a potential marketing leak - if you can't afford Office and start using StarOffice or some other alternative, they have lost you as a potential customer. It is worth the cashflow hit to stop this happening.

Subject:RE: Prior installation?? What?!?!

Reply by: Tomdini

Date:6/28/2006 6:26:07 AM

Actually, I think my original version is normal, and this upgrade is academic. Well, put it this way: the upgrade's definitely academic; it has a sticker declaring this.

I believe they might actually both be academic versions. Not sure. Upgrade definitely is.

All the same, why is there an academically priced upgrade version that is useless...? I should be able to use it with a professional, normally-priced version, right? Since I paid full price originally? Or something?

But, uh, what happened? Somewhere along the road, my career tanked but luckily grad school paid off because I'm now employed at a community college teaching history or something? So I'm going from pro to academic pricing due to my life crumbling to dust? Kind of bleak.

And if the previous version is an academic version, I can't upgrade because Sony loses too much money due to the two academic versions stacked atop one another... even though I'm still quite poor and still quite qualified to make an academic purchase...?

It makes no sense. Why have an academic upgrade that doesn't appear to be useful for anything?

There's no academic sticker on my original version 5. Think it might be non-academic.

Hmm...

-Tom

Subject:RE: Prior installation?? What?!?!

Reply by: Tomdini

Date:6/28/2006 12:33:03 PM

Okay. Got word back from Sony.

First, my original version checks out - it's an original non-academic copy, and the serial number is legit.

Why the hell Acid 6.0a won't accept my serial number is beyond me. Sony has no idea why.

I confirmed that retail upgrades require the previous installation thing - if you go through Sony, you provide the s/n ahead of time so it's a no-strings-attached upgrade.

Recommendation was to run the original dumbass gauntlet... uninstall 6, install 5, reinstall 6, uninstall 5. Again, they have no idea why my s/n is rejected.

Damnit. I'd have paid the extra 60 bucks to go through Sony and avoid these stupid hoops...

Lesson learned. Just go with Sony direct. It doesn't suck as bad.

Case closed...

-Tom