We have just heard that Adobe has listened to the cries of photographers since the Adobe MAX announcement of the new CC pricing and is giving a new bundle specific to their needs containing Photoshop and Lightroom for just $9.99 a month... if you sign up by December 31... and prove ownership of CS3 or later.
From the Adobe Blog:
"During today’s keynote at the Photoshop World conference in Las Vegas, Adobe is showcasing how photography workflows will evolve to take advantage of an increasingly connected world. This includes a tour of how easy it is today to use Creative Cloud to make your content and creations available anywhere, plus the power of Behance to showcase work. We also highlight some of the exciting new technologies that we’re working on for Photoshop CC and Lightroom; our roadmap for making our photography products even more connected; and a peek at how we’re planning to bring advanced Adobe digital imaging technology to mobile devices. You’ll see these products and services become available in the not too distant future.
If you missed the keynote, you can watch the replay here, which should be posted within about 24 hours. Throughout this week at Photoshop World, we’re demoing some great digital imaging innovation and I hope you’re as excited as we are about what’s available today and what’s coming soon, thanks to our talented teams of engineers.
Since introducing Photoshop CC, we’ve listened to feedback from a spectrum of our customers, from advanced professionals to casual enthusiasts. One common request was a solution specifically tailored for photographers. We listened, and at Photoshop World we’re announcing a special offer for our loyal Photoshop customers. Beginning today, customers who own Photoshop CS3 or higher are eligible for a special Creative Cloud membership offer that includes all of the following for just $9.99/month:
Photoshop CC
Lightroom 5
20 GB of online storage
Behance ProSite
Access to Creative Cloud Learn’s training resources
Ongoing upgrades and updates
To be clear, $9.99 is not an introductory price. It is the price for those of you who sign up by December 31, 2013.This offer will be available at the same time we introduce the new version of Lightroom 5.2 in a couple weeks. Visit the FAQ to learn more and follow Photoshop on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ to find out when the offer goes live.
All of us on the Photoshop team look forward to continuing to build on our 20+ year relationship with our loyal community."
So it sounds like the concept is a limited offer, in both time and scope. From what I have gathered (and I Adobe has clarified it is indeed a limited time offer), if you don't sign up for this deal by the end of the year, there will be no option to do so in the future. You also have to prove ownership of an Adobe license from CS3 or later. Kind of a weird decision to make this not a continual deal going into the future if you ask me. I understand the CS3 requirement though.
To answer some additional questions about current CC members:
Existing Creative Cloud members who wish to transition to this offer must own a previous version of Photoshop or Photoshop Extended, version CS3 or later (CS3.x, CS4, CS5.x, or CS6).
If you meet this qualification, how you transition will depend on the type of membership you have:
Photoshop CC single-app members will be automatically transitioned to this new program, with its additional benefits and lower ongoing price.
Creative Cloud complete members should contact Adobe Customer Service to discuss transitioning to this new offer.
Not yet available. When you see LR 5.2 announced this should be too.
To keep the art of photography alive for future professionals that cannot currently afford these prices (not all economies are as strong as the US) and for them that do not have internet connections. Piracy and Pirate must not back down.
I also urge all pirates to keep doing what they are doing until Adobe starts giving UK customers the same price as US. Surely a download should be priced the same globally, no?
Do you mean will it affect CS5 at all? No. Not at all. At least not to my knowledge. I have a computer with CS6 and CC on it and both work.
I have read that some users have lost their CS5 capability because Adobe revoked the licenses, making people upgrade. I tried CC trial and was not impressed at all. Their camera shake filter is very sad and a throwback in technology I think.
Didn't improve any of my images one little pixel.
Color me impressed. $120/year is unbelievably cheap for these two state of the art products.
The only problem you run into emerges once you stop using PS on a regular basis and cancel the contract. That leaves you with ... well, thousands of PS files you can't even watch or print.
To appease ex-photographers and mitigate the pain Adobe should issue sort of read-only PS which enables you to watch and print PS files.
There are other pieces of software which will view/print PSD files (Irfanview is a good one), but the flattened files only, without layers. It also doesn't solve the Lightroom problem I discussed above.
Seems like, from the video I posted above, you can write out your "changes" to the XMP file (inside the DNG) file and have what you want.
Oh, Adobe. Won't you ever learn? Just offer the photographer's bundle to anyone at the $10/month flat rate. No previous ownership necessary, no manipulating of the prices down the road. It's okay that you're greedy, because you're a corporation and we understand your only motivation is to widen the margins and keep your shareholders happy. But why not be different? Why not just be decent and offer your product at a decent price that makes it accessible to an expanding market of new, potential users? It's simple.
It's not like it would affect your shareholder's portfolios that much, if at all. In fact, it might bring in a lot of new business. It's really a shame how shortsighted you are as a company. C'est la vie, I suppose.
Doesn't much matter to me, anyway. Got my LR4. Got my CS6. I'm good for years and years and years.
Thanks for the offer, though. I might check out your cloud sometime around CS12 or so.
What is sad is if you just want Photoshop you are out of luck, you cannot pay a fee or rent just photoshop, it is photoshop AND lightroom which I hate anyway. CS6 really messed things up when they removed the picture packages and the psd/raw preview..I'm sticking with CS5
What if you allready purchased full cloud membership? Do you have to possibility to downgrade to this deal??
Or do you have to purchase CS3 (++)
and then purchase this membership?
ive owned and operated photoshop cs3 up till now. It's probably better that I upgrade to cs6 for my next ten years. I don't need to upgrade to the very next thing. Despite the tech flourishes each installment provides, there are only so many ways to improve the clone stamp.
Does anyone know if this is this going to be made available outside of the US?
Anyone know if this offer will be open to the UK?
I'm still trying to get my head round this. What I do know is I'm NOT eligible for the offer. I don't own Photoshop cs3 or higher. I do own LR5.
What I'm wondering is; if I order Photoshop cc Single App now, will I be automatically transitioned to the new program with its additional benefits and lower ongoing price?
If anyone could shed some light that would be great.
Interesting question. It does kind of look like you could buy single app at 19.99 month now and they would automatically transition you to 9.99 for both. But it can't possibly be that easy.
If someone makes a living from graphics design or photography, this is actually a cost effective way to get started without putting pressure on their start-up budget and still having the latest. For scrubs like me, I prefer to buy Lightroom for a $100 when they have the special, pay the 80 bucks or whatever for the upgrade after a couple of years, and keep my ancient copy of photoshop until I can't use it anymore.
So if I don't currently have PS I will never be able to get this bundle at any price? I will have to buy the full CC if I want to have both PS and LR? Other then just buying LR and then getting PS from the CC.
High five on that comment.