I've been trying to read up on buying a licence for adobe lightroom but all I'm finding is a monthly subscription to some cloud crap. One year of subscription is the price of a licence before. Looking at a student version, it's still expensive at £9.98/mo. What is the best way to buy a non-subscription stand alone single licence for the most recent version of lightroom? I tried reading some article about this topic but the information seems to be contradictory with one article walking about lightroom CC7 and another one released on the same day saying the CC6 would be the last version.
There isn't one. Adobe don't offer standalone versions of any of their wares [save possibly photoshop/premiere elements], and haven't for years. Autodesk don't either now [£204/month for 3ds max... jeez...]. FWIW Lightroom 6 was the last standalone version, and the cheapest non-student sub is this one - The Photography bundle of PS/Lr.
That's ridiculous, students don't even get a discount unless they get the 'All Apps — Special Offer' I can't imagine that many in the industry are happy with this. How did this not have a big backlash?
Basically - Tax write-off. Can claim the cost of the sub(s) as an ongoing business expense. Also the sub worked out cheaper than buying the old standalone license every 2-3 years [which is roughly how often most studios upgraded]. There was some backlash, but you're 4 years late to the party. Most people either grumbled for a bit and then subscribed, a few may have moved on to different bits of software.
Oh, I didn't know that the change happened that long ago. Also, I thought that the upgrades were not that expensive.
Aye, 2013 was when they launched CC. they sold CS6 alongside for a bit but they made it clear that was to be the last standalone version. Possibly, I was comparing £1800-ish [3 years of CC] vs £2200 [which was the RRP of the whole shebang of CS6 iirc]. When I was at uni, everyone... acquired... the relevant Adobe and Autodesk software as even with the discounts no-one could afford most of it [iirc even with student discount you were looking at >£1k for everything the course required software wise].
Fairly sure Autodesk now give students a free 3-yr sub but Adobe i think are allergic to the word 'Free'.
You can buy LR6 standalone from Adobe but they like to bury it in favour of CC. http://www.adobe.com/uk/products/catalog.html?filters=cd_252Fphotography&page=2# It's also available on Amazon. The standalone desktop product is being put out to pasture though with Lightroom CC and Lightroom Classic CC becoming the future product options. If you're not too keen on the CC subs then both Serif Affinity and MacPhun Luminar are beavering away with DAM for their respective products.
Compared to what used to be the retail cost for Photoshop (approx £600 iirc) and Lightroom (£110) I don't think the £9.98/m photography plan is too bad. You get the latest versions of Lightroom Classic, Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC and you'd be subscribing for 6-7 years before hitting the old product RRP.
...plus the cloud storage and phone apps, the value [or lack thereof] of which is a matter of personal opinion.
That is true if you need the suit, but if you only want lightroom, a 1 year subscription is more than the standalone, and upgrades are even cheaper.
Yep. I was about to pull the trigger on LR6 myself (or wait for Black Friday) to migrate my library from Apple Photos until I read they're going CC only. I suspect now I'll either go free (RawTherapee?) or wait to see what Serif and MacPhun come up with. Although LR6 standalone is still available I worry how long it will be supported for.
