So – it seems that there are some changes once again to how Adobe is setting up their new Creative Suite release.  I’ve been a CS Web Premium user for several years now dating back to CS3.  Every two years when the new suite is released, I dutifully pick up the new version.  I don’t always get use of all the software titles in the package – but it varies and sometimes last minute it’s great to have the other titles to get something done and out the door that would have to be outsourced otherwise.  I never know when one of my clients might need something that might only be available in one of the other titles besides the favorite Photoshop and Lightroom.

But Adobe has done something interesting with the CS6 release.  They’ve now combined CS Web Premium and CS Design Premium.  They’ve also changed some of the software titles available and on top of that they’ve increased the price of the upgrade.  What??  It seems that Adobe Contribute is on a quick downward spiral as it’s been left out of all CS suites now.  I never got around to building my mega-website with Dreamweaver and Contribute.  Now it looks like that will soon be a thing of the past.  But some other interesting pieces also came out of researching pricing and upgrade paths.  Adobe made available that anyone purchasing an upgrade to CS5.5 after March would be able to get a free upgrade to CS6 equivalent product suite.  $749 is the upgrade price from CS5 Web Premium to CS6 Web and Design Premium on the adobe.com site.  Well the upgrade to CS 5.5 from CS5 was $349.  That seems like a no-brainer.  Upgrade to CS 5.5 and then get the free upgrade to CS6 and save $400.

Another interesting twist is the Creative Cloud.  That is a subscription base on a monthly basis that entitles you to the entire software list of what is basically the “Master Collection”.  Existing CS users can get a monthly discount for the first year – no word if it can be extended past the first year.  The discount for CS users is $29.99/month versus the $49.99/month for everyone else.  Mmh – so that means I can get the entire software line up from Adobe for $360 for the first year.  Tempting.  I’ve always wanted to get my hands on Adobe Premiere for some serious video editing capabilities.  But the 2nd year – if they don’t let you keep the discount – it goes to $600/year.  Ouch.  I like to think that my CS upgrades every 24 months get split out over the two years to be about $300/year.  But if going to the Creative Cloud gets me into a scenaraio that access to the software titles ends up being $600/year – I just don’t think I have that much use for ALL of the software all the time.  That gets really expensive.  There is nothing forcing me to upgrade from CS5.  I could stay on this version for years if I want to.  It won’t stop working.  Sure there will be upgrades and new features – but going with the Creative Cloud seems to be a bit of a gamble and where I am really just a part-time Pro-Am photographer and not doing this full-time – I think I’ll just wait to see how this new pricing strategy goes in the market and how well it gets accepted.  For me – the route is the CS5.5 upgrade and the later free upgrade to CS6.  I’m looking forward actually to picking up InDesign as I’ve done some work in it in the past and made some decent money with it – so I was ok with the fact that Contribute is gone for now and I pick up InDesign with the new combination of the suites.  I just hope the upgrade to CS7 at some time in the future doesn’t still come at the higher $749 price as that is hard to swallow every two years.  I might have to start leap-frogging versions if that happens.

Software titles included with CS6 Web and Design Premium:

• Photoshop CS6 Extended
• Illustrator CS6
• InDesign CS6
• Dreamweaver CS6
• Flash Professional CS6
• Fireworks CS6
• Acrobat X Pro
• Bridge CS6
• Media Encoder CS6