3DS Max Subscription

[SteveC]

I've been thinking about whether or not to renew my subscription for a good while now
but just can't decide. For some it may be a no brainer, but as a one man band I'm struggling
to come up with a justifiable argument for keeping my subscription going, especially since
Autodesk have put the cost up.

I can't explain why, but it's probably a number of things, I just don't feel happy about
paying subscription to Autodesk anymore, I've only just started using Max 2014 and already
Max 2015 is on the horizon. I also get the feeling that I'm being trapped into paying subscription
because if I let it lapse then I would have to buy the full software again, I think this is what they're
suggesting, correct me if I'm wrong.

Subscription has it's good side, like being able to install on two computers, but I could use the
licence transfer utility to do this if needs be.

Does it make sense to let subscription go and just buy new software in say 2, 3-4 years if enough
improvement has been made.

What are you guys and girls doing? should I keep subscription or just bin it off, I need to decide
by 9th May, but I'm getting nowhere listening to myself.

Cheers
Steve

[AlexP]

Well how much does subscription cost over 3-4 years? About £2-3k or something? Cant remember how much it is per year.
Which is a bit less than buying it new, so if you plan to rebuy in 3-4 years, you may as well use subscription.

I agree though, its a bit of a trap unless you're happy with max 2014 for the next 10 years.

[SteveC]

I'm probably making too much of it, I don't know if I'm just a bit peeved at the feeling of almost being forced into subscription.

[rikou]

I'm pretty sure that.... you're not alone in this case !!
There's so much unknowns with AD that it's difficult to predict what would be happen next year

I'm in the same dilemma than you

[alexyork]

Unless you are going to definitely be sticking with 2014 for the next 6 years it will be cheaper to go on subs. It works out at roughly £500 a year or something like that, and AD have now removed the option for upgrades (yeh... thanks for that), so there's no interim option if you want to jump back on.

In your case it might be worth going down the monthly rental route. You could stop your subs, use 2014 for the next, say, 3 years, then start renting version 2017 or something when it comes out, so you don't suddenly have a huge up-front cost.

The whole situation kind of stinks when you consider how little max has improved in terms of features in the last 5 years. 5 x £500 = £2500.... that's no small chunk of change for a 1-man-band. I made a very long post about it on the AREA forum a week or so ago.

[SteveC]

That's an interesting thought Alex, dropping subs, use 2014 for 3 years, then just rent, never considered the renting option.
I'll look into it a little more.

[alexyork]

That's an interesting thought Alex, dropping subs, use 2014 for 3 years, then just rent, never considered the renting option.
I'll look into it a little more.

Another thing to look into is asking your reseller if they can offer a discount if you buy 3 years subs in advance. I did this 3 years ago and got quite a decent discount. Not sure if they're able to any more. I'm going to find out in June when my renewal is due.

[glorybound]

we got a 10% discount for a 3 year contract

Another thing to look into is asking your reseller if they can offer a discount if you buy 3 years subs in advance. I did this 3 years ago and got quite a decent discount. Not sure if they're able to any more. I'm going to find out in June when my renewal is due.