Pro Tools 2023.9 and... perpetual licenses are back

[chk071]

That's very unusual indeed... never saw anything like it.

Might just be for an easy install option, but, pretty dubious. I wouldn't use that, and rather do the manual installation (if possible, not sure).

[dellboy]

You are logged in as admin as you start an installer, that is normal.
- you do this manually
- follow instructions
- done

But here you should give admin login to the installer program under the presumption it should make install ready for you.
- go and have a coffee....

Just seems so off if you cannot opt out that and do it yourself.

So got the impression that updates will be automatic in future "for your convenience", but that is an assumption I am not sure of.
- Avid got your login anyhow

I will see if I find that info again...

Go here and run video for ProTools activation....
https://www.avid.com/pro-tools/learn-and-support

I haven't got a clue what they were asking for, other than it seemed like an unusual request that I have never experienced before.

[jamcat]

Nonetheless, I would say that a sub makes more sense if you are, in fact, buying every new version of your DAW. While it doesn't make any sense if you are still on Studio One version 1 (to give an extreme example).

I think Studio One+ is more expensive than buying perpetual licenses every 2 years, because you simply get more content. So, it would be the choice if you buy every new version anyway, AND you want to have all the features and content Presonus Software provides for Studio One.

I don't quite get what most people would do with the additional Studio One+ features like "Exclusive Masterclasses", "Monthly live streams", "Expert Chat", or the "Community" features. Rather sounds like some stuff they added as features to make it look even bigger than it is.

It only makes sense if you want to go from having nothing to having everything right now, and you can't or don't want to make the upfront investment. If you were to buy Studio One cold right now without a sale, it would cost $400, so you wouldn't break even on that until your 3rd year of owning it. But the longer you are in that perpetual lease cycle, the more you lose.

Once you've broken even, you could start buying additional content like the Channel Strip Collection ($60) or the PreSonus Symphonic Orchestra ($100) with the $127 you save every year, and still come out ahead. There's only a limited set of add-ons you could possibly want. And most importantly, you could never spend another penny and still keep what you've paid for.

I think the "Expert Chat" has to be the funniest 'feature' of Studio One+. That's supposedly a feature of KVR, too, and look how that usually pans out. It's free here and I still don't get my money's worth!

[dellboy]

That's very unusual indeed... never saw anything like it.

Might just be for an easy install option, but, pretty dubious. I wouldn't use that, and rather do the manual installation (if possible, not sure).

It turns out that I was correct,and Avid does ask for the administrator password of your computer. The official answer from Avid is here...................

https://avid.secure.force.com/pkb/artic ... q/en360539

[jens]

No, you were not correct:

a) it's not unusal at all

b) Avid does not ask for your admin-password
- only the installer requires admin-rights in order to be able to install the application

[chk071]

Jens, check this video (from 1:15): https://www.avid.com/de/pro-tools/learn ... 0fc15b0242

It's really more weird than it looks. It's not the installer asking for admin rights to install (it probably does that too). It's the Avid Link tool asking for your admin login, to be able to fill it out when it installs stuff. I've never seen something like that before. A software really shouldn't do that.

Note that it's optional though. You don't need to do it that way. You can also manually install the Pro Tools stuff, which is what I would do.

[jens]

hm... still doesn't seem too unusual to me - does e.g. the Arturia Sofware Center not require admin rights too?

Personally I wouldn't know, since I'm always logged in as admin on my machines anyway...

[chk071]

It does require admin rights to run, but you give that through the Windows dialog (either by clicking on a button when you're logged in as admin, or with your admin password), you don't type in the login credentials into the software.

I mean, it's surely nothing dangerous by any means (at least I hope so...), but, it's still a very weird behavior. I have no idea how the software in which I type in the credentials handles them internally, or what it does with them.

They could, like, sell them to China or something.

[Teksonik]

I've always run as Admin on any system and never had any issues but....are you saying that I have to give them my Admin login password in order to install Pro Tools ???

So Avid can then install anything they want on your system without your knowledge or permission ?

If that's true then they've way over stepped their boundaries. Some developers seem to think they can do anything they want to our systems just because we bought some of their software.

I get it, they're trying to protect themselves from piracy but I'm trying to protect my systems from invasive and intrusive software and instability or security issues caused by same.

[noiseboyuk]

I never use Avid Link. I just download the installer from my.avid.

The Windows installer is INCREDIBLY slow and clumsy mind, and the uninstaller a total mess, leaving stuff all over the place that can muck up the next install be it a new version or a rollback. They really do need to work on that. Mac installs seem much smoother.

[dellboy]

hm... still doesn't seem too unusual to me - does e.g. the Arturia Sofware Center not require admin rights too?

Personally I wouldn't know, since I'm always logged in as admin on my machines anyway...

I seem to remember that It was at the download stage that Avid asked for my computer password,and prior to downloading anything. Without going through the whole procedure again,I believe that Avid wanted the computer password to download and install Avid Link. I felt uncomfortable in granting the request,and opted for manual install which they strongly advised not to do. I have Arturia V collection and do not recall them asking for my computer password prior to downloading the software centre.

[whyterabbyt]

Not tried 2023.9 yet, so cant corroborate or dispute. Ive installed PT2023.6 on multiple systems over the past week or so and not seen any similar thing with that version.

[whyterabbyt]

I seem to remember that It was at the download stage that Avid asked for my computer password

the installer download? literally just done that, its a zip file download, 3.5Gb in size, and a perfectly normal download exactly like the 2023.6 I was using last week.

[whyterabbyt]

No password request dialog when running the installer either.

[whyterabbyt]

Only started the previous time, didnt let the installer complete as it was my work laptop. Tested, and completed installation, on a second system from that one. Once again, no password request dialog, at any point.
FWIW, Avid Link is running (because I havent stopped it from doing so), but its signed out, as it always is.