Hey all, hope you're doing well and having a wonderful spring!

I read today that Adobe is now announcing that they are no longer producing hard copies of their software. The most recent package, Creative Suite 6, is the last "hard copy" of software that's going to be available, as Adobe is now switching to the Creative Cloud. I think that this is an attempt to combat piracy, but the fact of the matter is that it's downright expensive. Many of you guys probably have gotten your product (if you bought it) through a student discount. That's how I got my copy, and it's certainly a lot cheaper. However, now Adobe is making it so that you have to pay 30 dollars a month for Photoshop, or if you pay for a year in advance you can get it a bit cheaper, around 20 dollars a month. If you use other programs as well, you can subscribe to the Master Collection, which is 70 a month and 50 per month with a year's subscription.

Now some of you may think this is cheaper in a way. Pay for it in little bits at a time rather than a large chunk, right? But consider it like this- if I were to buy Photoshop right now, I would be able to use it today, tomorrow, even years from now. All from only paying the same flat rate. With this new subscription service, you're paying just as much as a student rate would be, but you're basically only paying for a year of service. Seems a bit much, right? So if we add this up (and let's just say you've payed for a year), that's still $240. For ONE YEAR ONLY. That's only Photoshop! How are students and self-employed artists supposed to continue to pay for this? Even though this helps to stop the piracy of the programs, it's a bold and rash move in the wrong direction. It comes off as a cash grab, and I fear that Adobe won't be able to profit much once people begin to realize this. The fact that you need to be connected to the internet every time you want to use one of these products seems a little unrealistic as well. A big part of the world still doesn't have internet access. Heck, I had dial-up until about 2 years ago, and I five miles away from town!

Also, in my personal opinion, when you buy things from the internet it doesn't feel as much like you actually own what you're buying. Don't get me wrong, I purchase things as downloads all the time, but I always have that feeling in the back of my mind that if something goes wrong, it's a lot easier to lose it for good when it's digital. Having a hard copy is not only peace of mind, but something that you are responsible for. For example, I downloaded an album off of iTunes, and one of the songs was corrupt and wouldn't play. I emailed the support team and followed their directions, but the problem persisted. The song is still corrupt, but it's not like I can get a different solution from them. Since this is digital, I can't "take it back" to exchange for a better copy. Not sure what to do there.

Anyway, what's your opinion on this decision? I'd love to hear from you guys, it's always a treat to see that someone's on the other end reading this

-Griffin