Yay! Adobe officially announced Creative Suite 3 today, and as anyone that knows me will tell you, I’m quite estatic over the news. Sure, the Master Collection edition will cost you $2,500 - but look at what you get!

Now, I’m a sixteen-year-old. I don’t work. I also don’t need the Master Collection… *sigh* But I’ve got to tell you, the Production Premium version looks pretty darn nice for what I do… I have Production Studio Premium right now, which is quite possibly the best thing I ever bought. Premier Pro, After Effects, Audition, Photoshop - my computer would seem useless without these. I’m honestly really psyched about the CS3 versions of Photoshop, Premier, and After Effects, not to mention their new sound editing software: Soundbooth. My live-saver: educational editions and upgrade pricing. Yay - a $1,700 box of software suddenly comes down to $600. Hmm… but I still have nowhere near enough money to pay for that… Oh yeah, I can get an upgrade discount too! I mean, CS3 Production Premium is the official successor to Production Studio Premium, which I own. But wait… no special pricing for upgrades. If I bought the same software now as I did last summer (now $150 less, I might add) I’d get upgraded to CS3 Production Premium for free. But they won’t even take $50 off.

The point of upgrade pricing is to encourage previous users to buy from a company again. It makes the user feel as though the money they spent on the last edition didn’t go to waste. Apparently, Adobe’s throwing that philosophy out the window. I’m here with my Paypal account, ready to prance on CS3… And you push me back, Adobe. Why?! I’m one of the few teenagers that actually pays for software they could easily get bootleg copies of. And how do you repay me, Adobe? By slapping on an even larger price tag. Also, please note I hold nothing against any of my readers that don’t pay for Adobe software. I love you all!

Hmm… you know what, I’ve been thinking about trying out Final Cut Pro a bit, maybe getting away from Premier Pro. I wonder how that would make Adobe feel…

[...] to be outdone by Adobe, Apple just announced their upcoming release of Final Cut Studio 2 - a massive update to their line [...]