Adobe announces pricing and availability for Lightroom

[sjl]

Thanks to Ars Technica for the scoop. Release date is Feb 19 (9 days before the current beta expires); same price as Aperture (surprise, surprise - $299), with a promotional price until the end of April ($199).

Me, I'm waiting until I know whether it has product activation. That would be a deal breaker for me. Aperture doesn't, and P.A. is the one major reason I don't have Photoshop on my system.

 

[robbieduncan]

Given that it's Adobe I'd wager that it will have Activation. I'm a happy Aperture user so I can't see me switching over.

 

[iW00t]

Thanks to Ars Technica for the scoop. Release date is Feb 19 (9 days before the current beta expires); same price as Aperture (surprise, surprise - $299), with a promotional price until the end of April ($199).

Me, I'm waiting until I know whether it has product activation. That would be a deal breaker for me. Aperture doesn't, and P.A. is the one major reason I don't have Photoshop on my system.

Product Activation has been cracked by various "l33t d00ds" 2 years ago when CS2 was released, so legally or otherwise I don't see why it is stopping you. I mean you can just buy the software and keep it shrink wrapped in your cupboard while still activating with one of those key generator thingys if you are such a privacy advocate.

 

[Abstract]

Why is product activation such a bad thing?

Anyway, I will likely buy it if there's a student discount. Otherwise, no thanks, I'll switch to Aperture due to financial reasons even though I like Lightroom more.

 

[bozigle]

Why is product activation such a bad thing?

Same here.
do you care for explainations?

bozigle

 

[Phatpat]

Any word on educational pricing?

 

[balofagus]

Well Abstract, this site pegs the edu pricing at $99US. I hope my teacher can get a better deal (family connections at Adobe ) but $99US isn't too bad!

 

[sjl]

Why is product activation such a bad thing?

Easy. I have this belief that, if I have bought a software package of some sort, that software package should continue to work for as long as I have a computer capable of running it. This should apply no matter how often I tear down and re-install said computer.

With product activation, I have to go to the company that produced the software, hat in hand, and say, "Please sir, may I use this software?" If the company has gone out of business, or is no longer supporting the software in question, the answer is very likely to be "No."

Combine that with the dubious nature of software packages designed to break the activation, and I feel I'm safer just saying no to any software that requires activation.

 

[balofagus]

Easy. I have this belief that, if I have bought a software package of some sort, that software package should continue to work for as long as I have a computer capable of running it. This should apply no matter how often I tear down and re-install said computer.

With product activation, I have to go to the company that produced the software, hat in hand, and say, "Please sir, may I use this software?" If the company has gone out of business, or is no longer supporting the software in question, the answer is very likely to be "No."

Combine that with the dubious nature of software packages designed to break the activation, and I feel I'm safer just saying no to any software that requires activation.

I think that point it totally valid but I believe it may limit software choices as time goes on. I feel that in the future many more products will have some type of product activation. I can't blame a company for wanting to protect its revenue as well as intelectual property, but the current method can be very cumbersome.

 

[iW00t]

Easy. I have this belief that, if I have bought a software package of some sort, that software package should continue to work for as long as I have a computer capable of running it. This should apply no matter how often I tear down and re-install said computer.

With product activation, I have to go to the company that produced the software, hat in hand, and say, "Please sir, may I use this software?" If the company has gone out of business, or is no longer supporting the software in question, the answer is very likely to be "No."

Combine that with the dubious nature of software packages designed to break the activation, and I feel I'm safer just saying no to any software that requires activation.

I understand what you are saying, but with Trusted Computing looming on the horizon there may come a time when you just have to move to the mountains and stay away from civilization.

 

[wmmk]

2 questions
1. will it integrate with PSE 4?
2. will it be a drop in replacement for bridge (in terms of workflow)

 

[bousozoku]

2 questions
1. will it integrate with PSE 4?
2. will it be a drop in replacement for bridge (in terms of workflow)

The betas I've used would lead me to believe that the answer to both questions is No, not likely.

You could call it from Bridge and Bridge might see some update to use Lightroom well.

The introductory price and system requirements are compelling for those of us not running a MacBook Pro, PowerMac G5, or Mac Pro.

 

[wmmk]

The betas I've used would lead me to believe that the answer to both questions is No, not likely.

You could call it from Bridge and Bridge might see some update to use Lightroom well.

The introductory price and system requirements are compelling for those of us not running a MacBook Pro, PowerMac G5, or Mac Pro.

maybe I phrased my question wrong...
can it browse a library of RAW, jpeg, and tiff images, convert RAW to jpeg, then have the jpegs open in PSE, all as seamlessly as you can do with Bridge and ACR? thanks!
all the best,
wmmk

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

Disappointed a bit by the pricing. Was hoping for more in the $99-150 range.

I did mention when the beta releases were out, to be careful on falling in love with the app till final pricing was announced.

I like Lightroom; but not at $199/$99edu.

 

[Abstract]

My question is: Can I move all my photos from Lightroom B4 to Aperture, with my editing intact?

I'm preparing for the worst. If I d/l Adobe Lightroom v1.0, and I don't think it's good enough (or if it's a lot more expensive than Aperture education price (I live in Australia, where price is always a lot worse than US pricing)), I'm going to succumb and buy Aperture.

 

[bousozoku]

maybe I phrased my question wrong...
can it browse a library of RAW, jpeg, and tiff images, convert RAW to jpeg, then have the jpegs open in PSE, all as seamlessly as you can do with Bridge and ACR? thanks!
all the best,
wmmk

I see you having a future with Automator and AppleScript.

My question is: Can I move all my photos from Lightroom B4 to Aperture, with my editing intact?

I'm preparing for the worst. If I d/l Adobe Lightroom v1.0, and I don't think it's good enough (or if it's a lot more expensive than Aperture education price (I live in Australia, where price is always a lot worse than US pricing)), I'm going to succumb and buy Aperture.

That's quite a sense of humour. My belief is that starting over is your only option with Aperture at this moment.

 

[Clix Pix]

My question is: Can I move all my photos from Lightroom B4 to Aperture, with my editing intact?(

I'd be very surprised if that were the case and you could do so! Nope, sorry, you are probably looking at having to redo everything in Aperture if you make the move to Aperture......

 

[Abstract]

That's quite a sense of humour. My belief is that starting over is your only option with Aperture at this moment.

Thanks. I pretty much knew the answer before I even asked it. I find this smiley to be so useful, so I'll use it again to show a bit of sadness, disappointment, and yet a slight laugh --->

Anyway, I'll see about the pricing. They're charging $345 AUD on Adobe's Australian site, which is like $266 USD. That's $150 AUD off the regular price, so basically non-Americans are getting screwed once again on pricing. I seriously hope that's not the price upon release. Maybe they'll revise it, or offer an Aussie Student price. In fact, the price is so ridiculous that I may use my Canadian credit card and download it from the North American website while I'm here in Australia. If companies didn't like overcharging non-Americans (or non-North Americans) so much, I wouldn't have to figure out ways around the pricing all the time.

 

[danvdr]

Lightroom vs Aperture

Could someone do a brief comparison of Lightroom and Aperture (features, target audience, etc.).

Thanks

 

[balofagus]

Wow, Adobe is screwing people not from North America! Hopefully they do let you do the student dscount thing. I'm sticking with Lightroom because it runs (if a little slowly) on my iBook. If I wanted to run Aperture I'd have to first up my RAM, and even after that I don't think it'd be too pretty. Someday I'll be getting more RAM anyway but I don't want to have to buy it now just to use an app.

 

[wmmk]

I see you having a future with Automator and AppleScript.

Thanks you SO much! Now I have a way to spend next weekend!

 

[compuwar]

I understand what you are saying, but with Trusted Computing looming on the horizon there may come a time when you just have to move to the mountains and stay away from civilization.

I *really* hope Palladium doesn't become synonymous with trusted computing. We already have trusted computing, it's just a term to denote the reference monitor and system components that form the trusted computing base. See Trusted Solaris, Trusted Irix, Virtual Vault, SE Linux, Trusted BSD[1], RSBAC, DG/UX B2 (sadly departed,) et. al.

[1] Trusted BSD components are in OSX. I'm hoping by the next release we get real Mandatory Access Control (MAC) and the facilities to do more than the current Common Criteria stuff.

Don't let MS redefine Trusted Computing just because they all want to be beholding to the MPAA or RIAA.

Real trusted computing is about having trust in the security of the platform, not having no trust in the user!
/soapbox

 

[bousozoku]

Thanks. I pretty much knew the answer before I even asked it. I find this smiley to be so useful, so I'll use it again to show a bit of sadness, disappointment, and yet a slight laugh --->

Anyway, I'll see about the pricing. They're charging $345 AUD on Adobe's Australian site, which is like $266 USD. That's $150 AUD off the regular price, so basically non-Americans are getting screwed once again on pricing. I seriously hope that's not the price upon release. Maybe they'll revise it, or offer an Aussie Student price. In fact, the price is so ridiculous that I may use my Canadian credit card and download it from the North American website while I'm here in Australia. If companies didn't like overcharging non-Americans (or non-North Americans) so much, I wouldn't have to figure out ways around the pricing all the time.

Typically, Adobe want to mess with everyone. Macromedia was giving tiered pricing for their suite of applications but Adobe only gave a discount for owning Photoshop.

It's seriously a surprise to me that they have an introductory price. Of course, after Apple lowered Aperture's price dramatically and refunded money, just about anything could happen.

Remember, you pay more for software and we pay more for medicine. People need medicine to live but who really needs software?

 

[ChrisA]

Remember, you pay more for software and we pay more for medicine. People need medicine to live but who really needs software?

No, they pay for their medicine five times over. In the US we only pay 8% sales tax at the retail level. In Europe a 15% VAT is common at all levels and the income tax rates are higher over there too.

getting "free" medicine is like us getting "free" airtime on the cell phone -- "free" is a marketing term the real term is "paid in advance".

Could someone do a brief comparison of Lightroom and Aperture (features, target audience, etc.).
Thanks

They are very much comparable in term of features and what they do except for major differences in "look" and "style". Both are intended for people who shoot a lot of RAW images and need to quickly process, sort, rate and make basic corections and then store and file the images.

Aperture requires more hardware, runs best on newer high and macs. LR runs an even my G4 mini and of Windows PCs

I think LR has a clunkyer user interface but people who like Photoshop like that kind of thing and are used to it.

You can download a 30 day trial of each and see for your self for free.

 

[srf4real]

Lightroom beta works well with PSE 4, and anything beats having to go through Bridge to browse folders... I'd have stayed with PSE 3 if I'd seen that coming. I'll definitely buy Lightroom because it's easy to use and my mini doesn't have a graphix card good enough for Aperture, supposedly.