bapu
When I started my t-shirt printing business in 2013 (which I subsequently sold) I bought hard copies of Illustrator and Photoshop CS6 for about $1000. If I had used the Subscription model (@ $50/mo) I would have paid $700 (for 14 months of use). IIRC, once I stopped the Subscription (since I was over 12 months) I would have had the latest version CS7, or I would have had nothing (if I'm wrong about Adobe's model).
 
At the time I had the cash for the hard copies and thought I would be in business for years to come and upgrades were probably not necessary (they were t-shirts for goodness sake). How was I to know I'd made a bad decision? I couldn't since the (read: my) world changes daily.
 
For my DAW(s) I typically follow the upgrade path and remain content to do so.

 
I've been trying to understand the Adobe license. By the best I can figure out, you did well. If you had canceled a CC subscription you would have been left with 30 day demos and then nothing.
 
The choice you made left you paying an additional $300 but you have two tools that will work for many years to come.
 

3dmus
Hey dubdisciple - just a quick one on an After Effects alternative... Whilst there's none I'm aware of that would fully replace it, I've been impressed by Hitfilm. It's only a few years old, but they've made lots of progress and especially their particle system (true 3D) is very impressive. Personally, I still use AE for most of my work as I tend to use expressions a lot, but like you, I'm not particularly fond of the subscription model (I'm still on CS5.5)... so, I'll see what Hitfilm 3 will be like and am seriously considering going for that. 
 
www.hitfilm.com
 
cheers

Thanks for the heads up. I have Hitfilm Express. I am watching it is well. The particle system is on par with stock ae particle systems but still pales everywhere else. Also, like many ae users, I have Trapcode Particular. I noticed Mocha actually made a plugin for hitfilm so maybe others will follow. I am keeping an eye on its continued development.

mike_mccue
The choice you made left you paying an additional $300 but you have two tools that will work for many years to come.
 

That's my conclusion too.
 
Until they deprecate the auth system.

dubdisciple

3dmus
Hey dubdisciple - just a quick one on an After Effects alternative... Whilst there's none I'm aware of that would fully replace it, I've been impressed by Hitfilm. It's only a few years old, but they've made lots of progress and especially their particle system (true 3D) is very impressive. Personally, I still use AE for most of my work as I tend to use expressions a lot, but like you, I'm not particularly fond of the subscription model (I'm still on CS5.5)... so, I'll see what Hitfilm 3 will be like and am seriously considering going for that. 
 
www.hitfilm.com
 
cheers

Thanks for the heads up. I have Hitfilm Express. I am watching it is well. The particle system is on par with stock ae particle systems but still pales everywhere else. Also, like many ae users, I have Trapcode Particular. I noticed Mocha actually made a plugin for hitfilm so maybe others will follow. I am keeping an eye on its continued development.

Yes, I could never justify buying Particular (VFX is a hobby for me).. However, Hitfilm's particle system seems light years ahead of the stock AE ones. Especially since it's "truly" 3D, rather than AE's 2.5D. I was getting rather annoyed with the AE particle systems for my last video, but, like you, I've only got Hitfilm Express... so no 3D particle goodness for me yet!

3dmus

dubdisciple

3dmus
Hey dubdisciple - just a quick one on an After Effects alternative... Whilst there's none I'm aware of that would fully replace it, I've been impressed by Hitfilm. It's only a few years old, but they've made lots of progress and especially their particle system (true 3D) is very impressive. Personally, I still use AE for most of my work as I tend to use expressions a lot, but like you, I'm not particularly fond of the subscription model (I'm still on CS5.5)... so, I'll see what Hitfilm 3 will be like and am seriously considering going for that. 

www.hitfilm.com

cheers

Thanks for the heads up. I have Hitfilm Express. I am watching it is well. The particle system is on par with stock ae particle systems but still pales everywhere else. Also, like many ae users, I have Trapcode Particular. I noticed Mocha actually made a plugin for hitfilm so maybe others will follow. I am keeping an eye on its continued development.

Yes, I could never justify buying Particular (VFX is a hobby for me).. However, Hitfilm's particle system seems light years ahead of the stock AE ones. Especially since it's "truly" 3D, rather than AE's 2.5D. I was getting rather annoyed with the AE particle systems for my last video, but, like you, I've only got Hitfilm Express... so no 3D particle goodness for me yet!

I agree Trapcode stuff is very expensive but  1) I actually earn a living using it and more importantly, I was lucky enough to win it lol.  The Red Giant/Trapcode stuff is worth their prices for professional users but that value decreases each year as more affordable plugins come into play.
 
AE's particle system was never designed for true 3D so they translate poorly in that regard but still have use for 2D work. Casting proper shadows in AE with 3D objects is a nightmare. Like you, Hitfilm's handling of 3d impressed me even if the actual particles paled in comparison to products like Particular.  The potential is there and the base program is better setup to grow.  AE is built on year and years of workarounds for 3D. I will give Adobe credit for not being able to occasionally throw away big chunks of code. Audition underwent massive changes under the hood, whether one agrees they are for the better or not, the basic source code was turned upside down.  Eventually AE will need to do the same instead of relying on 3rd party plugins like cinema 4D lite.