yeah, but most will agree when i say that almost all people think the better product is the more expensive one. and the fact that vegas is so much more than other video software that is higher than its price, just daunts me. sofo should think about the sensitive chore of pricing their flagship product.

I am sure that Sonic Foundry will certainly follow their previous example. I purchased the FULL version of 3.0 for $199 just over a year ago during a limited introduction period. This was the SAME price as the UPGRADE for previous owners.

After the intro period, new users had to pay full price. This is a better deal than what most other companies offer. The early users were the ones who promoted the product the most for SF and giving us a reduced price is the great way to get the word out fast.

I think SF should continue to offer the UPGRADE

I believe most of us are hoping to get VV4 at a very reasonable price. Sofo can increase the price of the new version to $XXXX.XX and that's worth it. While upgrade price should be very reasonable enough to give vegas users the benefit of promoting the product. I'm pretty sure, existing vegas users does not only use it but also introduces it to their relatives, friends, colleagues etc. . . i had managed to convince two of my friends to switch from adobe to vegas huh!! so i hope sofo would let me upgrade my v3.0 to v4.0 at $50 ha..ha..ha

There must be a basic formula SoFo uses to come up with an upgrade price. Has anybody thought of looking at all the other SoFo products to see what the upgrade deals are. It must be a percentage of full price, no? It should be close from product to product, so why would V4 be any different?

M

Seems to me many of the folks who advocate or imply that SoFo should charge more for their software do so out of the fear that the " little man " will have access to the creative tools that should be beyond their reach.

To me the argument of " Professional Software Tools For Professionals, if you cant afford it than ... " is a somewhat bloated and arrogant philosophy. These are, regardless of whether or not you use them to turn a profit, artistic tools. Just because you can afford it doesn't mean your going to be any good at it.

Paints cheap, not everyone can be a painter. If you guys with such deep pockets have talent, don't sweat the little guy. And your your not threatened by the little guy ... buy me a copy of VV4. =)

- Ray

ray@austin.rr.com

I don't think even the pros care about us "little guys". Everything I do is for free, and mostly for immediate family by word of mouth. I'm no threat. Heck if anyone considered me to be they ought to have their head examined :)

Video is a hobby first and foremost. I have dreamed about working in some sort of production type capacity all my life, and even when I was in the Navy working as a Data Processor I volunteered the rest of my time up in the ship's TV studio "running the board" as they say. Since stumbling on VV3 a year ago, I have been able to wet my appetite for production by making videos and I'm happy spending my time just being a "hack".

VV4 looks awesome, so does DVDA. Although my wife may kill me when I go over a certain limit, I trust that the price will be resonable to satisfy all levels of users.

Happy Editing!
Pete

the price could be just right for a brand new vegas. and i dont know a thing about upgrading, the company always buys the retail version. $699 MSRP is good though. i think premiere 6.5 was priced a little lower when it came out.

This may be old news, but there is an authorized reseller here in Canada who has posted a message indicating if you buy Vegas 3 right now that you'll get a free upgrade to the non-DVD version of Vegas 4.

Link is posted below.

http://www.rsvp.ca/rsvp2002/item_detail.cfm?i=14

One other marketing point for SoFo to consider. There is an exploding--not gigantic, but fast expanding--market for indie filmmakers, newsgatherers and documentarians, many on small budgets. (I'm a part-time filmmaker using his Panasonic DVX-100 camera to 'digifilm' a WWII romantic drama, and would love to have better color correction by post-production time.) VV4 could sweep up in that budding industry if the price point is just right. Yeah, it's nice to have a prestigious price like the insiders (Avid, etc.)--but Henry Ford did pretty well too, selling a well-designed machine to the 'riffraff.'

WTF?! I can't believe that people are bitching about this!

Let's look at everything else in this price range:

1)Adobe Premiere (I can't remember off the top of my head whether it retails for $549 or $649).
2) Everything else that offers even LESS functionality than Premeire.

That's it. Even if you DON'T consider the fact that SoFo has always been generous in their upgrade pricing, it's still a steal. I mean, really, what does Premiere have that Vegas doesn't?

My lord, people! We're looking at a $150- $200 upgrade to V4. Probably a $399 to V4+ DVD if you need it (although I can't help but think that they'll also eventually offer an upgrade from V4 to V4+ DVD)...

I will happily, HAPPILY pay $150- $200 in February... because my spring semester has already been paid in full! :)

I really thought that it was going to be a LOT more expensive than it is. So hurry up SoFo... you've got at least ONE buyer!

David.

in the prosumer price range there is VV, Premiere and ulead mediastudio pro etc... VV3 is better than any of those. and now theres VV4. FCP is like $1200 or less. id say VV4 would be looking good at 800+. but who the hell cares. as long as we all can have it. shell out your cash people!

One thing missing from this discussion: How much does the new version add? That's what will determine its worth.

I run a small business doing editing for consumers who can't do it for themselves (in other words, yoga instructors and football coaches write checks to me, not studios). By my budget, I've already invested a whole lot of money in Vegas (a retail version plus two online upgrades), and I'm going to be looking strictly at what new features are in this new version and whether I really need them. Then I'm going to balance that against the upgrade price and make a decision. I'm on a pretty tight budget, so I won't upgrade unless there is a compelling business reason and an appropriate cost.

Having spent a few hours today working with the beta, I'd say that this appears to be really an incremental upgrade. There are some very nice new features, and a few things that should have been there all along, but nothing really earth-shattering. (I'm speaking here just about Vegas. DVD Architect is a separate issue.)

I applaud Sonic Foundry for their great work in paying attention to what the customer wants. The enhancements seem to match what people have requested, and they do genuinely improve the overall usability of the product. But this is already a fantastic product, by far the best I've ever used, and frankly this new version looks like it could just as easily have been called Vegas 3.1 instead of 4.0. I like it, but I'm not going to pay $150 for it.

DVD Architect is a separate issue. The other DVD authoring software I've used is kludgy and aimed primarily at the clueless. DVD-A looks a bit embryonic, but with amazing potential. I'm still playing around with it, and am not quite sure what I'd pay for it yet, but I hope they keep it cheap while they work out the kinks over the next year. Version 2.0 of DVD Architect should be a truly kick-ass product.

Rick
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