Movie Studio 3.0 available in the UK?

Andrew_McP wrote on 3/1/2004, 1:31 AM

Can't find it in Amazon.co.uk, and the "buy now" in the menu list isn't the "pay now and get a serial number to type in" variety. With P&P costs of $50 against software worth $99 (via the Sony site anyway) I'm not exactly rushing to the buy button :-)

Maybe Amazon.com will ship to Europe, but that seems like a convoluted way of getting what I though would be a fairly widely available product.

Thanks for any thoughts on the subject,
Andrew McP

Comments

Andrew_McP wrote on 3/1/2004, 2:05 AM
Ah, searching the forum I see some old posts suggesting the answer's import or buy something else. I finally find an editor I find relatively intuitive to use and I can't use it for more than 30 days... well, unless I re-install XP every month!

Mind you, for the import price I could build a basic PC and do just that. Intriguing thought.

Andrew McP
stefkeB wrote on 3/1/2004, 4:04 AM
I'm in the same situation. It costs $50 to have it sent to Belgium.

I allready bought the ACID upgrade, which was a download-version. I'm still not sure if I'll go for the packaged version. The problem is that it is a good tool, so the trial is convincing me to go and buy it, but I would rather buy an activation code.
IanG wrote on 3/1/2004, 4:37 AM
The last time I spoke to Sony there were no plans to to make MS available in the UK - from what I've read, it doesn't appear to be available anywhere outside the US! And to add insult to injury, US shipping is now free!

Ian G.
Andrew_McP wrote on 3/1/2004, 6:01 AM
I'm annoyed that I'm so happy with Movie Studio's speed and accessibility that I may well crack and import it, especially as the dollar is so low against the UKP. It would help to know what additional charges to expect though. Anything up to an extra 30ukp from what I've read about similar imports.

Another factor is that it looks like MS is only likely to install on one machine(due to the online registration requirement). That means working on projects on my laptop while away from my desk isn't going to be an option. EditStudio4 doesn't seem to have this limitation, but it's software I struggle to work with as fluidly as MS3. So...

So it all seems so darned complicated. All I want to do is edit a few stupid flight sim movies, instead I end up messing around with various software trials only to find the one I want's complicated to get hold of.

I may well sulk for weeks ;-)

Andrew McP
Andrew_McP wrote on 3/1/2004, 6:05 AM
> The problem is that it is a good tool,

As you say, that's the problem. But if it's such a good tool, how come they're too ashamed to sell it properly outside the States? I wonder if there's some sort of complicated licensing deal with the people who write the software?

It's more likely to be some strange idea born in a marketing department... good ideas like this usually are ;-)

Andrew McP
IanG wrote on 3/1/2004, 9:21 AM
It looks like at least one of the UK distributors is selling MS - at £99 + postage!! The last time I looked the exchange rate was about 1.8 dollars to the pound, so it's about £20 more expensive.

Ian G.
GerryLeacock wrote on 3/1/2004, 9:28 AM
There's 2 for sale on Ebay. One of them will ship to Europe:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?viewItem&item=3663104904&category=182
Andrew_McP wrote on 3/2/2004, 12:11 AM
> There's 2 for sale on Ebay. One of them will ship to Europe:

Thanks Gerry, I may try them. It's just that if any problems arise it can be a pain to sort them out with an ocean in the way.

I'll see if Ian's potential UK source has any stock first. Looks expensive, but sometimes it's worth paying over the odds to avoid hassle.

Thanks again for the pointer.

Andrew McP
Andrew_McP wrote on 3/2/2004, 12:16 AM
> It looks like at least one of the UK distributors is
> selling MS - at £99 + postage!!

Given that the Sony price is about 80ukp + import taxes & handling charges, 105ish-ukp wouldn't be too scary... as long as I don't think about what it'd cost if I lived in the States ;-)

Which distributor is that?

Andrew McP
IanG wrote on 3/2/2004, 1:01 AM
The distributor I was looking at is SCV London. The Sony price is about £54 though, not £80 - that's a huge hike!

Ian G.
Andrew_McP wrote on 3/2/2004, 1:29 AM
Thanks for that. The £80 I quoted comes from the Sony US price of ($99+£49)/1.85. The ebay price is tempting, but you've still got a big lump of shipping, then X in taxes to add to both, so it comes down to an extra £30/£40 for less hassle.

Andrew McP

PS Ordered it. Life's short and I do like the software. Now all I have to do is earn the money to pay for it before the visa bill arrives ;-)