Avid announced today that they will be rolling Avid Express Pro into Media Composer cutting the price of the software version of Media Composer from $5000 to $2500. This means that Avid Express Pro will be discontinued by the end of Q2, 2008 (meaning by the summer). This also means that the software will now be in a more competitive price range with Final Cut Pro. I know that now I will be getting it...as soon as I wrangle up $2500 (I did just buy a new system after all).
AND...Avid is starting a new is revamping their support community that will have has users helping other users with the software. It used to be lacking in many ways, including the interface, but it looks much improved. Much like what Apple does on their forums, and what you can get for FCP at Creative Cow, LAFCPUG, DVXUser. Although the Creative Cow also has a great Avid forum as does DVXUser.
Quick thoughts? I am excited about this. I am a huge Avid fan (avid fan...always like that expression) and find it not only viable, but often the only solution for many workflows...just like I think that FCP is the only solution for other workflows. And I think that lowering their price will only help them gain back some market share and footing they have lost in the past.
Digg it
The fullness of time
I was part of the team that helped develop and roll out Media Composer software. It's fair to say that I was the face of that roll-out, and I'm proud of it.
There were great internal debates at the time about how to position Xpress Pro software and Media Composer software (or MC Soft as we called it) relative to each other. One of those questions of course was whether Xpress would carry on. I'll spare you the details of that debate, except to say that, in the fullness of time, I think the right side won.
Before I left Avid, I went to a few FCP user groups, including the one in LA. The suggestion I made to them was to ADD Media Composer -- not stop using FCP, but treat Media Composer the same you would a second-format camera: the object of the game is to never ever turn away a customer with money in their hand. MC Soft offers the opportunity to keep everyone you want as YOUR customer.
Another way to look at it is that there are some features in Media Composer that are worth spending the money to get - they'll pay for theselves in a job or two. This works the same way that Motion, After Effects and Combustion do, providing the right tool for the right job.
The other thing that impresses me about Avid's move is that the edu price is only $295. Less than some iPods. There's really no excuse not to have it anymore.
Which is to say, I'm excited about it too Shane.
And I just started using
And I just started using avid at that edu price. The new price roll back should help push sales, now all they need to do is make a nice logo and they are good to go! also having a dvd authoring package with it might be a nice addition, but who knows.I think now that xpress is gone though it could cause a bit of bitterness with people who wanted avid but couldn't/can't afford media composer and aren't students. We'll see though.