Adobe subscription

[Allan Bell]

I know this is only indirectly associated with the Alamy forum in that we use Adobe software to process images.

 

I would be interested to hear if anyone else using the the monthly subscription plan and using LRC only has noticed if their monthly subs have ceased to be taken from their bank account.

 

My last payment was taken on 20th January this year. No more payments taken for February and March.

 

What is going on?

 

Allan

 

[Steve F]

Pretty relevant Allan, pretty sure most of us use Adobe or equivalent. No, my payment went out as normal last month. Ssshhhh... 🤫 enjoy it while it lasts!

[Michael Ventura]

My monthly subscription payment is $10.59 U.S.

[Alexander Hogg]

Paid it in full

[Allan Bell]

2 hours ago, Michael Ventura said:

My monthly subscription payment is $10.59 U.S.

 

£9.98 this side of the pond.

 

Allan

 

[Michael Ventura]

6 minutes ago, Allan Bell said:

 

£9.98 this side of the pond.

 

Allan

 

 

It was $9.99 U.S. but went up last year.  The conversion of $10.59 today from U.S. $ to £, it would be £8.47

[Ognyan Yosifov]

4 minutes ago, Michael Ventura said:

 

It was $9.99 U.S. but went up last year.  The conversion of $10.59 today from U.S. $ to £, it would be £8.47

€10.23, Ireland

[Aul Zitzke]

I get Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom for free since 2019 (for stock contributors that meet the requirements) 😊

[Allan Bell]

I think I have found the answer to my question.

 

My late 2013 iMac 27" running on OS Catalina has gone as far as it can go. When Apple released Big Sur OS they limited it to 2014 iMacs as the earliest it would support. Earlier iMacs cannot upgrade to Big Sur.

 

Now my iMac is running LrC V 11.5 and to upgrade to the latest release of LrC V 12.21 I need to upgrade the computer to Big Sur.

 

My thinking is that because I have not upgraded my copy of LrC because of the above maybe Adobe have ceased taking monthly payments.

 

Wishful thinking I suppose.

 

I checked and my 13" MacBook Pro late 2013 and it is running OS Big Sur from when I updated it a couple of years ago. Unfortunately it only has 8GB memory. I only have Adobe LR 6.13 on this laptop and do not wish to try uploading latest LrC to it unless it can have it's memory increased to 32GB the same as my iMac.

 

What are the alternatives please. Any suggestion?     (not rude please)😄

 

Allan

 

[Harry Harrison]

1 hour ago, Allan Bell said:

My thinking is that because I have not upgraded my copy of LrC because of the above maybe Adobe have ceased taking monthly payments.

It would be interesting to know, if that were true then I would think it would have been more widely reported, you are after all using the version of Lightroom that you have and have access to all the features. Once you stop paying the subscription voluntarily that ceases to be true and you no longer have access to 'Develop'.

[sb photos]

Allan, if you feel you must have some of the bells and whistles that are in the latest LrC, the only option is to look for a new or newer iMac. You can boot from a newer macOS by utilising the OpenCore Legacy Patcher, but I've no idea how performance would be effected.

[Jill Morgan]

I have the full Adobe package ($45.99 CDN) and they never forget to bill me.

 

Jill

[M.Chapman]

4 hours ago, Allan Bell said:

My late 2013 iMac 27" running on OS Catalina has gone as far as it can go. When Apple released Big Sur OS they limited it to 2014 iMacs as the earliest it would support. Earlier iMacs cannot upgrade to Big Sur.

Although not officially supported, the use of a patched installer allows older Macs to run Big Sur.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxBffgBg8Hg

Depends how desperate you are. I ran Big Sur on an old MacBook this way for a while, but it's really only a temporary solution and may introduce vulnerabilities. If you want to try it, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A BACKUP!

 

Mark

 

 

[M.Chapman]

4 hours ago, Allan Bell said:

What are the alternatives please. Any suggestion?

What features of LR do you use/need? There are quite a few alternative packages (Affinity, DXO, XnView, RawPower) but, in general, they only offer a subset of the features LR contains.

 

Mark

[MDM]

On 04/04/2023 at 14:55, Allan Bell said:

I know this is only indirectly associated with the Alamy forum in that we use Adobe software to process images.

 

I would be interested to hear if anyone else using the the monthly subscription plan and using LRC only has noticed if their monthly subs have ceased to be taken from their bank account.

 

My last payment was taken on 20th January this year. No more payments taken for February and March.

 

What is going on?

 

Allan

 

 

On 04/04/2023 at 14:55, Allan Bell said:

My thinking is that because I have not upgraded my copy of LrC because of the above maybe Adobe have ceased taking monthly payments.

 

Wishful thinking I suppose.

 

 

There is no way Adobe would stop billing you just because you have not been using an app or have not upgraded. 

 

What do you see when you log into your Adobe account on their website under View Account? It should show when your next payment is due and also your billing information (last four numbers of your credit card). It would be wise to check that is all in order including expiry date of your credit card.  If your credit card is going out of date then they normally inform you well in advance but worth checking anyway?.  

 

 

 

Edited April 5, 2023 by MDM

[Allan Bell]

Thank you all for your input. I have replied to each of you below. 

 

Harry, that was said half jokingly. I do not think Adobe would know if I was not using or not updating their software.

 

Steve, I do not fancy mucking about with patchers. They may make more problems than they solve.

 

Jill, What can I say other than I do not envy you.

 

Mark, 1  As my reply to Steve above.

          2 I have looked at the alternatives you mention in the past and the closest seemed to be DXO. I tried it but could not get on with it so came back to LR.

 

Mick, I did log into my account and checked payment history not long before you posted your comment. It shows that Adobe have collected all payments to date and the next payment is due on 20th April. My credit card has a couple of years left on it so not that.

 

Going back to my bank account later to triple check to see if I can find what happened there.

 

----------------------------------------------------------

 

When I asked about alternatives in my post above I was thinking more along the lines of new equipment, but not Windows.

 

My favourite would be a new 27" iMac but that is not going to happen unless apple pull their socks up.  No I was thinking more along the lines of what Apple have now and marry it to an EIZO ColorEdge CS2731 27" 16:9 Wide Gamut IPS Monitor, such as Marianne purchased.

It would not matter whether the alternative has it's own built in monitor or non.

 

Maybe the Mac Mini enhanced with 24GB memory and 512GB SSD storage at £1,249. But will 24GB memory be enough?  If I went with the 256GB SSD storage version the price would drop £200 making it £1,049 But will 256GB SSD storage be enough?

I am thinking of future proofing here.

 

The Mac Studio has 32Gb memory and 512GB storage in the basic un-enhanced version but is rather expensive at £1,999.

 

I see WEX are selling the EIZO monitor for £929.

 

Marrying the Mac Mini at £1,049 and EIZO monitor at £929 makes the new outfit £1,978.  Is there a cheaper way?

 

Allan

 

[Marianne]

I've also been getting it for free thanks to qualifying via my Adobe Stock account each year, but I have a suspicion about the problem

 

One of my credit cards recently expired so I had to update a few accounts to maintain continuity since I have a couple of yearly subscriptions that renew in April. April is the cruelest month, as @Wim once reminded me. 😎   Go into your account settings and check this since you don't want to suddenly lose the ability to access your account. I hadn't even realized the problem at first since I received an updated credit card months before the old one expired. 

 

Edit: I just scrolled to the end and tried to answer your question without realizing that you'd already tried my suggestion. It's a real head-scratcher.

 

With regard to your other question re: whether 24GB RAM is sufficient, I recall reading that the RAM on the new Macs is more efficient than the older type, so it's possible. . . however, I believe that  @MDM posited that the Mini was not intended for pros and wouldn't be powerful enough  I'd suggest that you call Apple - try to reach someone in Pro sales if you can, and ask them for advice He will probably also chime in an I"m sure give you better technical advice than I can.

 

On the one hand, the Mac Mini/Eizo sounds a lot more affordable than a new laptop (mine cost $4,000 in 2019 with 32GB RAM and a 2TB hard drive - had I opted for a smaller hard drive and the i7 processor, I'd have saved a lot. It also may depend on what size images you're working with. I don't recall what camera you have, but if it's 24MP or less, your files won't be as large. And if you don't work with huge layered PS files or video, your needs are different.

 

One pro of a laptop: if you plan to travel or even plan to work at a local coffeehouse or sit outside when the weather gets lovely, there are advantages to having a laptop. I'd hoped to work outside in my yard today but it went from sunny and 72 degrees F yesterday to 50, windy and gray today. 

 

The nice thing about a laptop/monitor setup is that it gives you two screens, which means a lot more real estate to work with, and it makes comparing two documents easier too. Of course, the Eizo already doubles the size of a laptop screen on its own. Keep us posted on what you decide. 

Edited April 5, 2023 by Marianne

[M.Chapman]

How about replacing both your ageing iMac andMacBook computers with a single new MacBook Pro and external monitor? That would give you an up to date mobile and desktop solution in one go? It's probably what I'll do next time I upgrade. The latest M series MacBooks are plenty powerful enough, but expensive when loaded with extra RAM and SSD storage.

 

Mark

[Allan Bell]

7 minutes ago, Marianne said:

I've also been getting it for free thanks to qualifying via my Adobe Stock account each year, but I have a suspicion about the problem

 

One of my credit cards recently expired so I had to update a few accounts to maintain continuity since I have a couple of yearly subscriptions that renew in April. April is the cruelest month, as @Wim once reminded me. 😎   Go into your account settings and check this since you don't want to suddenly lose the ability to access your account. I hadn't even realized the problem at first since I received an updated credit card months before the old one expired. 

 

Thanks for posting your suspicion but as I mentioned above in reply to Mick, my credit card is valid for at least a couple of years.

 

Allan

 

[Marianne]

6 minutes ago, Allan Bell said:

 

Thanks for posting your suspicion but as I mentioned above in reply to Mick, my credit card is valid for at least a couple of years.

 

Allan

 

 

Yes, I realized that and corrected my post - we must've been typing at the same time. 

 

BTW, I added some thoughts on your Mac Mini/Studio/MacBook Pro dilemma to my original post since I wrestled with the same issues when deciding what to do last year, but fortunately my MacBook Pro is still meeting my needs, so I could spread out the expenses. When this goes, I plan to get another MacBook Pro, probably with a much smaller SSD to keep costs more reasonable. 

 

If you can't figure out the Adobe issue, they are reachable by phone and are usually very helpful. I tried DXO too, and also Capture One, and while there were things I liked about each, LR seems much more efficient, perhaps because I've been using it for more than a decade, though there must be a good reason it's the industry standard. If I didn't get it free, I'd still feel that way, the $120/year is worth it, to me. 

 

Good luck!

 

 

 

[MDM]

 

 

1 hour ago, Allan Bell said:

Thank you all for your input. I have replied to each of you below. 

 

Harry, that was said half jokingly. I do not think Adobe would know if I was not using or not updating their software.

 

Steve, I do not fancy mucking about with patchers. They may make more problems than they solve.

 

Jill, What can I say other than I do not envy you.

 

Mark, 1  As my reply to Steve above.

          2 I have looked at the alternatives you mention in the past and the closest seemed to be DXO. I tried it but could not get on with it so came back to LR.

 

Mick, I did log into my account and checked payment history not long before you posted your comment. It shows that Adobe have collected all payments to date and the next payment is due on 20th April. My credit card has a couple of years left on it so not that.

 

Going back to my bank account later to triple check to see if I can find what happened there.

 

----------------------------------------------------------

 

When I asked about alternatives in my post above I was thinking more along the lines of new equipment, but not Windows.

 

My favourite would be a new 27" iMac but that is not going to happen unless apple pull their socks up.  No I was thinking more along the lines of what Apple have now and marry it to an EIZO ColorEdge CS2731 27" 16:9 Wide Gamut IPS Monitor, such as Marianne purchased.

It would not matter whether the alternative has it's own built in monitor or non.

 

Maybe the Mac Mini enhanced with 24GB memory and 512GB SSD storage at £1,249. But will 24GB memory be enough?  If I went with the 256GB SSD storage version the price would drop £200 making it £1,049 But will 256GB SSD storage be enough?

I am thinking of future proofing here.

 

The Mac Studio has 32Gb memory and 512GB storage in the basic un-enhanced version but is rather expensive at £1,999.

 

I see WEX are selling the EIZO monitor for £929.

 

Marrying the Mac Mini at £1,049 and EIZO monitor at £929 makes the new outfit £1,978.  Is there a cheaper way?

 

Allan

 

 

The latest Mac Minis look very good indeed and would probably be the best option as I know you don't tend to travel a lot, so a laptop may be unnecessary. The thing to keep in mind is future proofing as you say and I would not go for anything now with less than 32GB of memory (24 absolute minimium). The other thing to keep in mind is that these new Macs cannot be upgraded so going cheaper now may work out dearer in the long run. Yes these new silicon Macs handle memory in a different way to Intel Macs (and Windows machines) but, if you want a computer that will last several years, then don't skimp it now. Apple have 0% finance available at the moment.

 

It is better to go for less internal storage than memory but definitely go for at least 512GB storage as 256GB is really skimping it. Apple charges a lot for internal storage. You can buy external SSDs really cheap now and they are just as good as the internal ones for most purposes. I recommend the SanDisk SSDs (same make as G-Technology). These can be added later if necessary but your existing G-Technology (SanDisk?) USB-3 hard drives should be fine for the sort of stuff you do. 

 

In order to get the 32GB of memory in a Mac Mini, you have to go for the Pro model which with 512GB would be around £1799. If you are happy with 24GB which should be fine for some time to come then you could go down to £1249 with 512GB of storage. 

 

That EIzo monitor sounds good. Be aware that it does not have an internal calibrator so you might want to think about that as well if you don't already have one.

Edited April 5, 2023 by MDM

[MDM]

1 hour ago, Marianne said:

 

1 hour ago, Marianne said:

 

With regard to your other question re: whether 24GB RAM is sufficient, I recall reading that the RAM on the new Macs is more efficient than the older type, so it's possible. . . however, I believe that  @MDM posited that the Mini was not intended for pros and wouldn't be powerful enough 

 

I'd suggest that you call Apple - try to reach someone in Pro sales if you can, and ask them for advice He will probably also chime in an I"m sure give you better technical advice than I can. 

 

 

 

 

 

I can't recall saying that but I might well have in the past. However, this new generation of Mac Minis is on another level altogether. The main problem really is the limit of max 32GB if you are doing large multi-layered Photoshop files etc but I don't think Allan does stuff like that.

 

I wouldn't recommend getting advice from Apple directly about imaging requirements. Most of these people are not specialists in digital imaging beyond Apple's own consumer software. Maybe in the USA you can ring customer services at Apple and speak to an expert but I don't know if that is likely to be satisfactory here. 

 

In any case, it is fairly simple really now to advise, as there are not many choices, nothing is upgradeable and it is easy to tell what apps will work comfortably on what machine. For photography, the old adage about never having too much memory still holds true and it is that simple here. If Allan wants 32 GB then he needs to get a Pro model and, if he is happy with 24GB, then he can go for a cheaper model. Nowadays with external SSDs being so fast, it is not necessary to get a lot of internal storage but not too little where future versions of the macOS are going to cause problems. I think 512GB storage is the minimum, preferably 1GB but I would prioritise getting more memory than internal storage.

 

Edited April 5, 2023 by MDM

[Harry Harrison]

11 hours ago, Allan Bell said:

Harry, that was said half jokingly. I do not think Adobe would know if I was not using or not updating their software.

Thanks, I thought it was a non-runner although I actually think that Adobe will know that you haven't upgraded. Hopefully they won't persist in trying to make you do so and that you'll sort out the irregularity regarding the payment(s).

 

That should mean that you're OK to continue as you are on v 11.5 as far as LR is concerned, I would imagine that your 27" Imac with 32GB RAM performs very well with it. In time some regular apps (Chrome, Safari, Dropbox, Google Drive Desktop etc.) will stop being supported (just down to age rather than the 32-bit/64-bit thing) and that will become a nuisance but I think that's at least a couple of years off, you can easily check what OS versions they currently support on their respective websites.

Edited April 6, 2023 by Harry Harrison

[Allan Bell]

 

Many thanks for all the new input from all my friends giving up their valuable time to help me out.🙂

 

My Adobe monthly subscription payments have been regularly coming out of my credit card for the last three years at least but I found this years February and March subscriptions were paid out of accumulated funds from my PayPal account.

 

Yes I must have set up payments to adobe through PayPal originally and forgotten as I had been checking the credit card account for adobe payments.

 

SORRY for the confusion FRIENDS.

 

Back to the new Apple hardware question.

 

Just a few points which may make the decisions easier.

 

1. My iMac has 512GB SSD but as I keep most folders and files etc on 2 remote 4TB G-Tech Thunderbolt drives (one mirrors other through CCC), on advice given given by Mick (MDM), the 512GB storage on board the iMac only holds the OS and programs and apps with about 19GB of files, which could be moved to remote drives, which would leave 400GB available.  So 256GB on board storage may be sufficient.
2. My cameras are 24MP so not not require lots of computer space as some others.
3. I already have a screen calibrator which I use on the iMac occasionally.
4. I do not do a lot of processing of images other than preparation for upload to Alamy and occasionally for P4M.
5. I think 32GB of memory would still be better but could manage with 24GB.

 

I would appreciate your further thoughts taking the above into account.

 

Thank you.

 

Allan

 

Edited April 6, 2023 by Allan Bell

[MDM]

I would still advocate the 512GB of storage even if the 256GB is "sufficient" keeping in mind that you can't upgrade it later. If you go for the Pro machine (necessary if you want 32GB of RAM) then 512 is the minimum anyway. Also the Pro model has four Thunderbolt ports whereas the others only have two. You will need one of these for your monitor so that would mean you would need a dock if you want to connect anything more than one drive by Thunderbolt. 

[Allan Bell]

2 hours ago, MDM said:

I would still advocate the 512GB of storage even if the 256GB is "sufficient" keeping in mind that you can't upgrade it later. If you go for the Pro machine (necessary if you want 32GB of RAM) then 512 is the minimum anyway. Also the Pro model has four Thunderbolt ports whereas the others only have two. You will need one of these for your monitor so that would mean you would need a dock if you want to connect anything more than one drive by Thunderbolt. 

 

Thank you again Mick.

 

Allan