so, i bought Aperture 1.0 Academic version for $249 ($263 after taxes). Apple felt bad about the first version of Aperture and gave a refund to customers. i got $100 back in the form of an e-coupon. great!

so, now i am out $150 (technically, i am out $250 since the e-coupon still must be spent with Apple).

now, Aperture 2.0 is out. the price is $199 for regular users and $179 for academic users.

the upgrade price for Aperture 2.0 is just $99; however, the academic version of 1.0 is not eligible for upgrading. so, i'd have to spend $179 to get to version 2.0. -- i get that my copy of Aperture was cheaper than the full version originally, but by version 4, the total cost of upgrading is going to easily be cheaper for folks who didn't buy the academic version versus those who did. i am not complaining as iPhoto is what i use for management and Photoshop for editing (i have no plans to upgrade Aperture, i guess). i just thought this was odd. but the bigger issue . . . holy crap did Apple overprice this to begin with. ;~)

I had to re-read that a number of times sorta made my head spin



Okay see if I get this right

Aperture 2.0 $199 you can use your e-coupon because it is full price
Aperture 2.0 Academic is $179 <-- already discounted , so that age old offer within an offer is not excepted - Makes sense to me .

Go with the 99 buck upgrade

As for being over priced ? Humm not too sure

Adobe Premiere Pro

$799 - 299 upgrade

version 2 isn't overpriced. the academic version is $179 and the full version is $199 -- $20 difference.

version 1 was $250 for the academic version (and we ended up getting a $100 coupon back). the full version of Aperture 1.0 was $499 (and they got a $100 discount coupon as well). that's what i meant about overpriced. $499 was crazy. the current $199 is perfect. i think the thing to do for me (if i was going to do something) is to buy the $199 for $20 more than the academic price and then Aperture 3.0 will only be $99 instead of $179. i don't get why they'd even offer an academic version with the current pricing structure in place.

Your anecdotal note proves academic discounts don't always make sense.

The variable are marketing price promotions, which seem arbitrary at times compared to the staid Academic discount program.

They can be odds with one another, but its the exception, not the rule, I'm sure.

No company (large scale anyway) I know of offers upgrade pricing to academic purchasers. I know Adobe, Microsoft and Apple don't. The real catch is that Apple really doesn't offer much of a discount for education to begin with. At least MS makes the cost of MS Office for Mac like 1/3 the regular price. The $20 discount Apple is offering is basically the profit margin on resellers. So they're still making the same amount on it as they would if you purchased the upgrade through a 3rd-party store, etc.

But Office is way overpriced to begin with.

Indeed it is. But then again, I don't use it all that much, so even the education package is overpriced for me.