Darkroom Photo Editing App Switches to Subscription Model for New Users

[mollyc]

That’s still 12x more per year and you are only getting two of the programs. What features have they added that reasonably require a subscription.

personally I have found the incremental upgrades over time in LR/PS to be worth it, and while I hate paying a subscription, I did upgrade LR every year at around $90/upgrade and PS every other version for what, $150? I don't recall the old upgrade price. That works out to $165/year vs the $120/year I pay now.

 

[LuciusWrong]

They say, "existing users can continue to use it "free"".

But if those users paid for it, it isnt free, now is it? Gotta love corporate spin. By their great benevolence, they will grant people the privelege of being able to continue to own the thing they paid for.

 

[liquidiq]

They say, "existing users can continue to use it "free"".

But if those users paid for it, it isnt free, now is it? Gotta love corporate spin. By their great benevolence, they will grant people the privelege of being able to continue to own the thing they paid for.

lol, you're just trying to "spin" this into something it's not.
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What is the connection of your post with Darkroom and/ or even subscription and one-time payment models?

*Rabble rabble rabble!*

Lots of that going on in here.

Like people in car forums "That new X car needs X feature so I'll buy it!" then 1 year later, gets X feature "Oh, uhhh, it's too expensive!"

 

[digitalfx]

Delete app.

Deleted the app right away. Won't support this kind of stuff. And what the hell is that price to own it forever? AppStore is full of good photo editing apps, why this is worth $50. That's a lot for mobile app. I have affinity photo in my iPad which is full pro desktop quality photo editing app and it cost under half of this.

Why???
Did you miss this?
"Darkroom says existing users will continue to have access to all of the app's premium features for free."

#cutoffthenosetospitetheface

 

[RevTEG]

I’d be embarrassed if I made issue with a $20 per year subscription fee. Developers have to keep the money rolling in to make money to improve the product. Photo editing apps are not like games that have gazillions of players.

$20 per year isn’t an issue until you have multiple apps that require subscriptions. Then cost verses use becomes a factor. For me, I don’t rent software. I prefer to buy software and then use in app purchases for new features or even large updates. Especially, if I see the need for new feature. Subscriptions can make developers lazy. Monthly rent is hardly ever the best use of money. Unless you’re the one collecting the rent.

 

[JoB4031]

This is more targeted at iOS than the app, but what upsets me is that I can't downgrade back to the last version of an app. I used to be able to load the new version and if I didn't like it or want to pay the subscription I could downgrade the app with my iTunes backup. I am no longer able to do this and Apple says it is an app issue. I disagree, it is an OS issue as the OS is the gatekeeper to what app can or can not run on the specific hardware. Apple please give me the user a way to go back to a version of software that I want. What this is leading to is me not wanting to update my apps because I like how they currently work and future updates may break that. If someone knows of a solution to what iTunes used to provide please let me know.

 

[Baumi]

Deleted the app right away. Won't support this kind of stuff. And what the hell is that price to own it forever? AppStore is full of good photo editing apps, why this is worth $50. That's a lot for mobile app. I have affinity photo in my iPad which is full pro desktop quality photo editing app and it cost under half of this.

Did you even read the article? Existing users still have access to all premium features without any subscriptions or additional payments. This change only affects new users.

 

[4jasontv]

personally I have found the incremental upgrades over time in LR/PS to be worth it, and while I hate paying a subscription, I did upgrade LR every year at around $90/upgrade and PS every other version for what, $150? I don't recall the old upgrade price. That works out to $165/year vs the $120/year I pay now.

Sounds like you are saying they haven’t added any notable features as you don’t even recall them. Bug fixes are expected as part of the initial price and shouldn’t require ongoing payment. I’m glad you are happy, and maybe it’s paid itself off for you, but as a hobby jacking the price up by 12x drove me to find alternatives.

 

[Mr. Heckles]

Besides another unnecessary cloud service, what features did Adobe add that necessitated a subscription service? I tried CC when it was $10 a year, but killed it as soon as they jacked it up to $20 a month.

1Password was already meh, and then they killed their app for a website and a plug-in. The idea of charging more to add features, but not to kill them.

1Password still makes an app, what are you talking about? They have an app version and one that you don’t need the app for.

 

[4jasontv]

1Password still makes an app, what are you talking about? They have an app version and one that you don’t need the app for.

I was mistaken. I confused them with LastPass.

 

[Joshhawaii]

There has to be a better model than free updates for life for developers, but subscriptions suck! Just 1-3 subs for mission critical things isn’t bad, but so many apps have it. The biggest problem I see is that the 3 little updates don’t warrant an increase from $9-$49 one time.

 

[mollyc]

Sounds like you are saying they haven’t added any notable features as you don’t even recall them. Bug fixes are expected as part of the initial price and shouldn’t require ongoing payment. I’m glad you are happy, and maybe it’s paid itself off for you, but as a hobby jacking the price up by 12x drove me to find alternatives.

I'm not really sure how you are getting a 12x price increase? Paying a smaller amount of money over 12 months isn't the same as a 12x price increase.

I completely understand the disdain for subscription models, and don't begrudge anyone looking for an alternative. I'm just confused on your math.

There have been enough actual upgrades within LR to make it worthwhile for me.

 

[4jasontv]

I'm not really sure how you are getting a 12x price increase? Paying a smaller amount of money over 12 months isn't the same as a 12x price increase.

I completely understand the disdain for subscription models, and don't begrudge anyone looking for an alternative. I'm just confused on your math.

There have been enough actual upgrades within LR to make it worthwhile for me.

CC was $10 a year. Now it’s $10 a month for just two programs. That’s $120 a year. 12 times the amount.

 

[high heaven]

I would choose one-time purchases in a heartbeat over a subscription. I hate this trend, especially when it doesn’t really come with added support benefits, it is mostly a better revenue model for developers.

But the problem is you have to update your app constantly without any additional payment. Even one time paid app need to pay again to get updates like Capture One Pro, Davinci, Resolve, and more.

 

[Mr. Heckles]

I was mistaken. I confused them with LastPass.

Oh, so they are only using an app extension now?

 

[4jasontv]

Oh, so they are only using an app extension now?

Yeah. You can only store your passwords on their computer.

 

[mollyc]

CC was $10 a year. Now it’s $10 a month for just two programs. That’s $120 a year. 12 times the amount.

when was CC ever $10 a year?? It’s always been $10/month since it was introduced.

 

[4jasontv]

when was CC ever $10 a year?? It’s always been $10/month since it was introduced.

It was $10 a year for students and faculty of higher education.

 

[mollyc]

It was $10 a year for students and faculty of higher education.

I'm neither a student nor teacher and never had access to pricing like that. It would seem your school had a deal with Adobe but it is unfair to say Adobe increased prices 12x when that was never the standard, public and professional rate. As I said above, $10/month is less than I was paying for standalone programs when I updated every 18mos or so.

 

[4jasontv]

I'm neither a student nor teacher and never had access to pricing like that. It would seem your school had a deal with Adobe but it is unfair to say Adobe increased prices 12x when that was never the standard, public and professional rate. As I said above, $10/month is less than I was paying for standalone programs when I updated every 18mos or so.

Most schools had this deal as it was the going educational rate. You not having access to something has no bearing on what they did.

 

[mollyc]

Most schools had this deal as it was the going educational rate. You not having access to something has no bearing on what they did.

The student/teacher rate is/was a promotional rate. Just because you aged out of the student rate doesn't mean that Adobe jacked up the price. For regular adult hobbyists and professionals, aka individuals, the bundle price of LR/PS has ALWAYS been $10/month since inception.

Adobe offers the student rate for the very reason of getting students hooked on their programs so that when they graduate they feel like they need to keep using the programs and then roll into the regular rate.

The student rate has never been the "regular" rate. It's a promotion, brokered between schools and Adobe. Not individuals.

 

[4jasontv]

The student/teacher rate is/was a promotional rate. Just because you aged out of the student rate doesn't mean that Adobe jacked up the price. For regular adult hobbyists and professionals, aka individuals, the bundle price of LR/PS has ALWAYS been $10/month since inception.

Adobe offers the student rate for the very reason of getting students hooked on their programs so that when they graduate they feel like they need to keep using the programs and then roll into the regular rate.

The student rate has never been the "regular" rate. It's a promotion, brokered between schools and Adobe. Not individuals.

Who said I aged out? Them raising the price has nothing to do with my student / teacher status. Most software, for example Office, is paid for by student or faculty and remains the property of them after graduation or getting a new job. When Adobe switched to a subscription model they offered one rate, $10 a year, and in doing so set that as the value of their software. They had to have that price to keep aligned with their previous non-subscription price. To be clear, the lowest possible price you could possibly pay for something - promotion or not - sets a baseline for what someone should expect to pay. For example, Hulu ran a $0.99 cent promotion two years ago and that is the new value of their service. When they doubled the price to $1.99 a lot of people questioned if they would pay twice as much, because when you paid $1, $2 isn’t a $4 discount it’s a 200% increase. The issue with the subscription model is that they have failed to yet deliver a complete product. I expect them to fix bugs are re-add features they previously removed. They don’t deserve to be paid again until they release an actual completed build. $10 a year made it easier to look past that.

 

[jedy]

Considering there was a recent update to Darkroom where the developers say they’ve overhauled the app to iron out bugs and increase the speed of the tools, I’ve decided to purchase it. Fortunately, when I discovered Darkroom had increased to a £49.99 cost, I kept the older version on my older iPad Mini so only paid £9.99 for it. If this app does eventually get abandoned due to lack of funding, it would certainly hurt more if I’d paid £49.99 for it.