vegas pro 8
by tom davicory
on
Jan 26, 2009 at 8:58:08 pm
i've been thinking of buying vegas pro 8, and as I researched all that i found were products that were 500+ dollars, something that i was willing to pay, however I thought it would be worth researching more.
I came across a few sites selling the OEM version of the product (link below) for something like 100- 150 dollars! I find that really hard to believe. Is this a scam or something?
Re: vegas pro 8 by Mike Kujbida on Jan 26, 2009 at 9:05:27 pm
Vegas Pro 8 used to be available through B&H but, for whatever reason, they've pulled this deal - and yes, it was legitmate.
Taking a closer look at the page, it now says:
Important Notice!
This item has been discontinued and is no longer available.
Re: vegas pro 8 by Stephen Mann on Jan 27, 2009 at 6:08:03 am
I suspect that it was Sony and not B&H who pulled the plug on the OEM distribution.
You can do your own homework when you want to do business with an online retailer that you haven't ever heard of.
whois.com lets you do a domain search to determine who owns the website. "soft-low.net" is less than a year old and owned by an individual in Finland. I would not spend my money there.
I have a couple of fully-licensed, upgradeable copies of Version 6 that I'll sell one to you. (Also Cinescore). You can try out Vegas 6 and if you want to go on to V8, just pay Sony the upgrade price. Or wait for V9.
Re: vegas pro 8 by TJ McCormick on Jan 27, 2009 at 7:50:19 am
wow!! I just saw this for the first time. it looks like you can buy a previous iteration of a software package which will not a) have upgrade options, b) won't have manufacturer tech support, and c) won't be registered by the company. They have Master CS3 for $300, as well as a bevvy of items for 20-30% of their original cost.
Re: vegas pro 8 by John Rofrano on Jan 27, 2009 at 12:33:10 pm
> not too shabby, if you can live with last year's software.
Very shabby! I wouldn't be surprised if it was bootleg software ($895 NewTek for $19.95... come on!). The terms specifically state that you cannot receive software updates and that you cannot register the software. Essentially, you would be paying pirates for cracked software. From the broken English on the site I'd say they are operating out of a country that doesn't prosecute for software piracy.
If you think it's legit, call Adobe and ask them about their Photoshop CS4 Extended for $199 that doesn't need to be activated and see what they say.
Re: vegas pro 8 by TJ McCormick on Jan 27, 2009 at 7:08:47 pm
I "bought" NewTek Lightwave 3d v9 for, get ready for this, ZERO DOLLARS! I received a brand new dongle, an unopened sealed box, and a license from NewTek, shipped for NO CHARGE! I've even received tech support and a new dongle after the old one failed. NewTek had a deal that lasted a few days through Academic Superstore (a US company), and the moment I saw it, I took them up on it. Totally legit.
I ended up buying Wedding Arsenal, at $295, so they still got their money from me, but if I didn't have Lightwave 3d, I never would have considered Arsenal (Lightwave 3d is not, shall we say, completely intuitive, so that marketing ploy was successful).
So, how much money will Adobe make on CS2 and CS3 sales now? Why not sell it as an "OEM" version? It does dip into their current version sales a little, but why wouldn't Adobe give people a taste of CS3, make a little back-end coin, and get them interested in CS4?
I have to assume that Microsoft, Adobe, and all the other software companies would have nuked this or any other OEM download website had it been trying to sell pirate software. If the website has been on for close to a year, then it should be no problem for MS/Adobe/etc. to have shut this thing down. soft-low.net even uses corporate logos, so I assume they have the blessing (or at least the tolerance) of the manufacturers to sell the downloads.
Now, back to soft-low.net
Just completed a search for soft-low.net scam, and I couldn't find a smoking gun. Very little chatter either way on this website. One disgruntled customer, but I don't think he knew how to make a .ico image CD disc.
This one got my attention, however; when I went to the checkout, my browser didn't like the certificate of the https website. I won't drop my personal info onto the soft-low.net website, and I wouldn't recommend anyone trying soft-low.net for purchasing software.
The soft-low.net website doesn't have a valid certificate for its checkout, so I wouldn't use this company -- however, if I need some software, I wouldn't hesitate to save some money and use an older, legit version from a reputable OEM download website (unless "reputable oem-download-site" is an oxymoron).
www.vegasEVENTvideo.com
TJ McCormick
Z1U Owner-Operator
Vegas Event Video Productions
Re: vegas pro 8 by John Rofrano on Jan 28, 2009 at 3:14:08 am
> ...but why wouldn't Adobe give people a taste of CS3, make a little back-end coin, and get them interested in CS4?
This site is selling CS4! No incentive at all for Adobe to give away their flagship product.
> I have to assume that Microsoft, Adobe, and all the other software companies would have nuked this or any other OEM download website had it been trying to sell pirate software.
Not if they operate from a country that will not extradite them. They can operate with impunity because US laws don't apply.
Re: vegas pro 8 by TJ McCormick on Jan 28, 2009 at 4:24:57 am
ok, i stand corrected. it did sound like a good deal, but it's grey, or black, and after looking at the guidelines, I don't want anything to do with this OEM thing.
Re: vegas pro 8 by John Rofrano on Jan 28, 2009 at 12:44:55 pm
> thanks for the discussion, TJ
Yes, it was an excellent discussion and hopefully it will save someone from getting ripped off by these people since some of the prices are not cheap.
If you want inexpensive software that's a release behind, do what I do... get on eBay and find someone who is selling an old copy. There is a lot of pirated software on eBay as well so you need to be careful, but I picked up an old copy of the Adobe Video Suite unregistered for $300. All I wanted was Photoshop CS2 and After Effects 6.5 so I was very happy to pick them both up for only $300. I registered them with Adobe, got software updates, and qualified for discounts on future versions. That's also how I bought my first copy of ACID Pro 4.0 for $50. eBay baby! ;-)
