I have to ask. If on Cyber Friday you can get 50% off, why does everyone not wait?
You seriously want this forum to debate economic theory?
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I saw it as pragmatic. Itād be quite something to describe that as a debate on economic theory.
I suppose some will wait, and others will be willing to pay to have the latest version sooner. I believe the pricing policies are set rather higher up within Steinberg, so there is little use in questioning them here.
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I wasnāt really questioning people who work at Steinberg but people on this forum.
Not everyone can afford to wait. They have work that needs to be done now.
People also have āvariable cashflowā. They might have the money now, but not in November. Companies have budgets, which have to be spent within their accounting year. Schools do their software purchasing before the academic year starts.
In short: their needs or finances donāt align with that time of year.
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I can only answer from my point of view: I always jump on day 1 on any update/upgrade for Dorico Pro, because I use it almost every day and each time there are really nice new features to discoverā¦ But I waited for the sale on the Dorico for iPad forever thing, because, having paid for one year, I found I wasnāt using that one so much, and I could wait for an opportunity to get it at a lower price.
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A fair point. I guess the schools get an academic discount anyway.
Scholarship/Grant funds must be spent prior to their arbitrary expiration deadline, otherwise the funds vanish as āunusedā.
For Cubase I will wait for a discount (use it for simple tasks) but Dorico Iāll update from day 1: the new features are always worth it for me
Furthermore, Dorico is not always included in the Cyber Weeks promotion; in fact, last year was the first time Dorico had ever been offered at a 50% discount, and we donāt anticipate that Dorico will be included in whatever promotion we run around the time of Cyber Weeks in 2023.
Steinberg doesnāt discount its products as regularly as some other companies in the industry, and we do try to avoid becoming really predictable about which products will be discounted at which points in the year, because that could certainly lead users to wait rather than to purchase when something is new. None of our products is on such a regular release cadence that it will make sense to include it in a promotion timed to a particular point in the year.
If I choose to buy it I can wait until 2024, 2025 if thatās when itās discounted. Itād be crazy to pay full price on the assumption that some point (however distant) it would be half price.
āOpportunity Costā
Q.E.D.
Cool, letās discuss the economic theories of Friedrich von Wieser. You can start.
Given that you are not entirely happy with Doricoā¦
ā¦and that you can wait until 2024, 2025 I must agree that youād be crazy to pay full price now.
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Then you can well see how I would be in a position to wait.
I donāt have that much self control.
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With the crossgrade/educational/occasional sale discounts offered (as well as free or low-cost/limited versions of Dorico), there are opportunities to purchase Dorico at less than full price. With so many users touting the advantages of Dorico (many coming as decades-long users of Finale or Sibelius or other programs ā including Musescore), they have learned that the cost of the program (both financial and investment in learning-curve) has vastly improved notational output in their work (myself included). Time is money. If I need to invest $$$ considerably in something that will make me more efficient in what I do, so be it. Itās a tool of my trade.
If you only need it once a month for a little project, there are other [cheaper] options. If you want to get professional results and your time is valuable, the cost of the software is reasonable (especially the future updates).
What exactly are your needs for notation software?
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In the short term I have a project. Iām off on a three month road trip around America and I fancied doing a series of one minute videos, and wanted to score some music so sit under the small films. Musecore would probably be good enough but if Dorico had sounded really good Iād have moved to it (but the time taken to invest in learning a new product - because itās so very very different means Iāll probably stick with Musecore).
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With any new scoring software, if time is of the essence, you are probably better sticking with what you know. It sounds like you have definite ideas for your project, and getting things done is (often) in contrast to learning a different model and procedures. I recall the advice from Sibelius (the program, not the composer!) to not upgrade whilst in the middle of a project - even upgrading in the same environment could cause a lot of headaches; switching programs entirely would seem to exacerbate those concerns.
When you have the time and inclination, you can take the plunge. It took me a little while to leave Sibelius (it was what we also used at my university, so keeping my hand and head in made sense). Since then, however, I have been very pleased with Dorico. Perhaps not the easiest to get under the fingers, but the output is far superior to anything I did in Sibelius, or Finale, before that.
Enjoy that road trip!
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