In a recent survey of Pro Tools users requested by members of the Pro Tools community, of over 1500 respondents around half of those who completed the poll have said they will not be upgrading their Pro Tools software beyond the latest version Pro Tools 11. The final result was;

• Those who intend to keep on upgrading Pro Tools beyond Pro Tools 11 - 51.35%
• Those who intend to stop upgrading Pro Tools after Pro Tools 11 - 48.65%

The results of this poll and many comments from the community highlight several reasons for Pro Tools users not wishing to continue to upgrade their systems, they include;

• Confusion over the recently announced Pro Tools support plans.
• Concern over the ongoing cost of Pro Tools upgrades.
• Concerns over the development of the Pro Tools software application, which still contains critical workflow bugs and lacks the features of many other competitor DAWs.
• Concern over what many seem to be Avid’s general direction in terms of meeting user needs.

Pro Tools is ubiquitous within the professional recording world as the DAW of choice and has held that position for over two decades, and it is unlikely to fall from that position soon.

However what is apparent is that even if Pro Tools users continue to stick with their beloved Pro Tools, their investment in future Pro Tools versions may decline significantly. We estimate that even if a Pro Tools user stopped upgrading now they could easily get another 5 years use out of the current version of Pro Tools.

Why Discount A Successful Product?

One can only guess why Avid felt the need to start discounting Pro Tools 11. In terms of features and power it’s the best version of Pro Tools yet. To be discounting an award winning flagship product seems odd, it’s not normally necessary when sales are buoyant and user trust is high in a brand.

The idea of Pro Tools not being the industry standard seems unthinkable to many of us, but brands can invent a product, own the market for a long time, and then circumstances change quicker than you would expect and they can be ousted off their throne. If you have any doubt about that theory then perhaps consider the demise of Nokia, Hoover no longer being the number one in vacuum cleaners, or IBM beig the king of computers.

We will be discussing this in detail on this week’s Pro Tools Expert podcast, tune in for our thoughts.

We would also love to hear your thoughts too, so please let us have them through the comments below.