Has anyone tried buying the cheaper "academic license" version of any kind of software? This company lists Lightroom for $99:

http://www.journeyed.com/itemDetail.asp?ItmNo=20061036

I've read through the site pretty thoroughly, and it sure seems like, as long you're in school or you have a kid in school - you qualify for buying a lot of titles for pretty cheap.

Is this for real?

I bought a license of photoshop through them. I think I had to send them a copy of my student ID and it took maybe four days for photoshop to come in the mail. But then I figured out where they sold this at my university and went there and bought lightroom and creative suite for my mac for something like 400 bucks total I love school

Anywayz, I don't know anything about your kid being in school stuff My mom always got a discount because she's an educator and my only child will still be kicking the crap out of my insides for about two more months...

I use to order from them when I was in college. From what I remember, their phone service was good, but their e-mail responses weren't so great. If you aren't sure you qualify, give them a call. It's worth a shot for the academic prices.

There's also a website called academicsuperstore.com. I haven't ordered from there yet but I've heard they're good. If you have academic software doesn't that mean you aren't supposed to make money off of the stuff you produce?

Lynn's cousin works there. Or at least he used to. It's a good place. But check the license carefully. When I bought software from them, the Adobe stuff was OK to upgrade and eventually use professionally. QuarkXPress could only be used as a student and you couldn't upgrade it. Licenses change so, like I said, read it carefully.

Yes Matt, those are real and legit, the "educational" versions of the software are exactly the same as the commercial versions, but read the licensing requirements carefully.

The only difference is that they don't sell upgrade versions. For example, you can't upgrade from CS2 education to CS3 full version. You have to buy the next education version.

I hope that makes sense

I bought my copy of LR (and other titles) through them for $99 (have two kids in elementary). I just emailed them a copy of a letter from the school office that states that they are currently enrolled. Very painless process.

Usually the price is so good, it is cheaper to buy the next version than to retail upgrade...so no problem there.

Nothing like saving a few bucks.

I did....

I have bought from accidemic super store, photoshop and lightroom.

I don't know this for sure, but I also have heard that you can't use it for commercial purposes. But I don't know how they keep track of that. I guess it's the honor system, but I try to follow that most of the time so I haven't purchased the academic version.

That's incorrect...

Better yet, when you upgrade, it isn't just an educational license for the new software, it's a full license.

And yeah, as everyone else has said... make sure and read the EULA carefully and make sure you understand what you LEGALLY can and can't do with the software.

You're right.

http://www.adobe.com/go/kb402371

I found this on the adobe UK site - odd, that's for sure. So you can buy educational version for commercial use?? Or maybe only in the UK?

http://www.adobe.com/uk/education/purchasing/faq.html


Professional/commercial use
Student question
"I'm very interested in buying the Education version of Adobe Creative Suite, but first I want to know if the software can be used to produce work for paying customers once I am working in the industry, or do I have to buy a different version of Creative Suite once I'm working in the industry?”

Answer
Good news! You can use Adobe Education software (any title!) to produce commercial/professional paid-for work when you leave school, or even while you are in school. In this regard, Adobe does not limit how student software is used. So students can use it to learn and to make money!

(Of course, students must agree to the terms of the End User Licensing Agreement — which appears during installation — just as every software customer must do.)

what do kids in elementary school need lightroom for?

I dunno. To give to their Dad to use.

So when they grow up they'll have some awesome digitally edited images of their childhood courtesy of their parents?

Yeah, that too!

It also works if you are an employee of a university

As I remember when I bought Photoshop 2.5 (ca. 1994) from JourneyEd, Adobe's licenses were very liberal. The EULA basically said you could use the software for anything at all, for-profit included.

Other brands were much, much more limiting. Like, you can't use it for profit, can't upgrade (unless you're still a student), and other stuff. That's the reason I bought a full version of QuarkXPress. And it was very expensive. I think the most expensive piece of software I've ever bought.

I am adjunct faculty at a Community College and got both lightroom and CS3 on Academic Superstore. Great store! I recommend it highly. Do read the license, but you can produce things for your own use and sale as well as for school.

This may have been covered, but you can order these products through Adobe's site as well. I did this when I purchased LR.

With Academic Superstore, I found since my school wasn't associated with a particular license, I couldn't purchase CS3.

I have used them. Great service. Not everything there required an ID, but certainly the software does, if you want the good prices.

Well worth it.

Follow-up: it worked! I sent them a photocopy of my daughter's school ID card (she's going into 8th grade in the fall), and they sent us a copy of Lightroom for $99. What a deal! It doesn't appear to be limited in any way, fully licensed.