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Adobe has released Lightroom 4 (no second beta) - http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-lightroom.html

Apparently featurewise it's the same as the beta but with speed improvements and also (in the US at least) has a 50% price drop.

DPreview have a review up: http://www.dpreview.com/articles/748116 ... m-4-review

I've been using it almost exclusively over the last month. Today I had a need to go back to LR3 for an old photo & I have to say it was painful. I will be upgrading real soon now.

pffft, still does not allow image preview of the nef jpeg file as a option

I do like the soft proofing option, is that new or has it been there all the time?

That's a new feature.
The gamut warning for soft proofing is pretty cool too.
Other features I like are highlight and shadow recovery, local WB adjustment and map feature.

BASTARDS!!

The US upgrade price is $79 for a download.

The Australian price is $122.38 for a download. That's almost $130 US! A 65% markup!

Do we have dearer interweb here? I think not!

It also appears that you cannot order via the US as it is address specific.

I just had an interesting on-line chat with two of Adobe's finest in the US.

It appears that we have to pay such a ridiculously high price "because of our import duties and our IT regulations". Crap! The pricing is down to Adobe.

When told that the only applicable "import duty" would be our GST, which is waived for purchases under $1k anyway, they could only revert to "US pricing is applicable only to US address and US credit card".

I may revert to myus.com or a similar on-line service and buy the physical disk to be sent to me via their US address.

the foto fanatic wrote:BASTARDS!!

The US upgrade price is $79 for a download.

The Australian price is $122.38 for a download. That's almost $130 US! A 65% markup!

Do we have dearer interweb here? I think not!

It also appears that you cannot order via the US as it is address specific.

No, it's $98.75 for a download (as opposed to CDs). Still more but not quite as much. Mind you, the $US79 price appears to be for CDs. You can order CDs from B&H I think (though probably not from Adobe US) but with postage that's still more expensive than a download.

Murray
It may have changed now, but:

Murray
Sorry - I see your point now. Yes, the download price on the Aussie site is $98.75.

Interesting, though - in the US the download price is the same as the price for CDs (including free shipping in US). So if you want the CDs, it's cheaper to get it from B&H, at about $A105 (depending on conversion).

Murray Foote wrote:Interesting, though - in the US the download price is the same as the price for CDs (including free shipping in US). So if you want the CDs, it's cheaper to get it from B&H, at about $A105 (depending on conversion).

Adobe Australia also screwed us on the LR3 upgrade. I looked into to getting the CDs from B&H but they would not sell to an address outside the US.

I have decided to use http://www.priceusa.com.au/ for my purchase. In the end it might save me $10 but I'll be stuffed if I'm going to lie down and let Adobe screw me.

ATJ wrote:

Murray Foote wrote:Interesting, though - in the US the download price is the same as the price for CDs (including free shipping in US). So if you want the CDs, it's cheaper to get it from B&H, at about $A105 (depending on conversion).

Adobe Australia also screwed us on the LR3 upgrade. I looked into to getting the CDs from B&H but they would not sell to an address outside the US.

Well maybe it's still the case but it looks perhaps possible. You can't actually order one yet but you can put one in your cart and specify freight to Australia.

Lightroom 4 has its own Facebook page at
http://www.facebook.com/lightroom

I have already lodged a protest there about the price in Oz.

Anyone care to follow suit?

Edit: it only took them about 60 seconds to remove my post! Who's next?

If anybody else does make a post (or Trevor, if you want to make another one) please take a screen shot of it, and then please take a second screenshot once the post has been removed.

I will have words with Abobe's local people about this, once I have something to raise with them.

Here you are Gary - this was the post I put up last night that Adobe has deleted from their Lightrooom FB page:

And, while we are at it - here's my post on dpreview. I'm quite the activist about this issue!

I have also written to Fairfax press on the issue, in the hope that their photography journo Terry Lane, or maybe one of their tech journos, might write a piece about Adobe gouging their Aussie customers.

This is the text of the email I sent:

Technology - Adobe Lightroom 4

Adobe Lightroom 4 has just been released in the last day or so.

International pricing has become an issue. For example, to upgrade from Version 3 to Version 4 (via internet download) costs US$79 for residents in the States.
Here in Australia, the same download, presumably from the same servers, costs AU$98.75 - the equivalent of US$104.50. This is a 32% increase for the same service! Pricing for the full product can be seen at the Adobe Lightroom web site.

Could one of your tech journalists or perhaps Terry Lane do a piece on this gouging?

Aussie photographers are being kicked in the guts. Adobe deserves at least a blast from the press. PS - I am going to buy my upgrade from the US using one of those US postal service sites. It will only save me about $10, but it is better than being raped by Adobe!

Thanks for listening
Trevor

Thanks, Trevor.

You forgot to mention in your DPR response that there are no "IT regulations" that would or could apply to this sort of transaction.

gstark wrote:Thanks, Trevor.

You forgot to mention in your DPR response that there are no "IT regulations" that would or could apply to this sort of transaction.

Yes - I realised that after the edit button disappeared!

Odd that they deleted Trevor's posts when there are other posts there complaining about it costing more in Australia.

Also interesting that Adobe hasn't replied to any of the (many) posts about it on their facebook page.

ATJ wrote:Odd that they deleted Trevor's posts when there are other posts there complaining about it costing more in Australia.

I posted directly on their Wall, the front page, which makes it a larger and more visible entity.

The other posts are contained within a thread and therefore not on the front page.

Feel your pain on the pricing front! Bad practice!!

It sucks I agree, but I've paid their "I live in Australia tax" anyway.

Interestingly it's come up on my credit card now and there's an extra "I live in Australia" tax I may need to dispute with my bank

I think you will find that $1 transaction is an authorisation only to check that there is actually a valid CC entered. It will probably drop off after a few days without actually hitting your account.

Bah! they won't even take my "I live in Australia Tax".

I started at the US website as that is where the link took me.
It let me order. You beauty. Nope got to checkout & it told me my ID is registered in "AW" OK so after bouncing around for a while I found the Australian sub-site & tried again, opting, reluctantly, for the Australia Tax (This is NOT GST BTW as they specifically say exc GST). I get to checkout. This time they tell me my ID is registered for Aruba WTF!!!!
OK I try Brazil as the only online presence in South America. My Portuguese is not good, but apparently you can't order from there either if you are registered in Aruba.

Currently on hold at their Australian 1800 number. Have been for the last xxx hours. PS Brazilians do NOT pay the equivalent of the Australia Tax.
I'd laugh it was happening to someone else. Instead

Aruba's part of the Netherlands so perhaps you could try the Dutch site and see what that would cost you.

Are you sure though that you're not actually living in the Caribbean just north of South America and that Wentworth Falls is not part of Aruba?

Even Apple aren't this bad.

Murray Foote wrote:Are you sure though that you're not actually living in the Caribbean just north of South America and that Wentworth Falls is not part of Aruba?

Wentworth Falls:

What do you think?

Murray Foote wrote:Aruba's part of the Netherlands

I wish you had pointed this out earlier. It would have been worth a try. Actually, I might still. I don't think they have changed the country yet.

After 47 minutes, plus hold time, to Adobe's help desk (Mumbai), they admitted they cannot change the country either. They are escalating the issue and will get back to me in "a few days"

Mr Darcy wrote:Actually, I might still. I don't think they have changed the country yet.

Adobe Nederlands wrote:The account using gregk@xxxxxxx.com.au was registered for Aruba. Please sign in using an existing account for this country, or create a new account.

Ah well worth a try.

Mr Darcy wrote:

Mr Darcy wrote:Actually, I might still. I don't think they have changed the country yet.

Adobe Nederlands wrote:The account using gregk@xxxxxxx.com.au was registered for Aruba. Please sign in using an existing account for this country, or create a new account.

Ah well worth a try.

hell yeah u pull r parts is the shit!! they have 3 s13's and 1 s14 last time i was there .... like last week i think

Managed to get the full download version from Amazon yesterday for $87.87AUD. Pretty happy with that price!

Wink wrote:Managed to get the full download version from Amazon yesterday for $87.87AUD. Pretty happy with that price!

how did you manage this given its the US version ?

Paid the $8.50 to sign up to ShipItTo.com and used their address.

That $8.50 is included in the above price btw.

Didn't even download the program as I already have it. Just needed the serial number.

That's a good idea for downloads. Hardly any waiting time, I would imagine.

It said downloads were subject to an extra verification check, but it was complete in a few minutes. I just copied the serial number off Amazon, pasted it into LR and completed the registration.

your next beer is on me.

No worries. I see it's back up to $99.99. Not sure how that fairs when compared to local prices.

Wink wrote:No worries. I see it's back up to $99.99. Not sure how that fairs when compared to local prices.

i judt got it for $79

Nice!

Must of just made it !

Adam, did you buy a full downloadable version of LR4 or just the upgrade? I can't seem to find the upgrade available as a download.

I bought the full version.

I got the full version.

And the Adobe CEO answers questions about pricing (not)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... 8yigV0GYGQ

photohiker wrote:And the Adobe CEO answers questions about pricing (not)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... 8yigV0GYGQ

Well that was a waste of time....I just wanted to go up to him and rearrange the smug bastards face.....let the media rip into him!!

The answer to the question to "how can you justify
the huge difference in price for Australians when you
download the same sotware over the Internet"?

It's simply "we don't have to. We set the prices we
want because we can and know you are still going
to buy our software. If you Australians went in
mass and bought our competitors' software instead,
we would consider this issue seriously. Now, go
to your creative cloud!".

Or we buy it OS and no one is Australia gets any money at all.

Correct.