I'm sick of dealing with Adobe

[stratokaster]

Do you have a PayPal account? Adobe accepts PayPal, so you should use this to pay as there is no expriration date. When you move the next time there will be no issue, you just need to update PayPal on the move, not Adobe.

Yes, I tried it and they block my PayPal payments because my PayPal region (Ireland) doesn't match my Adobe account region (Turkey & CIS)

 

[threeOh]

Exact same thing happened twice so far this year. Credit card replaced due to unauthorized usage twice (sorta normal these days), change using Adobe's ”systems”, change not recognized by Adobe billing, at least 4 hours on chat with people totally incapable of blowing their nose let alone dealing with an internal systems issue.

I finally kept updating my payment info until the payment went through. Resorted to that both times and it seems to work. No doubt my credit card info will again be skimmed in the near future (likely already has) and hopefully my approach will again work.

Since the 1980‘s I’ve had zero use for this company. Unfortunately, any alternatives are not competitive.

 

[Petrochemist]

Eh? It's not a case of Apple restricting anything, it's the case of other software companies neglecting to write iPad apps.

You mean like their latest macbook not having any USB ports, always using propritery power supplies... They restrict hardware choices & have a different OS that needs companies to right specifically for it, effectively restricting software too.

 

[stratokaster]

You mean like their latest macbook not having any USB ports, always using propritery power supplies... They restrict hardware choices & have a different OS that needs companies to right specifically for it, effectively restricting software too.

Well, I happen to have one of their latest MacBooks and it definitely has USB ports (four of them to be precise), it also uses an industry standard USB-C power supply. It can also run pretty much all photo editing applications I’m aware of including some that are not available on Windows. So I think your post is a bit poorly informed

I just prefer to use my iPad on the road because it’s small, light, extremely fast and has an amazing battery life.

 

[ralf-11]

Eh? It's not a case of Apple restricting anything, it's the case of other software companies neglecting to write iPad apps.

It's a case of Apple restricting their OS, making it hard to write new apps all the time

Adobe sucks worse than any other company BTW

 

[Pecos]

Basically, the thread title says it all. I've been a paying customer for more than 10 years, purchasing several major versions of Lightroom and then switching to Adobe's subscription plan. However, when I subscribed, I was living in Ukraine and used my Ukrainian credit card to pay for subscription.

This card expired last month. I wanted to update my payment details to use my current MasterCard issues by my Irish bank, but I was unable to do this. The support (which is horrible by the way: I had to wait for a long time before finally reaching a competent person) came up with a great solution: create a new account (using a different email address) and sync all photos anew. I will have to download all my photos from the cloud using the Lightroom Downloader app, and then sync it all again with my new account.

Its a great plan of course, and the downloader app does download XMP sidecars along with RAWs. However, it doesn't preserve metadata or albums. I'm not looking forward to recreating my albums and adding keywords to thousands of photos again.

Wow, that is pitiful.
I am definitely a hobbyist only, and have been considering whether to finally go the subscription model or look for an LR alternative. Still using the desktop version - lots of albums, keywords, and edits. Feel like I'm over a barrel. Very irksome.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

Do they accept Apple Pay? Not sure if that will get you any further.

There are certainly some flaws in subscription services. The only one I have is the 99 cent iCloud tier. I do like Apple’s vertical integration on services, especially for photo sync and share, but there is always a cost. Right now, I have an iPhone, a Windows PC, and edit in Darktable.

If there is one positive for iPad with iOS/iPadOS 13, it’s that they now support external drive access. It does give you some flexibility to store outside of iCloud and even off your internal storage. For a while, I used a 12.9” iPad Pro for all photo tasks, where I imported to Photos, edited in Affinity, and re-saved edited jpgs to Photos. I worked with RAW files, so the key was to get those backed up to another source and offloaded. The big downside there was not keeping my RAW edits archived. I just relied on the JPG in Photos. Honestly through, I rarely go back to re-edit older photos anyway. There aren’t a lot of good options to keep edits AND cloudsync, but Photos does okay if you don’t demand too much. At least Apple keeps adding to its capabilities since Aperture is dead.

 

[Glevum Owl]

I'm still kind of hopeful of Affinity, because their Photoshop replacement is really good. I am paying for Photoshop in the bundle, but only use Affinity. But I've not heard much about a LR Replacement coming from them in a long time....

I'm a long time Serif user from back in the pre-Affinity days and was a Designer and Photo beta tester. I've always found them to be a fairly open and honest company.

The question of an LR rival was raised by many users, myself included, two or three years ago in the Affinity forum. I can't find the post but I recall Serif responded with a guarded reply indicating that there would be a Serif DAM product sometime in the future but they couldn't say when as, at that time, they were busy developing Publisher.

As I see it, the problem for Serif is twofold;

1. They'll need to work to a new paradigm. All three current Affinity products create and process single files contained within the program. A DAM deals with many files collectively via a database kept separately from the program. Different beast altogether requiring a different approach and, possibly, different development tools. It'll not be cheap, quick or easy for them to produce.

2. There is nothing out there currently to match Lightroom's combined DAM and processing capabilities. Each October, when my Adobe CC subscription approaches renewal, I download, install and use trial versions of LR's rivals.
I like DxO for processing my collection of images shot on a variety of cameras but it lacks DAM functionality. So despite LR's bugs and the subscription model, I'm stuck with Adobe.

My hope is that Serif will, in the next two years, come up with a DAM that takes on LR, feature for feature (including geotagging), and plays nicely with Affinity Photo for PP. Then it's "bye bye, Adobe" time.

 

[Repp]

My biggest 2 problems with LR mobile where its inability to sync keywords with Classic and the slow file transfer speeds over CC to desktop. If adobe fixed those 2 things I’d consider sticking with it, but they wont allow for wired file transfer, lack the ability to fix keyword support, and refusal to allow customers to use their own cloud system is just plain dumb.

I also don't use PS at all, and generally prefer to edit in Luminar and Affinity Photo. In the end i was just using LR CLasic to work as my DAM (which you can still use it as without a subscription) and LR Mobile for quick edits on the go when I didn’t want to take my laptop.

 

[Generationfourth]

I'm a designer by trade so adobe has become a necessary evil. In all actuality I don't use PS, or AI nearly as much as I did 5+ years ago, and as a contractor I pretty much choose the tools I need. I am a longtime LR user as well, and have been extremely dissatisfied with the performance of all Adobe products. LR is unusable for me on a 4k 27" monitor. PS feels like a dinosaur.

I've been experimenting with the possibility of cutting the cord:

• Capture 1 as a replacement for LR. This blows LR out of the water for me. In terms of performance and color editing. But it's terribly expensive for a hobbyist like myself. I'm on a 30 day demo and unsure of what I'll do. With layers I can do a lot of things that I'd go to PS for.
• Affinity photo: I really only need photoshop to do edits to stock photos so color/saturation, masking, content aware erasing/stretching of canvas. I bought affinity photo and so far I'm fairly happy with it. It's really hard to not get frustrated because I have PS wired but so far I'm impressed.

The things that I do need are After affects (like once a year), type kit is very handy for some of my client work, and adobe acrobat surprisingly gets used once or twice a quarter for signing/sending contracts.

 

[RamblinR]

I love adobe. Apart from using Lightroom and Photoshop I also use Spark and Portfolio.

I pay mine using Paypal so save hassles with credit cards. Maybe this could be an option for you.

 

[Glevum Owl]

In the end i was just using LR CLasic to work as my DAM...

That's all I use it for and I suspect many others are the same.

• Capture 1 as a replacement for LR. This blows LR out of the water for me. In terms of performance and color editing. But it's terribly expensive for a hobbyist like myself.

Agreed. I reckon if Phase One halved their prices they'd eviscerate Adobe's CC customer base though I can't see that happening. I'm still hoping Serif comes through with an LR alternative.

 

[MonikaO]

If a company would treat me like that after being a loyal buyer for 10 years,
I would be out of there lightning fast.
Unless one is a professional I think there are many other wayyyy cheaper and also good options out there.
It all comes down to a choise.

 

[DefectiveMonk]

There is nothing out there currently to match Lightroom's combined DAM and processing capabilities. Each October, when my Adobe CC subscription approaches renewal, I download, install and use trial versions of LR's rivals.

I think Darktable is pretty close. I got tired of paying for LR around the beginning of the year and made the switch. It required that I actually learn some new stuff (which was beneficial) as it holds your hand less but I think the developing tools, with the exception of noise reduction, are actually more powerful. I don't have any complaints from a DAM perspective but my needs are simple.

 

[Petrochemist]

Well, I happen to have one of their latest MacBooks and it definitely has USB ports (four of them to be precise), it also uses an industry standard USB-C power supply. It can also run pretty much all photo editing applications I’m aware of including some that are not available on Windows. So I think your post is a bit poorly informed

I just prefer to use my iPad on the road because it’s small, light, extremely fast and has an amazing battery life.

On the MacBook I'm only repeating what I was told on Monday by a friend using an older MacBook. He said there were just (lightning?) ports available on the new model.
Checking specs it was probably Thunderbolt ports which seem to be USB3 type c - so still needing an adapter for everyday memory sticks/hard drives etc.
The power supplies has been a constant source of issues with my daughters IPhone, no one else's charger works for her & the cables she gets fail regularly.

 

[Hypilein]

USB-C is the new standard. Apple isn't the only company that builds laptops with only USB-C. Already you can easily get memory sticks that have both sides, as well as any other accessories you might need. The transition period between new standards will always be annoying, but complaining about Apple going USB-C all the way to make the transition happen fast, is not really fair.

Not sure what your daughter does with her cable, but I own two cables. One from about 5 years ago and one from about 2,5 years ago. One of them just broke (not sure which one, but I think it was the older one). I think that is pretty good going for a cable that's constantly moved around. Generally, cables last longer when you treat them better. Having two cables, I only use on on the move. The other one usually stays in my bedroom for charging at night. Cables are not expensive.

 

[Bytesmiths]

I will have to download all my photos from the cloud using the Lightroom Downloader app, and then sync it all again with my new account.

Inside every crisis is an opportunity, grasshopper!

It sounds like Adobe is inviting you to explore alternatives. People stick with Adobe because they feel they are locked in, but now, they are telling you that you have to pick the lock in order to continue using them — what a brilliant marketing ploy!

I wish I could give you a solution for your iPad, and I understand why you like it. And even if Apple Photos worked well on both Macintosh and iPad, you'd just be exchanging one Master for another, and you would remain a Slave.

I am willing to endure some pain and discomfort in exchange for not being a Slave. You may have to work out an escape plan. There must be some cloud-based thing you can do with the iPad. There is a thriving world of open-source out there.

I'm increasingly disillusioned with ON1 RAW, and have been looking at digikam and darktable. They both lack in many ways, but at what cost freedom?

Good luck, and keep us posted on your path to freedom!

 

[JensM]

You chose to store your work in someone else's cloud. You have to live with the consequences.

I would consider it insane to store my work in someone else's cloud.

I am at this point.

I may share some stuff in external cloud services, but I do prefer to store stuff myself, even with the hassle of off-site back-up.

 

[Petrochemist]

USB-C is the new standard. Apple isn't the only company that builds laptops with only USB-C. Already you can easily get memory sticks that have both sides, as well as any other accessories you might need. The transition period between new standards will always be annoying, but complaining about Apple going USB-C all the way to make the transition happen fast, is not really fair.

Not sure what your daughter does with her cable, but I own two cables. One from about 5 years ago and one from about 2,5 years ago. One of them just broke (not sure which one, but I think it was the older one). I think that is pretty good going for a cable that's constantly moved around. Generally, cables last longer when you treat them better. Having two cables, I only use on on the move. The other one usually stays in my bedroom for charging at night. Cables are not expensive.

A quick (best match) search for memory sticks on e-bay find around 24 USB-C types in the top 200. So not the new standard yet. Given how common the old style USB is it seems madness to produce a computer that only uses the new version. Having just one of the old & the remainder new is encouraging the new. Not having the old available at the current time is simply ruling your hardware out from my choices - and I'm definitely not the only one! It's not a matter of maintaining support for ancient legacy hardware (like floppy disks, still fitted to desktops years after 99% of people used them) but maintaining compatibility with the bulk of users hardware.

I don't know what she does to her cables either, but they rarely last 6 months.

 

[ex machina]

A quick (best match) search for memory sticks on e-bay find around 24 USB-C types in the top 200. So not the new standard yet. Given how common the old style USB is it seems madness to produce a computer that only uses the new version. Having just one of the old & the remainder new is encouraging the new. Not having the old available at the current time is simply ruling your hardware out from my choices - and I'm definitely not the only one! It's not a matter of maintaining support for ancient legacy hardware (like floppy disks, still fitted to desktops years after 99% of people used them) but maintaining compatibility with the bulk of users hardware.

Ha, ha, that's never stopped Apple. I remember buying the original iMac in '98, it was the first computer to only have USB ports and lacked a floppy drive -- didn't seem to hurt its sales.

BTW, you might earlier have been thinking about the Apple's 2015 12" MacBook that only had a single USB-C port. Now that was bold!