No thanks, Adobe

I opened up Photoshop today, and was greeted by this about my Adobe Photography (20GB) plan¹:

That sounds alarming. The ‘Learn more’ button goes to a page with slightly more detail [archived version].

I had to re-read everything twice to fully understand what exactly it’s saying. It’s either all badly written, or someone’s deliberately decided not to say explicitly anywhere that subscriptions will continue as they are until their current expiry date (which in my case, is in 2028!)

(To summarise the situation, Adobe had a subscription package called the ‘Photography (20GB) plan’. You can no longer buy that specific package as a new customer, and if an existing subscription to it lapses it cannot be reinstated.)

My Photography (20GB) subscription was started and maintained only by purchasing prepaid one-year codes from Amazon, when there was a deal on. I paid £62.99 for the last prepaid code I bought, and the few before that were £46.72 each.

So what are my options? I can pay Adobe directly £119.09 a year (which may increase by 2028!) to stay on my current plan. Or, I can switch to one of the plans that isn’t being axed. My current plan includes Lightroom and Photoshop (and 20GB of photo storage that I don’t use).

The closest remaining plans are Lightroom (1TB) and Photography (1TB). The former plan has Lightroom only, while the latter plan has Lightroom and Photoshop. Currently, Amazon has deals on one-year prepaid codes for both of those plans. The deal price is £84.99 for the Lightroom (1TB) plan, and £173.99 for the Photography (1TB) plan. (The direct Adobe prices are £119.21 and £238.42 a year, respectively.)

Even with the discount, neither option is particularly attractive. I don’t actually need, and it doesn’t make sense, to do anything until 2028 (when my current subscription expires). One assumes the situation will be worse then, though.