As
the product manager for Media Composer, I wanted to take a minute to share some
thoughts on version 5 that just began shipping yesterday. We’re really
excited about this version, and personally, I’m really proud of the steps our
team has taken to incorporate new features that so many users have
requested. Some customers, however, have raised a concern around a change
we made to the availability of ScriptSync – which lets users phonetically index
text and dialog and then "sync" source clips automatically with an
actual script. (To learn more about script-based editing, check out ScriptSync.)
The
specific change I’m talking about is that we previously offered ScriptSync as a
standard feature in Media Composer, but now we’re it is a purchasable option.
Wait. What?! Now I have to purchase something that you used to get for
free?! Not exactly, but that’s a topic that many of you are talking
about. It’s no surprise that this change is difficult for some customers,
especially because it feels like people who were using ScriptSync for free now
have to pay for it – but that’s not exactly how it will work, and so I want to
provide some additional context behind the change.
In
addition to our patented ScriptSync technology, part of what ScriptSync offers
is amazing functionality that comes from a great company. Nexidia makes audio
and video analytics software. Nexidia has been increasingly successful in
recent years, blazing new trails with their patented technology in the area of
phonetics and speech analytics.
As
our original licensing deal with Nexidia was due to expire, we set out to work
with them on new terms that would allow both companies to capitalize on the
success of ScriptSync and give both incentive to continue improving and
expanding on the product. Although Avid explored other technologies, the fact is
that Nexidia has the best capabilities in the market and changing this would have
resulted in us relying on different technology that might have weakened the
capability of ScriptSync. That’s not an option. Our users have come to
expect the quality and richness of ScriptSync.
So
what licensing options did we consider? We took a look at our customer base and
recognized that a large percentage of Media Composer users don’t actually use
ScriptSync in their daily work. This certainly doesn’t make ScriptSync
any less important or less valuable for customers who DO use it regularly
(believe me… we know how it can save you countless hours on a project!), but it
was an important point for us to factor in to how we might address the new
license deal. More specifically, it helped us to understand that a
blanket cost increase for every customer – and every potential new customer –
would be unfair, since the majority of people using Media Composer aren’t
actively working with ScriptSync. On the other hand, we also knew that we
needed to keep current customers “whole” – meaning that anyone actively using
ScriptSync today wouldn’t experience a cost increase.
We designed a program that would minimize the impact to
current ScriptSync users while allowing us to offer it as an option for
purchase to the larger Media Composer population. There is no cost increase for
those already using ScriptSync. Price increases are a bummer – and it’s difficult
to figure out how to navigate them in a way that will be a win-win for
everyone. I hope this additional context gives you a sense as to why a change
needed to take place, and how we worked to implement it in a way that that
would cause the least impact to most of our customers. And although I
can’t share details yet, we are working on enhancing ScriptSync in future
releases (based on your feedback) which we are confident will further increase
the value of ScriptSync to you over time.