Customer Reviews

Adobe CS5.5 Production Premium Student and Teacher Edition

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Gotta hand it to Adobe for giving such a generous discount to students compared to Apple. Everything works just like it would with the normal retail copy. My only complaint is you have to wait a day or two for Adobe to approve your student status. They have you send them a photo/scan of your ID, transcript, etc to show you are in fact a student or whatever.

Oh and I don't know if it's a new thing since the last reviewer bought CS5.5, but when Adobe emailed me my serial number they also included a 32bit CS4 serial and a serial for Color Finesse 3.

(Updated 8/11/11)

If you use a 32bit version of Windows you probably already know that Premiere Pro and After Effects 5.5 are 64bit only apps. You cannot install them on a 32bit system. Adobe actually HAD everyones best interest at heart when they decided to include 32bit CS4 versions of those programs on disk 4, with their compliments. Too bad they didn't explain this fact to tech support or the people over at Identit-E who issue the serial numbers for this edition.

Since this edition doesn't come with a serial number in the box you must visit a website which you upload the required documents and wait for them to email you a serial number. Surprisingly they sent a serial number in less than 2 days. Not bad!

CS5.5 loaded just like it said it would, skipping the 64bit apps since it's installing on a 32bit system. No problem. Entered the serial number, no problem, and it installed reporting a couple errors probably related to the missing 64bit apps. But everything "seems" to run ok so far for the CS5.5 even with the errors reported.

Onto loading Disk 4 and all the CS4 related programs. The installer checks the system and then presents a screen to input the serial number. Type it in... NOT VALID. Try again, NOT VALID... red X. But it will allow it to be installed as a trial for 30 days, so I figure I may as well see if there are any other issues before contacting Adobe support. And there were some issues and I resolved them with a lot of Internet searching. Adobe support is almost useless for troubleshooting because of the language/accent barrier. Each tech is harder to understand than the previous one. Every one I had the pleasure of repeating myself to was based in India. Great people... lousy English accent. -EXTREMELY- polite.

Sit back, it gets better.... Adobe standard tech support doesn't know how to solve this problem. Another company handles the licensing and they have no phone support, just email. The first line of Adobe techs don't even know about the CS4 software included or why people keep asking for a serial number for CS4 when they bought CS5.5. They are completely clueless of the issue or flat out lying about it. I actually commented to a tech that since I can read all about this EXACT issue online, it MUST be a known issue at Adobe... which means Adobe must be paying HUGE dividends to their Indian support staff for a problem that should have been identified and solved with the very first customer. The tech responded very politely, "I'm sorry, I can't make a comment about that". No kidding, his job depends on Adobes mistakes.

Adobe support insist it's a licensing issue and I need to deal with Identit-E (the company who issues the licenses) but they only have email, NO PHONES. Day after day each claims it's the others responsibility to support the issue. Finally, Identit-E had enough emails from me so they sent one last one saying there is nothing they can do and any future support emails would not be answered!

So it's back to Adobe support, again, starting from the beginning because each time they close your case saying it was resolved. I freaked out on the tech and told him don't dare tell me to email Identit-E because they aren't dealing with it and I demanded he escalate my case. In shock, he did escalate it but I honestly didn't think I'd ever hear back. Amazingly, after about 2 days, an Adobe tech DID call me back while I was at work. He begrudgingly issued me a new serial number to use with CS4! But when I got home, it didn't work!!

Back to the support page, I attached a snapshot of my screen rejecting the serial number and waited. Again a tech called about a day later and issued me ANOTHER serial. Got home, tried it, no dice. Again, I attached a snapshot of the failed activation.

Then it gets REALLY interesting. The next day, while waiting for a solution, I fire up my "trial" of Premiere, which was supposed to have 25 days remaining... And it says "TRIAL EXPIRED". I can't open ANY CS4 app!

Here we go again. While I was in my Adobe support page firing off a volley of rants, I noticed in my list of licenses it had one for CS5.5 Prod Prem (the one that works), one for Premiere 4.0, and one for After Effects 9.0. I thought it was odd neither of the last two said something like CS4 Prod Prem (because it IS a suite, not as if I bought separate programs). So I emailed them to PLEASE ask somebody just a little higher up the tech chain to see if I shouldn't have received ONE serial number to work with CS4 Prod Prem, not 2 numbers for stand alone apps.

Well, today the tech called me and said he DID ask someone higher up and they DID give him ONE number to use for the CS4 suite. I got home, plugged it in, and OMG!... IT'S ALIVE!

But before I hit enter, before actually activating it, I wanted to completely uninstall it with their tool and start from scratch (apparently not everything is included in a trial, like third party encoder licensing etc). After re-installing CS4 the number worked but it installed with a few errors which are documented so I still need to solve those issues but the programs run and are activated (at least for now). I think Adobe purposely sets the trial software to expire if you try too many numbers, so I'm crossing my fingers it's a done deal. I have no idea if I can still install it on a second system as promised in their licensing rules. Just remember, if you're going to uninstall, first de-activate the software and it will notify Adobe you want to make that license available again. If you forget or your drive crashes, that license is GONE... Forever. Good luck convincing them the software was destroyed.

So that's my tale spanning more than a week just to install one of the longest running suite of apps available from a company whose been around long enough to know better. Long hours on the phone, countless emails, and general dissatisfaction with the ENTIRE process. My only hope is that when I finally make the move to a 64bit OS, this software might finally seem worth the effort. As of now, I'd rather have my money back.

Please, if you plan on installing the 32bit software, do yourself a HUGE favor. Ask the very first tech if he knows what's included on the 4th disk. If he isn't aware it includes CS4 software, DEMAND he escalate your case immediately. Or bite the bullet and buy the retail version because both serial numbers are IN the box, ready to go. There's no telling when Identit-E will start sending both serial numbers because they don't even want to acknowledge there's an issue or have any interest in solving it with one phone call to Adobe. Great business model guys!

Thanks for the great service and for providing me with a superior product. I am impressed that at a busy time of year service remained out standing, thanks again, peace

The Adobe CS5.5 Production Premium Student Edition arrived quickly and was exactly what we expected - No Surprises! This is exactly why I always order from Amazon! Thanx!