Posted by Walter Rowe on December 7, 2006 at 2:18 PM
Microsoft announced that iView Media Pro will become Microsoft Expression Media in Q2 of 2007. Current IVMP 3.x users will get the upgrade for free. IVMP 2.x users are required to upgrade to 3.x at a 35% discount to get the free upgrade. IVMP 1.x users are required to purchase IVMP 3.x to get the free upgrade.
The retail price for Microsoft Expression Media will be $299. It will be part of Microsoft's Expression Studio, which will retail for $599. IVMP 3.x users can upgrade to the full Microsoft Expression Studio for $349.
The new Expression Media will be available on Windows and Mac OS X. iView Media Pro will continue to be available via the iView web site until Expression Media is released, at which time iView support will be discontinued.
Posted by Martin Beebee on December 7, 2006 at 9:52 PM
And since IVMP is currently $199, it will be a deal to buy now and upgrade for free rather than buying the full thing later.
I was getting ready to buy IVMP when this was announced. Not sure if I want to invest in something now that's going to change soon at the hands of Microsoft. I was hoping Lightroom would have a good DAM, but so far it doesn't have anything useful in that respect. Bummer.
Posted by Walter Rowe on December 8, 2006 at 4:49 PM
I purchased IVMP back in the spring after reading The DAM Book. Since Microsoft not only purchased the product, but hired all of the developers to continue working on it, I hope it continues to improve. It should get better file format support for all of the Microsoft file formats. Since they are committed to continuing support for the Mac platform, I anticipate that they will continue developing for universal file formats that are available on both Mac and Windows platforms.
But I am nervous, like you Martin, until I see the final product. I will feel even better after a couple of releases and I can judge somewhat the direction they are going.
Since reading The DAM Book, I have been thinking seriously about buying iView Media Pro. Walter, thanks for the update. You helped me make the decision to buy now rather than pay $299 later for probably the same capability. (Besides, I realize how badly organized I am after reading the book!)
I just went back to Peter Krogh's website, and for anyone who has not purchased iView Media Pro yet, you can find a link on http://www.thedambook.com/pages/purchase.html that will allow you to purchase version 3 for $169.15 (15% discount). You purchase from the Microsoft site, but if you get there via Peter Krogh, it recognizes the 15% discount.
Now getting organized is even cheaper!
Posted by Walter Rowe on December 11, 2006 at 10:35 AM
Charlie - that is a great find! Thanks for passing that on. The $170 price tag now is definitely an incentive over the $299 price tag later. That is over 40% discount off the forthcoming Microsoft price.
Some discussion on the iView forum regarding the continuing support for Macs:
Why isn’t Expression Media Encoder included with the Mac version of the product?
Quote:
Expression Media Encoder is built using Windows specific technologies, both for its encoding of video, as well as for its rendering of the actual user interface of the product (shared amongst the Expression Studio family of tools). These Windows specific technologies were very important in building the product and a Mac version was simply not feasible.
see the whole thread here: http://forum.iview-multimedia.com/viewtopic.php?t=5909
Posted by Walter Rowe on December 15, 2006 at 3:50 PM
I'm sure I will download the new version when it is available since I get it for free. That doesn't mean I will install and use it. In fact, I am considering StockView from HindSight Ltd, which would be a replacement altogether. I just need to download it and give it a test drive before the end of the year.
Discussion
6 repliesThe retail price for Microsoft Expression Media will be $299. It will be part of Microsoft's Expression Studio, which will retail for $599. IVMP 3.x users can upgrade to the full Microsoft Expression Studio for $349.
The new Expression Media will be available on Windows and Mac OS X. iView Media Pro will continue to be available via the iView web site until Expression Media is released, at which time iView support will be discontinued.
See http://www.iview-multimedia.com/expression/ for more details.
I was getting ready to buy IVMP when this was announced. Not sure if I want to invest in something now that's going to change soon at the hands of Microsoft. I was hoping Lightroom would have a good DAM, but so far it doesn't have anything useful in that respect. Bummer.
But I am nervous, like you Martin, until I see the final product. I will feel even better after a couple of releases and I can judge somewhat the direction they are going.
I just went back to Peter Krogh's website, and for anyone who has not purchased iView Media Pro yet, you can find a link on http://www.thedambook.com/pages/purchase.html that will allow you to purchase version 3 for $169.15 (15% discount). You purchase from the Microsoft site, but if you get there via Peter Krogh, it recognizes the 15% discount.
Now getting organized is even cheaper!
Why isn’t Expression Media Encoder included with the Mac version of the product?
Quote:
Expression Media Encoder is built using Windows specific technologies, both for its encoding of video, as well as for its rendering of the actual user interface of the product (shared amongst the Expression Studio family of tools). These Windows specific technologies were very important in building the product and a Mac version was simply not feasible.
see the whole thread here: http://forum.iview-multimedia.com/viewtopic.php?t=5909