Autodesk’s Subscription Center

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Subscription Center is Autodesk’s new baby. It is a website that subscription customers can access and get access to special training, software downloads, add-on packages for your software and much more. Keep in mind that subscription center can only be accessed by customers who purchase subscription with their software. This means that customers who purchase perpetual or annual licenses without subscription do not have access to the website. This post will go over some of the basics of Subscription Center for those who may not know much about it.

First of all, to create your subscription center account, you must first purchase subscription with your software. This can be done by talking with your Autodesk Reseller and purchasing subscription with your Autodesk software. Once you have purchased subscription, your contract is then eligible for Subscription Center. Simply go here and click the “Create an Account” button on the right side of the page. Put in your contract number and fill out the information necessary and you’re ready to go.

Once you’re in subscription center, you can download your products that you purchased. This is beneficial if you do not have your physical media (DVD’s) on you and you need to install the software. You can also download Product Enhancements. Product Enhancements are things such as Subscription Advantage Packs which add extra features to your programs. For example, the Subscription Advantage Pack for AutoCAD 2011 adds an AutoCAD WS Plug-in that allows you to edit and share DWG files via web browser or Mobile Device. The pack also gives other features. Again, these are only accessible to subscription customers.

Autodesk Subscription Center Blog

Another advantage of subscription center is it gives you a catalog of training material for a wide array of Autodesk products. The training ranges from basic to complex concepts within the different Autodesk software. This is a great source for training and learning.

With Subscription Center, you also get access to premium technical support knowledge bases and web support straight from Autodesk. You are given a large arsenal of pages and contacts for technical support in the event that you have crucial problems that you need solved.

Another benefit is that you get access to Autodesk’s Web Services. For example, Autodesk has a product called Green Building Studio that is only accessible through Autodesk’s servers and is only available to subscription customers. This has become a rather popular product amongst our many educational customers as more and more technology moves into the “Green” arena.

Having subscription on your contract also gives you the privilege of generating “Previous Version Serial Numbers.” These serial #’s are for previous software such as AutoCAD 2010 or 2009. For example, if you purchase AutoCAD 2011 on subscription, you get the ability to request a serial # for the 2010, 2009, or 2008 version as well. This means you only get a serial # for the version; you do not receive media for it. This system is in place for people who already have the media from a previous purchase and maybe their old license expired. With Subscription on your account, you can just request a new serial # for your old version and use it to activate the program and use it again.

Those are the basics of the Subscription Center. It’s definitely become a bigger and bigger thing as Autodesk has continued to improve and refine the system. We have seen more and more customers purchase subscription and the response has been positive. So the next time you talk to your reseller and are looking to renew your software; think about Subscription and whether or not it will be beneficial for you because it might be right up your alley.

Author: Mark Philip

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