Video Editing Software Dilemma

I have a serious financial situation on my hands that not only affects me, but also affects that vast ocean of people that are my readers. (Hi mom)

I probably need to purchase video editing software.

Here is the current situation. I started doing video editing a little over three months ago. I tried a bunch of different software and the one I liked best was Sony Vegas Pro 9. The only problem with Vegas Pro 9 is that it costs $599.95.

Seriously? My brand new computer cost $600. Unless that software is going to bake me cookies and sing me a lullaby every night, there’s no way I’m spending that much on video editing software!

Anyway, I used a 30 day trial of Vegas Pro 9. Then I reformatted my hard drive and started over with Sony Vegas Movie Studio 10, which is almost the exact same thing (and is much cheaper at $94.95). Finally, since my hard drive was reformatted, my registry was cleared and I was able to use another 30 days on the Vegas Pro 9 trial.

Here we are today. My trials have expired, I have no video editing software, and I want to keep making music videos, video blogs, and other stupid stuff that you guys might find funny or interesting.

I would buy Movie Studio (the cheap one), but it lacks advanced text editing and zoom. It’s crazy to spend an extra $500 for that stuff in the Pro version, but I NEED IT!

I would look at other pieces of software, except I already have and can’t find anything else that works even close to as well as Sony Vegas. I have download Windows Live Movie Maker and will attempt to edit videos with that free software, but I already know that program has limitations that will require me to purchase an upgrade. I might be able to do some vlogs with Movie Maker, but I will definitely need something better for my next music video.

The plan for now is to use Windows Movie Maker until October 11th. Then, Sony Vegas Pro 10 is released and I’m hoping (fingers crossed) I can get another 30 day free trial there. After that expires, here are my options:

• Buy Vegas Pro 10 and completely annihilate my budget
• Hope Vegas Pro 9 gets a huge price decrease when 10 comes out and buy the old version, depending on the price
• Buy Vegas Movie Studio 10 and live without my text effects, zoom, and whatever else Pro does that I don’t realize I want or need (this would be a tragic existence)
• The one other program I’ve found to work is iMovie (at least I hear). iMovie is only available on Macs. I just bought a Windows 7 desktop PC. I really don’t have much need for a new computer, but I guess I could spend $1,200 on a Macbook Pro. Then I’d have a laptop (who doesn’t have one these days) and iMovie already on the machine. But if I did this, I wouldn’t have a whole lot of need for the $600 computer I just bought, and I could kiss meeting my 2010 budget goodbye
• I could reformat my hard drive every 30 days and keep using Sony Vegas trials

To be perfectly honest, none of these options sounds appealing to me. Convince me one of these is the right choice, or better yet, give me a better option! I need help thousandaires!

Kevin McKee

Kevin McKee is an entrepreneur, IT guru, and personal finance leader. In addition to his writing, Kevin is the head of IT at Buildingstars, Co-Founder of Padmission, and organizer of Laravel STL. He is also the creator of www.contributetoopensource.com. When he’s not working, Kevin enjoys podcasting about movies and spending time with his wife and four children.