Cheap Photoshop CS2 (and maybe CS3)
At $384 (plus shipping and tax), I think this is the cheapest way to buy a legitimate, non-educational copy of Photoshop this week:
- Buy a Wacom tablet. Pretty much any current model will work, including the $85 Graphire 4x5.
- Once it arrives, grab the Photoshop Elements 3 license key out of the box. Then follow the directions on store.adobe.com, and call Adobe Customer Service at 1-800-833-6687 to order Photoshop CS2 for $299. This only works for Wacom’s copies of PS Elements. The sales rep that I talked to had a hard time finding the deal in their database, but he did find it eventually. There is no expiration date listed.
- Once CS2 arrives in the mail, call Adobe’s support line again and order your free upgrade to Photoshop CS3, as per Adobe’s CS3 FAQ. I can’t guarantee that this will work, but the Adobe phone sales guy that I talked to this morning claimed that the copy of CS2 that they’re sending me is eligible for the “I bought CS2 after CS3 was announced” free upgrade.
Enjoy.
Update (4/16): My copy of CS2 arrived successfully, so I registered it and called Adobe’s sales line. After almost an hour on hold, they took my credit card number and charged me $6 shipping to send me a copy of Photoshop CS3. Mission accomplished.
Update (4/25): CS3 arrived today as expected. So yes, you can buy a perfectly legal copy of Photoshop CS3 for under $400, over $250 off the usual price, and get a Wacom tablet for free.