Adobe has a new subscription option that gives you the latest Creative Suite software for a monthly or yearly fee.
For After Effects CS 5.5 the cost is $49 per month on the yearly plan, or $75 per month. Upgrades are $179 for CS5 users, and $299 for CS2-CS4 users. The full permanent license is $999, so rentals do make sense in some cases.
Below the fold, there’s a movie explaining subscriptions, as well as one explaining CS 5.5 in general…