Yes, this software is really expensive. Unfortunately for the developers, tons of people pirate it, using the expense to justify that. It's circular. The fewer people buy it, the more the high price is justified in the eyes of the developers.

But, we're talking about their top tier app, here. There are less expensive less feature-rich versions of Melodyne available, like Melodyne UNO. If you have another multi-track program and just want to polish a vocal track, consider that one. There is also a plug-in.

Adobe Creative Suite is really expensive. Office is really expensive. Frankly, I think Melodyne is a much better value than Microsoft Office, and how many more people buy that?

This software's most impressive feature is how well it adjusts defects in vocal takes without sounding artificial. It can save a lot of studio time and studio time is expensive. If you're on a limited budget like I am, you can do a lot more songs because you don't have to do so many takes of each one.

One thing that I'm unhappy about, though, is that the Spitfish plug-in doesn't work in this version. It did work in 3.0.1.5. The audio units version of the plug-ins isn't seen at all, and the VST versions no longer work.