Hi Dave, I need to apologise. I came here to offer my perspective as a enthusiast/learner of 3D that isn't as school anymore.
So what I meant is for freelancers and Indies. I for one work with Resources in VFX. But I'm also a 3D enthusiast, playing with 3D since 2005 or so. So for me I would love to have a software to do 3D as a hobby for the cheapest possible option. Blender is alright and I support them, but I still feel like it's missing a few things in terms of workflow that Max and Cinema has.
So for me, I can't classify for a student license, so my options would be Modo for £50/month the full version, the Modo Steam for like £10/month, Blender or Max/Maya for £250/year, which would be £20/month. In comparison, Cinema would cost £95/month and I would need an extra renderer and XParticles, which is +£30/month.
The £55 version of Cinema IF that was a monthly payment and not a full year in advance, I would probably be able to add that. It might seen like I'm being cheap, but that is half the price. Make it a 1-year commitment, but in smaller instalments and with penalty for cancellation, similar to what Adobe does. So at the moment, Max/Maya is cheaper since you get Arnold GPU (just released) on the same £250 bundle.
EDIT:
To add to that ... the old no-save unlimited trial + 42 trial with save ability was a lot better than 14-day trial.