<Answered> Catching up on membership

Hey john,
 
For me It was easier to think of the new system in the old way terms, so I think I have a good handle on how it works.
 
for simplicity i will use 200 dollars as the "upgrade" price even though there are other avenues for a cheaper price.
 
so in old way thinking,, it is 200 bucks to "upgrade" and i want to "upgrade".  cakewalk has been so kind to offer me two ways to pay for my upgrade, you can pay the whole 200 bucks or if money is tight they now offer me a payment plan to pay this "upgrade" price on a monthly installment plan for a year. the installment plan will contain a small processing fee so I will pay a little more than 200 bucks for the "upgrade" on the payment plan. if i choose the monthly plan I have not paid for my "upgrade" unless I pay the 12 installments. Cakewalk has advised that every year you will have the same choice to purchase the "upgrade" upfront or in a monthly plan.
 
to your original question? whenever you decide to buy an "upgrade" you are at the most up to date version, immediate catch up. If you decided to pay up front you will have the most up to date version up to the next "upgrade" version, old way thinking of yearly upgrades which would be a year after you jumped in. If you choose the monthly payment plan, and you did not pay for the whole year  12 payments you would drop back to where you were when you jumped in, assuming that would be X3e. if you did pay the whole year then you would stay at where you are as if you paid the 200 upfront. if  you decided not to "upgrade" the next year that is where you stay. so if you jumped in today and paid the 200 upgrade fee or paid 12 months of the installment plan and did not want to "upgrade" next year you would stay at the version as of 2/24/216
 
most simple way of thinking if you have paid or are paying monthly you have everything you could possibly have for whatever version you have artist, platinum, etc.,, if you have not paid or stopped paying monthly you will have the version that you last paid for an "upgrade". for this year it would be x3, x2, x1 whatever version you were when you jumped in. 
 
Next year you will stay with the version you paid for a year so if you jumped in today and either paid for a year or the 12 month installment plan and did not want to continue "upgrading" you would stay with the version of sonar up to 2/24/2016.
 
Mixing the old and new way of thinking cakewalk has decided not to hold their improvements to just a once a year release they will release the improvement or new feature when its ready during the year. 
 
I hope that helps,, I might have confused myself. ;)

My understanding of the OP's question, as well as the Membership model is thus:
 
Whenever you buy Sonar (upgrade or new customer), you will get the full most current version of the base product (Sonar, whatever major bundled content comes with Sonar that year like AD2, etc).  You will also be receiving all of the bug fixes, updates, etc, as it relates to those offerings.
 
What you will not receive are any of the extra little goodies that came out during the period when you didn't have a membership.  For instance, I imagine that you will get the base set of Anderton FX Chains that came with the Sonar base install, but you would not get any of the additional goodies Craig submitted to be included in monthly updates between Sonar's January release and whenever you buy-in.  When you buy-in, you'll get all of the monthly (or whatever release schedule) goodies and extras going forward (depending on your version) like the Drum Replacer or other things they have teased.  I'm not sure if they'll make the extra goodies available for separate purchase, but I would guess not, as the monthly goodies are one of the incentives to stay current with your membership.
 
 

Bapu,
Can you point me to where Cakewalk has stated what you posted? That I will receive ALL updates AND content if I wait until December 2015.

Bapu,
My OP did not ask about future content. I guess what I asked about content could have been worded like this...
Is additional CONTENT only available for the month it is released? If I wait three months, do I miss out on any content that I can not "catch up" receiving?
If that is the case, I would like an accurate detailed description of EXACTLY what is meant by "content".
 
In the prior paradigm, it really didn't matter WHEN one purchased the upgrade.(except the X2 content club stuff) If I paid for Producer I received everything you received in the Producer package.
 
I would really appreciate Cakewalk's clarification, as there are way too many user opinions being posted.

 
I agree that the term 'content' could be clarified.  I've taken it to mean the same as it did during the X2 Content Club : you only get the freebies going forward from the moment you upgrade.  I believe this is what Andrew is saying in the other thread.
 

jatoth
The first month is almost over, the "introductory" offer expires in 3 days, but I still don't know anything about this month's content or fixes. Makes it difficult to truly evaluate my options.
 

Not nitpicking here but in three days (or when the introductory price changes) it is most likely to be more expensive to upgrade.
 
It seems like you want to wait until you get best bang for your bux. JMO but that point would probably only ever be best seen in hindsight. Very few DAW makers (at present) ever inform you of what's coming, only what is here.
 
What seems odd to me is that if you've truly seen the difference between X3 and Platinum why would some content be the deciding point on whether to upgrade at $149 vs (say) $200 after the introductory price is dropped?
 
In the context of that question "content" is meant to mean something on par with the current Anderton FXs. And I mean that with no disrespect to those FXs.

If you join now, even if you don't install now, then you should have all of the new addition (extra goodies) added to Command Center and awaiting your download whenever it is you decide to jump in. 
 
It sounds like you are primarily worried about the stability of Sonar and want to wait until the initial dust has settled in terms of patching the base application of Sonar (and maybe the way it works with key plugins like AD2 etc).  I imagine those kinds of updates to the base product are going to be included in the base price whenever you but Sonar just like before (for instance, I bought X3 late in the game and was able to immediately jump to X3e to get the most stable release). 
 
If you also want all of the extra things Sonar releases to enhance the application (like the new Anderton chains, other Cake developed plugins, etc) while you are waiting for it to become stable to your satisfaction, then you should go ahead and buy it now, and then just install everything through the Command Center when you are ready.
 
If you are not interested in all of the extras, then I imagine you can just wait and upgrade when you are ready, and get the most recent version of the base application.  Otherwise, that would seem a bit crazy (e.g. "Oh yes, we did uncover that fatal flaw, but we fixed that before you were a member.  I'm afraid you'll just have to live with it")  :)

This was the first post of a newsletter with the end of promo price date that I recall http://forum.cakewalk.com/FindPost/3171261. Also Feb 28 was mentioned in the original announcement thread as the tentative end of promo price. Would it be surprising if the promo stopped Feb 28?

bapu

jatoth
 
Baps,
"So if you wait until December 2015 to become a member (i.e. upgrade) you will get everything I got on (nearly) day one plus any added content, features and fixes since that time. One caveat, you pay more than I did since I got the introductory price of $149."
This contradicts what some others have posted. Some have said, "you miss any content released while you were not a member".  See Mager's post above.

Yes, I may be off the mark on "content" (if content is defined as Anderton FXs, loops etc.) but not stuff like Addictive.
 
So, let's say if you're not a member and some content comes up for grabs, and you hear about it, you probably will never get it unless you jump on membership that month. In the OP you may have been asking how will you know (in advance) about upcoming content. I suspect you will not. Again, one of the the perks of membership is the surprise arrival of content.

Which is probably a cunning plan of Baldric proportions to get more punters keeping tabs on developments by having more of a forum prescence

It was not sent to a specific customer, it was a newsletter which even if you did not receive you have known about for several weeks.

scook
It was not sent to a specific customer, it was a newsletter which even if you did not receive you have known about for several weeks.

Sorry but that's not the point.
 
I'm not being argumentative here, I'm just waiting for Cakewalk to say something about this.
The minute they do, I'll stop.

See http://forum.cakewalk.com/FindPost/3145090 Andrew indicates the promo would go "At least through January and probably February" This is the earliest reference I can find.
 

scook
"At least through January and probably February"
 

You have to admit that is somewhat vague.
 
FWIW at 15:34 this afternoon I received another newsletter from Cakewalk.  Just the usual offering me the latest Sonar at full price.
 

"Content" is a pretty loose term, I'll grant you that. I think this would require a response from a Cakewalk representative. I would assume loop libraries and expansion packs for instruments would be members only, although I could also see some of them being sold separately to non-members and non-SONAR users.
 
As to things like my amps, that's up to Cakewalk. I'm planning on doing an amp every month, so there are lots of ways they could be handled...they could be sold as an "Amp Pack" so people could catch up. Maybe Cakewalk would let Platinum owners get all of them, and Artist and Professional users get a lesser amount. Or maybe Cakewalk will be feeling generous and give 'em all away. 
 
I think a lot of the point of membership is you get stuff as soon as it's ready. Whether something that was part of membership becomes available in a year or two for "catch up" hasn't been defined, but Cakewalk does seem to err on the side of generosity.