PS.........YES.................I Have Signed On For Lifetime Updates...........and looking Forward to a powerfully fruitful and amicable relationship with the Cakewalk Team over the coming Years.............'ROCK ON' !!!! 

The current lifetime updates deal is available with the one-time fee plan only.

http://forum.cakewalk.com/FindPost/3429473

What is strange is that I received an email on Jul 4th with the title "[Last Chance] 4th of July savings end today!" but the email body states "Lifetime Updates for Sonar Platinum" with a stated end date "This offer ends August 31st ". I assume the end date is Aug 31 and not Jul 4?

M@
Sorry Guys,
please forgive    :)
 
I read all the posts till page 7 or so as this thread started out then went on holiday and coming back didn't read all the rest. Something just doesn't click in my mind.
What about the "CONTENT" that has previously been part of the Sonar package:
E.g: I have gotten Adictive Drums, TH2 (&3), Melodyne, Loops & oneShots, and more all as being part of my Sonar purchase.
 
Now if I read correctly it has been stated that wheter I go Lifetime or stick with the Membership what will be delivered (monthly) will be the same, but at the same time it is stated that CONTENT will not be included anymore, only CORE features.
So does this mean that after August 31st everyone on a Membership will get less value than they have before?
Iirc someone mentioned an expected price-drop for the Membership programme......any hard facts on that?
 
thanks, Mat
 

I don't think that what we get will change substantially from how it has been. Since the subscription has started, there have been separate offerings that Cakewalk has sold separately as non-core. The free included software you mention will likely be included because you are not getting the top of line versions of any of these products. Other software companies make deals with Sonar to include them in the basic content. Cakewalk gets an attractive addition to their product and the software companies get small payments for the sale of Sonar versions containing their product. They also get a chance to have you buy the top of the line version directly outside of Sonar.
 
That is not to say some of the products we have now will continued to be offered. That is up to the software companies who might change the internals of their products so that they would no longer work with Sonar unless Cakewalk makes modifications to support the changes. This really is not very likely after all because software companies that write these addons always want them to work with current DAWs.
 

pwalpwal
Time will tell!

Yes, to be honest ... I am certain of nothing, but I am quite happy at the moment.

Concerning the Lifetime Updates versus the Membership Model, it has been stated by Cakewalk, repeatedly, that there will be no difference.

HTH

Ok, so I got the new Sonar Artist program last month (6/20/2016). I am coming from Sonar X3 and have been with Cakewalk since about 1990. Now I use 8.5 mostly because I like it better then the newer versions. 
I got Sonar Artist because they said it is more configurable. I wound like to configure Artist to "work" more like 8.5 in several ways. Where can I get help to do some changes like …

1. Make text bigger( my eyes are not that good anymore)
2. add items to the track pane (key, time, etc. )

• add and remove items in the inspector pane
• make the piano view open full screen and close back to my full screen track view
• make Nomad Factory plug-ins work in Artist.

Dear Cakewalk Staff,
 
How about an updated teaser video/more info re the Mac progress this summer?
 
Looking forward to the release of the alpha!

jacksojo2000
Just checked and found out my subscription ends December 27, 2016.  I don't qualify for the $99 upgrade price?  Can anything be done here?  I've tried contacting support but haven't gotten a reply.  Big thanks to anyone that can help with this.

http://forum.cakewalk.com/Lifetime-Updates-and-SONAR-OS-X-Alpha-m3429473.aspx#3429473
 

jb101

CedricM
200 euros is a lot of upfront money for someone who has sinked a lot already on Sonar for many many years.
How about offering a free payment in three installments or something similar ?

Really?

100 euros a year is fine, but 200. Euros for life is a lot?

Being offered updates for life for the cost of two years updates is not a good enough offer - you think Cake should offer an installment plan to sweeten the deal?

I am lost for words - a rare occurrence..

You may be lost for words, but it's a simple question of the amount of discretionary spending at time t.
In the same way that a corporation that can happily invest 100 millions a year may not be in a position to invest 200 millions, even if say the robots are much better, without a financing deal.
 
Or in the same way most Apple consumers would not be in a position to purchase an iPhone without (a very expensive) monthly plan binding over a few years.
 
As for the 'forever', like campaign pledges, it binds only the believers.
 
One does not need a doctorate in economics to understand that a forever pledge isn't financially sustainable over the long term. Cakewalk employees will need their salaries, every month. Cakewalk will have to sell us extras to survive. Like the extras we got when we paid for a 'perpetual' or a yearly subscription, but that are no more included in the forever sub.
 

Repeat customers is where the profit is.
 
Peter Drucker informed us many decades ago that no profit occurs until the second sale at best. The new customer acquisition costs of advertising and marketing are hopefully covered by the first sale. But not always.
 
 

The SONAR for mac has been a long time coming and even though it is still in early beta I find the prospect very exciting. I have always been a cakewalk musician since early versions of home studio then moved on to SONAR. One big problem I have had is getting other people to understand why I use it over other DAWs because the files are not transportable between PC and MAC. I hope the development of a MAC version of SONAR changes this and brings SONAR to the top of the most used DAW software. This lack of transportability is what I feel has kept it from being the most popular DAW around the world. So happy to see a change is in the air.

CedricM
One does not need a doctorate in economics to understand that a forever pledge isn't financially sustainable over the long term. Cakewalk employees will need their salaries, every month. Cakewalk will have to sell us extras to survive. Like the extras we got when we paid for a 'perpetual' or a yearly subscription, but that are no more included in the forever sub.

 
I keep seeing this idea repeated, but it overlooks several key points that would make sense to someone with a doctorate in economics.
 

• At least for foreseeable future, lifetime updates are Platinum only. Platinum is only a part of what pays salaries. Products like Music Creator continue to be popular, and help contribute the income needed to sustain a company.
• Not everyone updates anyway. Look at all the people still using X1-X3 or 8.5 (or even older versions) either because those older programs do what's needed, or the users don't realize how much SONAR has evolved since then so they're not aware of the advantages of updating. They haven't contributed any more money for updates, yet the company is still here.
• Several software companies have already done lifetime updates for years, and the model works for them. 
• There have always been extras that were not part of the Rolling Updates, like ProChannel plug-ins, Rapture Pro, Expansion Packs, items in the Cakewalk store, etc. 
• Cakewalk will continue to introduce new products and content in the months and years to come, providing additional revenue streams.

 
So when you take the entirety of Cakewalk's business into account, Platinum users getting lifetime updates simply isn't a deal-breaker, and IMHO it's a really great way to thank loyal users for their support. 
 
 
 
 

Matt

Anderton

• Not everyone updates anyway. Look at all the people still using X1-X3 or 8.5 (or even older versions) either because those older programs do what's needed, or the users don't realize how much SONAR has evolved since then so they're not aware of the advantages of updating. They haven't contributed any more money for updates, yet the company is still here.

So I am one of these people.... still using X3e and not upgrading until I absolutely have to.  X3e does everything I want it to do, rarely crashes, and I'm quite prolific with it.  I can't imagine messing with what is working.
 
That said, I just bought the lifetime update because I want to have it before the sale ends, if it ends.  It's really a no-brainer at that price.  Will I run into any issues when I try to install it if I don't upgrade until next year or even a few years from now if I can make it that long on X3e?

It might be possible to have both installed. Keep using X3e for production work, while learning SPlat.