I got the email too... sounds promising and exciting... looking forward to more announcements that are expected on June 01st 2016.
 
Cheers to music making... 

LJB
Whoah.. I was still browsing through that link you sent and ended up paying for it. Not entirely unhappy, but give a little "Are You Sure"? option maybe?

Doesn't it just work like any other webshop ? When you click buy, it's added to your Shopping Cart. You then still need to go Checkout before you actually are buying it. So I don't see how you can accidentally buy it.

Glyn Barnes
The devil is in the detail and what constitutes the core features. I suspect one will still have to pay for additional "non core" features (third party applications, VSTis, Pro Channel modules etc.) making the choice far from straightforward, I am sitting tight until June 1st. 

Correct. Personally I always liked that I got several 'freebies' in the past like VSTs and stuff, although you can indeed argue that in the end you were just paying for those. Given that change to a bare bones Sonar, it would be highly likely that after this one-time lifetime offer, they will significantly lower the regular monthly/yearly subscriptions as well, at which time the lifetime offer would become a bit less spectacular.
PS: we can actually sit tight until end of August, since that is when the offer expires.

Hmm. For me it shows as £148. Is this because I pay monthly, rather than annually? I have an unbroken membership from Jan 2015.

I am listed as subscribed to newsletters but didn't receive this email either. I tried the pay once option in the store and got £99 plus VAT which is different again to what some of you seem to have. I also have been using SPlat since Jan 2015

"Pay Once" isn't the same thing. That's the 12 month membership. I've mentioned this a few times in the thread. They really should fix that terminology. Going to be loads of confusion over it.

Rocsee70

LJB
Whoah.. I was still browsing through that link you sent and ended up paying for it. Not entirely unhappy, but give a little "Are You Sure"? option maybe?

Doesn't it just work like any other webshop ? When you click buy, it's added to your Shopping Cart. You then still need to go Checkout before you actually are buying it. So I don't see how you can accidentally buy it.

Actually, if your credit card details are loaded, Buy means Buy. Click and it's a done deal. In the past it always first verified everything. I'm sure it's my mistake, but I have bought LOADS of the CW products and this was a bit surprising.

hmmm. Can someone just copy and paste the e-mail so we could read it?

clintmartin
hmmm. Can someone just copy and paste the e-mail so we could read it?

If that is allowed, I think it would be a good idea. Just got the first mail myself regarding June 1st.
All the best.

Thanks, Sander

Andrew,

If you could be so kind, I too didn't get the email... my email address wasn't up to date.  I have corrected it now so could you please forward me this email?
 
Thanks,
Jim

Anderton
This isn't based on info from Cakewalk, but personally, I see it more like jb101. I'd consider Aux Tracks to fall under core features, but not something like Drum Replacer or Vocal Sync. Look at how FL Studio does their updates for life - core program gets updated, but add-ons like plug-ins are optional at extra cost. 
 
If that's what Cakewalk is going to do, that makes a lot of sense. Then no one can complain about paying for something they don't need, and the people who need something can pay for it. It seems Cakewalk is really moving more in the "it's your choice" direction. This also neatly solves the problem of "what if a bug is fixed after I don't renew?"

OK if Craig is speculating openly on this here then I guess it's fair game. This makes a certain amount of sense to me, too (my previous speculation notwithstanding). In this context, the closed window of lifetime-membership availability - though of course they are free to open it again at a later date, but this particular window seems to be only until Aug 31 - is primarily a kind of an olive branch to the core faithful who have renewed this year. Otherwise, if they just dropped the bombshell of 'we are changing the model, no more major new features come with the membership, only fixes to what's already there, all major new features will be paid add-ons' it would be kind of a slap in the face to those of us that have renewed this year expecting an ongoing stream of goodies. Despite a few people insisting that they only want fixes and streamlining, most of us want that *and* some sparkly new things once in a while. This way we get to roll our investment into an 'exclusive' lifetime membership that would otherwise cost a certain amount, likely lower than it has been but still an ongoing cost, per year or per month. It's a little strange to make that offer without telling us exactly what it is we're opting into, but that would also explain the request for secrecy, which obviously hasn't gone entirely to plan. But why pre-announce it at all then?
 
Maybe the model simply hasn't worked as well as was hoped for and this is a necessary adjustment. Maybe they are really transitioning to a full-blown subscription model. Maybe this was planned all along (though I personally doubt this as it would require a level of dishonesty I'd prefer not to ascribe to our Bakerly friends!). Maybe my previous speculation was correct and it's just a play for needed cash-flow to support some major stuff that they're willing to bet the farm on. Or maybe I have no idea what I'm talking about (this happens frequently) and it's a completely different situation that we'll find out about in, err, 2 weeks!
 
Ach, it's going to be a long 2 weeks!

This is very interesting and courageous of Cakewalk. The first two items in the FAQ (in the email) pretty much explains what's included. I like the idea of "core features" vs. "new products".
 
I would encourage Cakewalk to focus on core features and less on "one-knob tricks" to keep the core DAW competitive.