cparmerlee
 But if there are VSTs or other functions delivered while you were off the air, my understanding is that you don't get those.
 

Please show me where that is written or said by a baker and I'll recant.
 
I understand that if Cake delivered/offered and a new (paid for outside of SONAR) VST/VSTi of course that is not included. That would follow the days when the Pro Channel modules were not included even with Producer (X1 Expanded).
 
Now... 3rd party products, yes they may be dropped by CW (hypothetically AD 34 months from now for ANY partnership reason) but if they replaced that with (say) "EZDrummer2 SONAR" I say that would be included by any opt in purchaser at that moment in time because that is the latest and greatest distro.

cparmerlee

bapu
"And every version includes 12 months of membership meaning you will always get the latest and greatest version no matter when you make your purchase."
 
So I can skip out now or after 12 months and then pay the going rate to upgrade ANYTIME and get EVERYTHING that was delivered from the time of my current version (X3e) and that moment in time. And of course I will get 12 moths of upcoming releases.

No I don't think that is correct.  As I understand it, you don't get the things that were delivered during the time that your membership was not in force.  Obviously if we are talking about the core DAW, chances are they would put out a new release that is cumulative.  But if there are VSTs or other functions delivered while you were off the air, my understanding is that you don't get those.
 
And please not there is absolutely no software architecture reason why they cannot deliver optional components of the core DAW and require that you pay a make-up payment for those optional components if you let your subscription lapse.  I'm not saying anybody has such motives, but it is certainly something that could be done consistent with the parameters of this plan.  Maybe I shouldn't be giving Cakewalk any ideas here.  :)  My bad.
 
So imagine the list of add-ons that are part of Producer.  And imagine they were delivered a few each month instead of all on the day you licensed the product, you could definitely miss out on part of the product's value. 
 
And I don't think you read my example with the case where a major function is delivered a few weeks before your subscription expires.  You get the download, but not patches or support if there should be any problems with that.
 
Yes, you can certainly decide to go off the air and live with what you have, in self-support mode.  But as I said, a primary objective of this program, IMHO, is to put some pain on people who have customarily skipped releases.
 
I have purchased X1, X2, and X3 upgrades, so I am likely to do the continuous subscription thing.  But please note that was not $150 a year.  That was about $150 three times in five years.  And now we will be talking more like $200 a year.  So that is basically a doubling of the price.

This is something I wrestled with but look at it this way. They are going to still want to entice new customers with the REALLY good stuff like AD, TH2, Melodyne that have become mainstays of the program. So as that list grows and they become staples of the program you will be getting what a new user would get (who are being enticed by those shiny bobbles). What you will likely miss out on is stuff like what would have been in the X2 Content club or things like the Concrete Limiter or CA2A or one of plugs from third party vendors all of which you could buy yourself anyway AND they will post what is upcoming so if you see something coming up that you like you'll have advanced warning that perhaps NOW is the time to reup.
 
So you gotta ask... what are those extras worth to you? And THAT is how they'll get SOME perpetual customers. Then everyone else can come and go as they please so Cake makes money there as well (and we get our updates/upgrades whenever we want).
 
The thing is this could go HORRIBLY for a stupid person (someone who pays month to month for 11 months then quits) or it could go ridiculously well for a smart person who is paying attention.
 
For the average customer they'll be totally fine and have plenty of choices.
 
Seriously if I thought this sucked I would be saying so. It really REALLY doesn't suck. It just takes some getting used to... because it is indeed a little convuluted and takes some processing.
 
You're smar though. Just poke around and you'll see what I mean.
 
Cheers.

cparmerlee
 But if there are VSTs or other functions delivered while you were off the air, my understanding is that you don't get those.

 
 
Its very untypical but yes it could happen. There is however zero change from how it works in the old model vs the new.
 
Old:
Lets say you skipped X1 and X2 and then went direct to X3. In this case you would miss any specials that were released in the X1 and X2 versions. for example you would never have gotten R-Mix or V-Vocal since we dropped those in X3.
 
New:
Lets say you go off air for a couple of years and come back, you will now get what is current for the new year. i.e typically ALL current generation cakewalk plugins and content as well as new features for that year.
 
In other words any third party content that is included in any given membership year is not guaranteed to be offered in subsequent years. In the above cases they were simply end of life or no longer licensed for distribution.
If you want anything and everything released you have to be continuously on the membership. This is exactly the same as before we had this system. 

cparmerlee - see post 36 above by Noel.

cparmerlee

bapu

cparmerlee
 But if there are VSTs or other functions delivered while you were off the air, my understanding is that you don't get those.
 

Please show me where that is written or said by a baker and I'll recant.

I didn't just make this up.  I think it was on page 29 of the 900-page thread, or was it page 32?  I can't cite that immediately. Look at the FAQs. https://www.cakewalk.com/Products/SONAR/Membership  They are very ambiguous on this point.

Based on Noel's post #36 above I see no reason to recant (as it pertains to ALL non-3rd party updates or offerings that were depracated ).

bapu
Based on Noel's post #36 above I see no reason to recant (as it pertains to ALL non-3rd party updates or offerings that were depracated ).

Nobody is asking you to recant.  We're just trying to understand how the system works.  I think it comes down to a definition of what is part of the "cumulative product" so to speak and what is considered "member bonuses".  It is entirely up to Cakewalk to decide this.  They have an incentive to drive people to keep their subscriptions active.  But they also have a motive not to be so hard-headed that people will decide the system is too convoluted and expensive, sending people to competitive products.
 
If they aren't going to apply some pressure to keep the subscriptions in force, then this seems like a really dumb idea.  Without the shift to continuous subscriptions, we have basically what has always been there -- just unnecessarily complicated.  I don't think the Cakewalk people are dumb, so I expect that they will be driving people to keep subscriptions in force.  That's the whole point, isn't it?

cparmerlee
I don't think the Cakewalk people are dumb, so I expect that they will be driving people to keep subscriptions in force.  That's the whole point, isn't it?

Yes and they promise to do that on a more frequent basis. They have said we can expect monthly updates. That's 12 updates in the next 12 months vs 5 updates to X3 over the last ~20+ months. Even if it's the same level I see that as good thing not a bad thing.

bapu
Noel just marked THIS POST helpful, that's confirmation enough for me.

Was this the part he was marking helpful?:
 

bapu
How are they forcing me?
 
Are they charging my credit card each and every year without my authorization?

 
...

bapu
What's X4? Some new lathe?
 
I own aCW product called X3. And, I know Cakewalk introduced the New SONAR yesterday.

I don't know... What is X for?

to be a platinum member, will cost me an extra $50 cause i skipped X3(producer) . so that is a penalty.  and if i skip this release, the price goes up even further.  so if i choose a monthly option for Platinum features, and miss the next months payment.. i lose those features, goodies, updates and fixes?? cause i did not make it for the entire 12 months.  i always thought i was a member.(look at my purchase history) the thought of installing something with some crippling agent, does not sit well with me.  it should be a product not a service.  on the surface it seems like the old model, but its not. sort of like cable tv or a ISP.