Can we kindly refer to the cost of SONAR X4 as "Membership Dues"?

Membership Dues sounds elitist...
 

I've decided to call it "what I pay to have the latest release".

bapu
Does that make me a bad person?
 

...perhaps

mike_mccue
Can we kindly refer to the cost of SONAR X4 as "Membership Dues"?
 
It seems so much classier than "Rent to Own".
 
 

I like it! We can call ourselves the International Brotherhood of Sonar or I BS.
 
Rocky

If one wishes to be incorrect then by all means use the word dues. It is misinformation but that never stopped some people.  

At this point I don't give a crap what anyone calls it. Just do some friggen' reading on what is ACTUALLY happening before flipping out about it on the forum ad nauseum.

bapu

Beepster
At this point I don't give a crap what anyone calls it. Just do some friggen' reading on what is ACTUALLY happening before flipping out about it on the forum ad nauseum.

What, you want people to read AND comprehend?
 
You're a progressive aren't you?

It really is ridiculous how many misconceptions people have embraced about the new update model.  All the answers anyone would ever really need about it is right there in the FAQ's,  but instead there's a new thread born every few minutes.  

kb420
It really is ridiculous how many misconceptions people have embraced about the new update model.  All the answers anyone would ever really need about it is right there in the FAQ's,  but instead there's a new thread born every few minutes.  

Thing is I've been putting off some serious personal work over the past couple days first digesting what was happening (because I initially thought the worst but READ the info before flipping out) and then trying to disseminate pertinent info and answer questions based on that literally 15-20 minutes of reading (then 2 hours of putting together the new features thread I posted) to those who seemed to be not getting it.
 
I did this not because I'm getting paid or I'm a fanbois but because the users here have been awesome to me as have been the Bakers themselves (like they've gone WAY the hell out of their way to help me in the past).
 
Sure flipping out on people with questions or legit concerns isn't cool but some of this crap over the past couple days makes you wanna slap someone.
 
Reading, folks. IT WORKS!
 
Edit: I'm going to apologize in advance for that little rant and didn't even intend to log in today because of this kind of crap. Seriously though... look around. The Bakers are being almost saintlike in their patience and obviously they are trying to sell you something but you have a whole pile of unpaid users busting their humps to explain this stuff as well.... because they give a crap. The least folks could do is give a crap enough to read up on what they're freaking out about.
 
and now I'll apologize for that additional rant... c ya.

Are we getting X4 and Sonar? Will that cost twice as much? Should I prepare to get angry and start inventing scenarios where disaster is the outcome?
 
I need to know....... 

FastBikerBoy
Are we getting X4 and Sonar? Will that cost twice as much? Should I prepare to get angry and start inventing scenarios where disaster is the outcome?
 
I need to know....... 

You and Tom Petty (need to know).

I have no issues with the term 'member' as long as people remember that mine is the largest ;).

CakeAlexS
I have no issues with the term 'member' as long as people remember that mine is the largest ;).

Cuz you paid two years up front?

Beepster
Thing is I've been putting off some serious personal work over the past couple days first digesting what was happening (because I initially thought the worst but READ the info before flipping out) and then trying to disseminate pertinent info and answer questions based on that literally 15-20 minutes of reading (then 2 hours of putting together the new features thread I posted) to those who seemed to be not getting it.

I think most people really appreciate your efforts.  I know I do.  But really, this isn't as simple and clear-cut as one might like to think.  It has been presented as an act of altruism by the company -- completely eliminating the established release model and replacing it with something that really is quite different -- as a better deal for the customer, don't you know?
 
It is certainly Cakewalk's prerogative to do that or anything else they want to do with the product and/or pricing.  But it is also a prerogative of the customers to fully understand it.  And certain aspects of this program still do not seem clear after hundreds (or thousands) of posts.
 
To me, the short version is that essentially they have announced "X4" under a different name.  As a "major release" it certainly has some meat, but it feels a little lighter than X1, X2, and X3.  The company justifies this by saying you automatically get 12 months of subscription and there will plenty of goodies during that time, so it is all good.
 
That works for me.  However, many people have followed a pattern of skipping some releases,  For these people, the world really is a lot different now.  This new model puts a real penalty on people who prefer to skip releases.  For example, let's say one purchases the upgrade today.  And let's say that Cakewalk delivers some of that promised content next December.  In that case, the skip-release customer gets the December function, but no support and no patches.  And for those who have every intention of remaining on the membership program, not only does the price go up by $50 next January, there really isn't any commitment that 2016 would include a major release.  In other words, one could find oneself paying $350 over 2 years and never really getting what would amount to "X5".
 
The bottom line is that this is a move by the company to force people to keep paying and not skip releases.  Again, that is their prerogative and everybody has a year to judge whether that makes sense to continue.

cparmerlee

Beepster
Thing is I've been putting off some serious personal work over the past couple days first digesting what was happening (because I initially thought the worst but READ the info before flipping out) and then trying to disseminate pertinent info and answer questions based on that literally 15-20 minutes of reading (then 2 hours of putting together the new features thread I posted) to those who seemed to be not getting it.

I think most people really appreciate your efforts.  I know I do.  But really, this isn't as simple and clear-cut as one might like to think.  It has been presented as an act of altruism by the company -- completely eliminating the established release model and replacing it with something that really is quite different -- as a better deal for the customer, don't you know?
 
It is certainly Cakewalk's prerogative to do that or anything else they want to do with the product and/or pricing.  But it is also a prerogative of the customers to fully understand it.  And certain aspects of this program still do not seem clear after hundreds (or thousands) of posts.
 
To me, the short version is that essentially they have announced "X4" under a different name.  As a "major release" it certainly has some meat, but it feels a little lighter than X1, X2, and X3.  The company justifies this by saying you automatically get 12 months of subscription and there will plenty of goodies during that time, so it is all good.
 
That works for me.  However, many people have followed a pattern of skipping some releases,  For these people, the world really is a lot different now.  This new model puts a real penalty on people who prefer to skip releases.  For example, let's say one purchases the upgrade today.  And let's say that Cakewalk delivers some of that promised content next December.  In that case, the skip-release customer gets the December function, but no support and no patches.  And for those who have every intention of remaining on the membership program, not only does the price go up by $50 next January, there really isn't any commitment that 2016 would include a major release.  In other words, one could find oneself paying $350 over 2 years and never really getting what would amount to "X5".
 
The bottom line is that this is a move by the company to force people to keep paying and not skip releases.  Again, that is their prerogative and everybody has a year to judge whether that makes sense to continue.

I have absolutely know problems with valid concerns and it is indeed a somewhat confusing model because I don't think anything like this has ever been tried. In fact your entire post is completely valid and I had many of the exact same questions. I won't rehash all the answer I've gotten, found and posted for other yet again but check out some of my posts in the monster thread. A few of the more recent ones cover large swaths of your concerns. The gist is even if you lapse you're likely not going to miss out on anything crucial. When you re-up it is cumulative so the only things you'll miss out on are extra goodies that have nothing to do with the core program. It's those extra goodies and having the absolute latest release that Cake are hoping to hook you in with on a permanent basis but they're also cool with you just re-upping when you need/want to because hey... that's still cash in their pocket. Andrew cleared up some of that stuff for me and really either way we win AND they win. Just to varying degrees in either direction based on what the customer wants to do.
 
This is really kind of empowering IF it works. Only time will tell.