My thoughts on the new subscription model

I like the concept of continual updates, yet with purchased versions. The yearly subscription is a great setup and makes me happy. It's what I'll be getting since it was basically what I got before, I bought a new Sonar as often as I could. In general, I think it is a good idea. The monthly subscription is a nice idea too. It is certainly something I can easily recommend to people who want to try out a DAW as $10 is an easy price to pay to see how things go for a month. The "rent to own" model is nice too.
 
I like the command center program, I find it nice when companies have a good all purpose solution to get your stuff and get updates. Makes checking much easier. I'm glad to see web downloads are offered too, please continue that. While I'll likely use the Command Center in nearly every case, I like being able to get it via the web if needed.
 
I do think you need to look at a way to offer bug fixes to people who aren't paying for updates in certain circumstances. I am on board with the overall subscription model but if something is a problem they shouldn't be excluded from a fix just because their subscription lapsed. What I could see as an issue is someone buys the product retail, no subscription, they use the product and get updates happily for a year. Near the end of the year, a major version launches and they get that, their updates stop, but there's a big bug in it. That gets fixed but they don't get to have it because the updates lapsed. I think there should be some consideration given to bugfix only releases for things sometime outside the subscription period.
 
I'm not a fan of the online activation for the full purchased version. I understand it is par for the course and it isn't a deal breaker or anything, but something I always appreciated about Sonar was the no-DRM approach Cakewalk had. I liked being able to just install the software with no issues. I would encourage you to return to that for people who have paid yearly/bought retail.
 
In general, I'm happy and think this is a positive direction to go in, and a good hybrid of a full subscription model and a full retail model. However, I think you should consider a couple modifications to it to make it a bit better for consumers.