OT: Trading Sonar

Once registered, your license in nontransferable, so you have nothing to donate, trade or sell.

ORIGINAL: Beagle

The EULA that you agreed to when you installed Sonar specifically stated that you are not allowed to sell or give it away. Sonar will not transfer the license and will not activate it for anyone other than you. Sorry.

I am a registered user of Sonar 4. I've thought about upgrading, but are you saying that Cakewalk has now implemented an activation process to install their software? Man, if that's true it might affect my decision... It probably wont keep me from eventually going ahead with an upgrade, but I hate that stuff.

scook's right. starting with 5 (and with Home Studio 4 and MC3), you have a question/response activation. You enter the SN and the activation code is sent to you in an email, or I think you can retrieve it online now, but I'm not sure of that. the software works for 30 days prior to activation, so you've got time to work out any problems. most don't have problems, but some have problems with spam filters blocking the activation emails.

The activation they have implemented is VERY simple and non-intrusive.

Yes it is. they just email you the activation code, it's very painless process. I only activated my copy about a week ago - wish I'd made the decision earlier now - never mind.

Thanks for the replies everyone

Tony.

So......let me ask a question I hesitate to ask...

Would this prevent me from having it loaded on my primary music desktop pc AND my laptop at the same time? I know some licenses are very specific about only one pc, but practically, if I had the need to do some remote recording, I would hate to think I would have to uninstall, reinstall, reinitialize the license, etc everytime to accomplish this..??? With my Sonar 4, this is not an issue and since I would NOT have the need or desire to use it on more than one pc at a time, this seems legit. Is it not?

ORIGINAL: stratcat

So......let me ask a question I hesitate to ask...

Would this prevent me from having it loaded on my primary music desktop pc AND my laptop at the same time?

Not prevented, this is fine. Basically any number of installations as long as they're not being used at the same time. HTH.

This whole issue has me and I imagine a wholeboat load of people unwilling to upgrade. Sadly when I do feel I need to upgrade, I will look at everything and go with whatever has the best overall package. Upgrading system strike one against Sonar.

Product "Activation" (as implemented by companies like Microsoft) requires that the software be able to contact the companies' web site in order to be "activated". It then watches any changes made to your computer (such as adding a new hard drive or video card) and after a certain number of changes has been reached the software requires re-activation. In other words, if you like to tweak your computer a lot, your software can turn into a useless doorstop.

Sonar 5 and 6 *DO NOT* do this.

The installation DVD comes with a product Serial Number, which must be entered when the product is installed. The first time you run it, it prompts for a REGISTRATION CODE, which is provided by Cakewalk (either over the web or by phone) when you register. You can use the software for up to 30 days without entering the registration code.

Once you've got the registration code, you can enter it into Sonar and it will stay registered regardless of any changes you make to your computer. Likewise, if you ditch your computer in favor of a new one there's nothing preventing you from installing the same version of Sonar on your new computer. You simply use the same registration code as before - there's no need to request a new one.

In no case does Sonar make contact with Cakewalk's web site. Once you have your registration code, it is yours to use as you see fit - within the terms of the license agreement of course.

This type of registration requirement is quite typical of many high end products. It is not obtrusive. It doesn't require a dongle or a network connection. And once the product is registered to you, it stays registered to you.

All in all, I like the way Sonar does things. It prevents (or at least discourages) piracy without alienating or inconveniencing its customers. This is one of the reasons I chose Sonar in the first place.