How much is yearly update for Platinum after first year?

Hey there. I have Platinum and I just noted that it says- we will have to pay $199 yearly to update. I thought that it was the same price as we paid for initial upgrade from SP3 to Platinum. So is it $149 or $199? Thank you.

This is the first time I see $199 price. I upgraded with the early adopters special invitation e-mail and it said the price will be $149 and from reading everything at that time I had strong impression that the price will remain $149 every year, at least based on the fact that every yearly upgrade from X1 to X2 and X2 to X3 (and earlier versions) were $149. How did it get $199? I did not sign up for such price!

I think it was made sufficiently clear that there would be (might be???) a price increase after one year. 

I think the version tab on website for Sonar made it very clear what annual fee would be for maintenance/upgrades membership.
 
What is more difficult to understand is exactly how does it work if you buy Platinum and then move to Professional finding annual fee is more within budget?
You are to keep what you have after first year.
But how do you do that if not guiding available features over license codes, or something which is quite common.
A tricky bit that.
Instruments and effects are rather easy - they can exist as general VST in system for all versions - but direct unique features - you have to loose some of that, or?
Even if you as a principle paid for it once?
 
Let's say I miss the MTC sync, and automation modes in Professional in my current Artist - so I upgrade next year to Professional.
But if I year after that roll back to Artist - what happend with these features then?
You've got to loose them, or?
But you paid for them, didn't you.
 
Who had the pleasure of reading through all the EULA stuff.

I swear- I did not see it saying anything about $199 when "Special Invitations" e-mail was distributed. I don't want to misinform, but I am pretty sure I was reading that upgrade will be $149 and yearly price will be $149. I know I made several posts complaining about subscription then and if it said $199, I would be much more verbal then. I remember thinking, "$149... oh well... I was early adopter and paid about the same every year any way- this is not a big change". There was no $199 mentioned. I did not come checking back when it was released to the general public a month later, so I did not see anything saying about "temporary price through February". I don't remember seeing that row of a table at all. It was not a discount until some date. It was THE PRICE of the upgrade. And now, after the fact- they increasing it. My understanding is that it was a long term contract and we agreed to a set price for years to come. For the new users price may change but for us, who was upgrading at $149 for years, price will be staying. Now I feel misled.   

Not that I'm anxious to pay more than I absolutely have to, but here are some comparisons as food for thought (I have every version from P8 thru S-Plat, minus X1 and X2):
 
In January of 2000, I paid $99 to upgrade from P8 to PA9
In September of 2003, the upgrade from S2 XL to S3P was $179
In August of 2006, the upgrade from S4P to S5P was $179
 
I don't remember the pricing for other upgrades - these happened to be handy at the moment.
 
My point is that having the price for the top tier application increase in price by $20 from '03 to '16 -a 13 year span- isn't all that bad.
 
I will be more than happy to see $149 or $179 pricing, depending on what all ends up in the package, but I don't see $199 representing a really aggressive price increase either.
 
I remember some other things too ... like paying $50 for a VST adapter, which is no longer necessary.

Grem
The way I read it and understand how it is intended to go is;
 
Because you decided to go back to (and paying for) Artist, then you would have Artist with all it's features.
 
If you want to use what you already own, then stay with it. Don't pay for the new Artist, use what you already own.
 
Want the newest version of Sonar but don't have it in your budget to get Platinum/Pro, pay for Artist and enjoy all it's features.
 
Simple.

It's probably like you say, thank you.
 

joden
However any bug fixes should be free.

Unfortunately, bug fixes are never truly free. Companies can factor the cost of fixes into a product's initial price or into the cost of updates, but the programming resources needed to either minimize bugs in the first place or fix them when discovered have to be paid for somehow.