I can't see how any of this is an issue.
 
Now if they'd put the price down after August 31st, one could understand a few dissenting voices.

Hey Chuck and Bruce ,
 
Thanks for the giggles guys.
After surviving yesterdays experience and having a lot of fun going there .
I sure hope I don't end up playing the lead role in a New Holiday Movie called  Woop Woop II The DMV Edition  
 
all the best ,
 
Kenny

Paul P
When Cakewalk declares (as you did) that the lifetime updates will ONLY be available till aug 31, it is sort of forcing things.  Now or never, that was the deal (which you changed very recently after several of us had bought in).

Paul the last thing I want to do is beat this subject to death
but I don't recall ever seeing the words "now or never" I just went back and read the emails and promotions and the only thing they say is..
 

Cakewalk ADD
""This offer ends August 31st - act now to secure your Lifetime Updates.""

 
I believe this was correct. that offer did end Aug 31st.
I have a feeling if you get a refund your going to be sorry and probably going to wish you never did.
from one user to another, this was/is a good deal. you don't want to be paying monthly, annually, exc.
do as you please, I hope your making good music and Good luck.

I happen to pay for things when product is delivered and have no issues when doing so, but this strategy continues to truck down a path of promises and going back to the same customers as reliable revenue. A quick look at the feature requests, some well over a year old, shows where priorities lie for me.

If the OSX launch goes awry, do not be surprised if the pricing scheme changes yet again.

I do very much agree that the "scare tactic" marketing is a bit over the top, but it obviously does work on some. Bottom line it does not guarantee anything but bug fixes, which has been a sore subject for years.

I just popped in here to see what would happen after 8/31 and this just reaffirms why I have jumped ship and invested my money in FL Studio. You have to think we are idiots if you are selling this as a new promotion. This is basic marketing 101, relying on people's fear of a missed opportunity. Now, you better get in by the end of the year or miss the boat.
 
I can't believe how many people were saying you had to get in by end of August or that would be it. I totally knew this was going to happen, just not this soon. This also tells me that maybe they didn't pull in as much money as they wanted and I'm glad I didn't sign up. I am seeing a decline in interest in Facebook likes trending and think the MAC version will be a flop. The only people I see interest are the ones who already have SPlat and will get this for free. No money in that for them. This all adds up to an uncertain future and I am more than happy to sit it out.
 
Also, I have seen nothing in the recent updates to make me want to sign back up. The theme editor is a complicated mess and I think a waste of development dollars, and the other few recent updates are pretty much cosmetic, nothing of significance. And someone mentioned 1000 bug fixes. Does this mean the software is that buggy it needs a lot of fixes? I personally have had a lot of freezes working with midi and my VSTs, and not one issue in FLS the month or so I have been using it.
 
I'm glad I've moved on to FLS as it gives me a lot more flexibility for recording and arranging, and tools for sound design/automation that SPlat doesn't have. Workflow is much faster for both audio and midi as well as I can use my tablet with the apps available. With the discount I got, it was pretty much a wash over buying into the SPlat lifetime updates and a better way to go for me.
 
Frankly, had this been handled differently by Cakewalk with better pricing, I would not have learned about FLS and their lifetime updates through the forum here. I would have continued to plod along using Sonar, so have to thank Cakewalk for that. Unless Cakewalk totally revises Sonar, I consider it pretty much fully developed and don't see a need to invest more dollars. I now have FLS with the lifetime updates with the much larger user base and SPlat as a back up although I haven't had to use SPlat for anything since getting FLS. Btw, I've been with Cakewalk since Sonar 6. I'll check back in at the end of year just to get a chuckle out of the next twist in this story. Best of luck to all!

Noel Borthwick [Cakewalk]
 
Our goal is to get more new users to understand this value of getting lifetime updates as well as continue to innovate and add even more powerful features and add ons to the platform.
 
Many of these innovations will be free to lifetime users but some will be sold as add ons. For example we have some great new (free) features coming up in the next update that would normally be only in a new product.
 

 
PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! Stop using the word FREE. There  is   nothing   free   here.
 
This hyperbole may work for those not too young to know better, and for those not thinking, but $199 does not buy us FREE stuff. It is a payment in advance for a promise of good stuff to come. NONE OF IT WILL BE FREE!
 
Of course, we are paying for updates and fixes, just as always. This is reasonable. To say/write/promote otherwise is disrespectful of those of us who are actual adults who can read and understand when something is dog-stuff.
 
PLEASE STOP this. It is disingenuous at best. And, such descriptions of what is being offered for SALE make all the speculation about why this has option had been offered just more absurd. And, now that the offer has been extended ostensibly by "popular" demand (a truly worn out "Ronco" inanity), the speculation is more rife about whether the offer has been actually accepted by as many users as had been expected.
 
What is most disturbing is imagining you guys really believe you will be giving us something for free.
 
Y'all could have handled this much more professionally.
 
 
 
 

Can't imagine life without Sonar. It always provides what I need, whether I'm working on a new song, a commercial v/o, an advertising jingle, or whatever. It seems like Cakewalk is always adding a feature that I never thought of before, but now can't live without. (And I'm not easy to please.) 
 
Money's tight here, too, but Sonar is my most important tool, and I have no problem contributing to the people who provide it. They and their families need to eat. Sonar absolutely will not grow if Cakewalk has to go out of business. 
 
I happily signed up for lifetime updates, knowing full well that there was no guarantee that Cakewalk would continue to provide big bang for my bucks. Cakewalk has fully earned my TRUST, however, so if the past is any indication of the future, I did the right thing by jumping on the lifetime updates program. 
 
I think people should feel lucky that they still have time to sign up. But if they don't have the same trust for Cakewalk that I do, they should rest assured that they can always continue to use Sonar as it exists today, without spending another dime. 
 
All this conflict about lifetime updates seems like a waste. Here's something I learned on this forum a long time ago: If you're spending more time making cranky posts than creating, your priorities are mixed up. 
 
 

SteveStrummerUK
 
 
I can't see how any of this is an issue.
 
Now if they'd put the price down after August 31st, one could understand a few dissenting voices.

Exactly.
I was hoping to become really pissed when I read this thread, expecting to see a real "got ya" moment but man was I disappointed. Figured I might get a freebie as an apology, perhaps a new pro-channel module,  but my hopes were dashed when I saw that the lifetime upgrade ending August 31 was at a significantly lower price than what is being offered now.
 
Gotta run and watch my soap operas, this one doesn't have legs.
 
 

Some people will throw a tantrum for anything. No wonder many end up using FLS, the music program with the youngest user base. :roll:

robert_e_bone
By the way, since Sonar Platinum came out, in addition to added functionality, they have published over ONE THOUSAND bug fixes, SO FAR, and they have and will continue to provide updates monthly.
 
(upper case added only for emphasis)
 
Bob Bone
 
 

where did you get that number from?