First off, I think its a great idea. A bit like having steam for audio applications.
 
I'll just go straight to a bullet list to make it short...
 
++ Great Potential
++ Downloader appears robust - works on my 3G with poor line quality where browsers fail to finish downloading anything.
++ Nice UI design
++ Allows downloading and installation of just the parts you want (very helpful on poor or metered internet connections)
++ Presumably can fix a corrupted installation without blanket downloading everything?
o+ could be made to work as a support tool also. (telemetry)
oo it doesn't recognize or allow me to enter the serial for the better (than the included) version of Melodyne I have.
oo Sonar help and tutorials are all lumped into a 1GB download. Can't look at anything without doing the entire thing.
o- I don't see any of the video tutorials we're getting with the membership?

o- only shows the list of 'what's new' videos while its installing something? How about having that option at all times?
o- it seems to re-scan my entire system after every little component I install. And that's slooow on a very fast machine...
-- it doesn't recognize any tutorial videos I purchased from Cakewalk.
-- it doesn't recognize that I own ZT3A+ 2 and wants to install only version 1. That's annoying and failing its purpose.
-- it doesn't offer to install my ZT3A patch packs
-- Music Creator 6 Touch, which I just purchased for my daughter is also not available in the Command Center.
 
 
 
There are potential drawbacks, like possibly unhinging the doctrine of first sale (like Steam does), depending on Cakewalk's legal implementation, which I didn't check. With Cakewalk, its not actually an issue for me personally, as it would be with games or some software that ends up not really working for me. Still, principles should matter.
 
Also, kudos to Cakewalk customer service for managing to add a truck load of my old cakewalk software to my account. I never asked about that nor provided any info, they just found and linked it all together on their own  :)  Well, my ~1989 Cakewalk 1.0 isn't there, but I never expected as much old stuff to show as it does now!  If I ever stumble over an old Cakewalk 1.0 backup, I probably won't know how to use it anymore...
 
 
Is there still a way to have a disc mailed to locations where multi Gigabyte downloads are prohibitively expensive?

For the most part I agree with your points. 

n13L5
 
-- it doesn't recognize that I own ZT3A+ 2 and wants to install only version 1. That's annoying and failing its purpose.

I too have Z3TA+2, and think it would be nice if the installer would recognize this and not install the older version.
But then again...the CC "Connected Products" only recognizes the stuff from Platinum release forward, and Z3TA+2 is listed in the "Other Products" section, and has to be installed separately using our serial and activation #s.
 
I suppose it doesn't hurt to have both installed...I've never had a problem with it.
 
Edited to add:
 
If a person is upgrading from X3, you already have all of the "Platinum Instrument Collection" and can choose not to install those if you just install one section at a time.
 

Teds_Studio

n13L5
 
-- it doesn't recognize that I own ZT3A+ 2 and wants to install only version 1. That's annoying and failing its purpose.

I too have Z3TA+2, and think it would be nice if the installer would recognize this and not install the older version.
But then again...the CC "Connected Products" only recognizes the stuff from Platinum release forward, and Z3TA+2 is listed in the "Other Products" section, and has to be installed separately using our serial and activation #s.
 
I suppose it doesn't hurt to have both installed...I've never had a problem with it.
 
Edited to add:
 
If a person is upgrading from X3, you already have all of the "Platinum Instrument Collection" and can choose not to install those if you just install one section at a time.
 

I'm hoping that 'cutoff' is just for the initial release and that Cakewalk will judiciously add everything that makes sense to be there:
 
» Patch banks and other content packs don't have expiry dates, to get the full potential out of this, they should be included for as long as the software still works with that format..
 
» Many older plugins and instruments have no equal in today's line-up.  Has anyone ever made anything to match Freefilter? (just as an example)
 
» Instruments with previous versions of Sonar would be a major benefit to have, since its a royal pain to run every previous Sonar installer to get back instruments and FX and never know how many other old files and registry entries get installed and end up left in, clogging up your system.
 
 
Regarding your last line:  That's really interesting!  So there were no changes to instruments at all, to make them work with the new Sonar?
 
In that case, its weird that the Command Center doesn't find them while scanning and lists them as green and "up-to-date"
 
Best case scenario would of course be if it could patch them incrementally...
I do realize that's too much to ask for a 1.0 release.

I think I read somewhere that people were saying that it's better to install everything thru the CC so that everything will be up to date.  But yeah, hopefully in a later release of CC it will recognize the stuff we already have.
 
I don't know of any updates to the instruments...but there might be.  I just haven't heard of any.

Go to cakewalk's official youtube channel. I just counted 15 getting started videos for the "New sonar". If you are not sure which one, they were all uploaded 1 week ago.

Go to cakewalk's official youtube channel. I just counted 15 getting started videos for the "New sonar". If you are not sure which one, they were all uploaded 1 week ago.

musichoo
Go to cakewalk's official youtube channel. I just counted 15 getting started videos for the "New sonar". If you are not sure which one, they were all uploaded 1 week ago.

Thank you very much for that!
 
I prefer local videos I can repeat without using up additional bandwidth, but that's certainly useful!

Just noticed another issue:
 
After installing I went to start Sonar Platinum from the Launcher, which brought a popup saying "Sonar is running in Demo mode" with a "click here" area (presumably to deal with the issue)
 
I click there, and it pops up
http://www.cakewalk.com/E...h=/Activate-Membership

Page Not Found

It looks like the page you were looking for no longer exists, we couldn't find it or you are just extremely lost. That's OK it happens to us all the time. Here are some popular destinations to help you along your travels."
 
 
I had the erroneous idea that being logged into both the website and the Command Center would automagically take care of activation.
 
Beyond that, I can't find any menu choice in Sonar to stick my serial number...

Furthermore, I open an existing Project that used Z3TA 2, and apparently, Command Center has taken it upon itself to uninstall Z3TA 2 without notice and replace it with Z3TA 1, as Z3TA 2 cannot be found by Sonar now  :s
The old demo song from Sonar X3, which I had changed and used to test various things is gone too...
 
Wonder why I never trust the peace with new versions and mostly feel apprehensive about touching my existing installation...
 
 
Usually, all this bs ends up wasting many hours of my time, which I can never get back. :(