Anderton
Another option might be pay for a month, and if you cancel within 30 days, you get a refund. That way it doesn't cost you anything to demo, you get to try out the latest and greatest, and there's no need for Cakewalk to come up with a new demo version every month.
 
Before I suggest this to Cakewalk, is there some obvious, horribly stupid flaw in this idea that I'm missing?

The only thing I can see is the administrative overhead in the refund process especially as the Cakewalk store is run through Cleverbridge. Not insurmountable just a thought. I'd also worry at getting the full Sonar code into hands that may have a motive to crack the program.
Maybe a version that includes the Sonar Platinum program only and the Sonitus plugins. It would require repackaging the program elements.

I am still confused with the "new demo" comments... Demo Mode is baked into the program (or it could not shift to it). I actually forget what demo mode does now though, just prevents saving?

mettelus
I am still confused with the "new demo" comments... Demo Mode is baked into the program (or it could not shift to it). I actually forget what demo mode does now though, just prevents saving?

So maybe it's possible to allow download without a serial number. At the moment you have to have bought a serial number to get the download. Kind of do it backwards. I wonder what sort of recoding issues would be involved.

Anderton
Another option might be pay for a month, and if you cancel within 30 days, you get a refund. That way it doesn't cost you anything to demo, you get to try out the latest and greatest, and there's no need for Cakewalk to come up with a new demo version every month.
 
Before I suggest this to Cakewalk, is there some obvious, horribly stupid flaw in this idea that I'm missing?

Craig, seeing as there isn't an official demo download available, I'd be happy to try your suggestion 
However, I'd like conformation that it's a viable alternative.  If you were to suggest this to Cakewalk, please could you comment on the outcome here, or maybe in a new thread?
I'm not and never have been interested in pirated software, I simply want to trial the latest iteration of Sonar for free, as I have with all previous releases.
 
Thanks 

 
It seems odd that they would make a public (forum) announcement about releasing it early and then go so quiet about it.
 
-Susan




Very odd indeed!

indeed indeed! andrew even posted on the kvr announcement thread that it would be available "from day 1" and when i asked about that here, a dev (i forget which one, sorry) replied that "technically it was available day 1" by which i assume he meant the "return to demo mode" functionality if not activated/membership not current...
 
i certainly won't be buying without demoing first

We're only 3 months into this release. I can't remember a previous demo being brought out in that time frame. Usually in the second quarter after a release from memory..

Anderton
Another option might be pay for a month, and if you cancel within 30 days, you get a refund. That way it doesn't cost you anything to demo, you get to try out the latest and greatest, and there's no need for Cakewalk to come up with a new demo version every month.
 
Before I suggest this to Cakewalk, is there some obvious, horribly stupid flaw in this idea that I'm missing?

Yep, the bit about paying up front for a demo and then CW having to administer refunds as reading this forum there are clearly issues with it and the installer program, which I suspect is the reason for the lack of the promised day 1 demo. But, other than that........
 
I will admit that I don't have the latest incarnation, so I speak from a point of view only gleaned so far on what I read and observe here, but frankly at the moment the whole thing sounds like an awful lot of faffing around compared to just having the discs and a serial number and then downloading the odd patch here and there. Progress for the sake of progress ? Fixing the things that weren't broken rather than concentrating on what was ? I don't know, I want to like it, but I'm just not filled with confidence in the whole package right now.

mudgel
We're only 3 months into this release. I can't remember a previous demo being brought out in that time frame. Usually in the second quarter after a release from memory..

Hi Mike-
 
Right, and if they hadn't said "we want to offer a demo on day 1" (see http://forum.cakewalk.com/FindPost/3144986) it wouldn't seem particularly strange to me that they haven't said anything further about it yet. 
 
-Susan

 
Cakewalk's 'membership' model has been favourably viewed when compared with Adobe's 'subscription' model.
 
Maybe it would be a real PR feather in the cap for Cakewalk if they adopted Adobe's free monthly demo system. Thinking about it, Adobe arguably has less competition that Cakewalk, so them offering a free, fully featured (i.e. no restrictions whatsoever, including saving) demo as they do might seem counterintuitive, in as much as you'd think that there being more competition out there in the DAW market, it would be those companies that would offer the more enticing demo version.
 
I honestly believe that charging for a demo version, even selling it as a month's membership (so it would be fully featured), seems a little bit mean.