tecknot
It's cool that Cakewalk is free, but didn't Meng tell us that it would be free to SONAR/Cakewalk customers and that's why we were required to sign up at BandLab so our accounts would migrate over and qualify us for Cakewalk for free.  If it is free to everyone, then we really didn't have to transfer our accounts (with our email add's) to BandLab, just create new ones when/now that Cakewalk is available.  It just seems a little disingenuous even though it was innocuous.
 
Kind regards,
 
tecknot

It may just be as simple as maintaining licensenses for non-core licenses for add-ons like paid pro channel modules, etc.  In any case, i am not too worried about giving a company info they already have access too.

 

Noel Borthwick [Cakewalk]
 
An general unlocker for platinum is not really up to BandLab to give away since there are 3rd party license agreements in the platinum bundle that BandLab is not liable for. BandLab acquired the IP for Cakewalk products not the other stuff that was redistributed by Cakewalk, Inc as part of the platinum bundle.
 

I'm obviously missing something - AD2 and Melodyne would seem to be the main things that are no longer bundled, but IIRC they required separate activation from XLN and Celemony respectively and are not locked only to Platinum anyway, so what is the difference ? Existing customers paid and already have a licence to use them, new customers will not be getting them without paying. Overloud and some others have already issued jailbreak codes to unlock them from Sonar when the brown stuff first hit the fan and the remaining stuff that is locked into use only with Sonar is...........well locked into use only with Sonar, so again we already have that facility and the new bandlab customers will not be getting them, so........???

'Free'
To whom?
Anyone on earth with a 64 machine, or only those who have signed up and/or already have a legitimate cakewalk license?

'Free'
To whom?
Anyone on earth with a 64 machine, or only those who have signed up and/or already have a legitimate cakewalk license?

HARDDRlVER
'Free'
To whom?
Anyone on earth with a 64 machine, or only those who have signed up and/or already have a legitimate cakewalk license?

Anyone on earth.

... sorry wookiee! He said it, I dinint.

eikelbijter
There will be some mechanism of monetization, as there always is, and to pretend otherwise is kinda rude. Ads? Probably... selling of information? Most likely... Holding the program I and many others depend on to make a living hostage? You bet ya....
 
Sorry, just trying to keep it real...

That's not necessarily real. Not everything has to be a profit center. For example when Harmony Central.com first became part of Musician's Friend, it lost money. However, MF had acquired a place for advertising that was extremely cost-effective. The money those ads (which would have cost much more to place in other media) brought in from people clicking through and buying more than offset the losses. And because HC actually saved money overall, it didn't need to be monetized from MF's sales.
 
Marketing always shows up as a loss on a corporate balance sheet. But that doesn't mean it isn't worth doing and as the example above shows, it may pay for itself. Think about it: BandLab has now gotten on the radar of a huge community, as well as the people who saw the press releases about "Sonar" now being free. In terms of this community, BandLab reached an incredibly targeted list - 100% people who use computers to make music! (That was my long-term goal for Tech+Music - to be able to sell advertising in it to help support Cakewalk by being able to go to companies and say "So...do you want to reach a really targeted audience?")
 
In terms of pricing, software has been devalued to the point where I believe BandLab is just accepting that reality. Software's value, though, is something else. If being able to download software with Platinum's capabilities for free won't draw people to a web site, I don't know what will. Besides, it seems like there will be add-ons which if compelling enough, will help fund further CbB development.
 
Unless you're buying Harmony guitars and amps, Mono cases, purchasing products from music stores in Southeast Asia, donating to the tip jar, etc., I don't think you are doing anything in particular to monetize CbB. Just enjoy the fact that others are

Noel Borthwick [Cakewalk
 
An general unlocker for platinum is not really up to BandLab to give away since there are 3rd party license agreements in the platinum bundle that BandLab is not liable for. BandLab acquired the IP for Cakewalk products not the other stuff that was redistributed by Cakewalk, Inc as part of the platinum bundle.

Does it mean that after killing Splat activation servers, those who previously bought lifetime updates will loose access to some stuff like for example bifilter, when doing a Windows re-install?
 
Still not quite getting why not putting an offline unlock code or unlock app into old cakewalk accounts to make legacy deals fair for those who bought their software.

chris.r

Noel Borthwick [Cakewalk
 
An general unlocker for platinum is not really up to BandLab to give away since there are 3rd party license agreements in the platinum bundle that BandLab is not liable for. BandLab acquired the IP for Cakewalk products not the other stuff that was redistributed by Cakewalk, Inc as part of the platinum bundle.

Does it mean that after killing Splat activation servers, those who previously bought lifetime updates will loose access to some stuff like for example bifilter, when doing a Windows re-install?
 
Still not quite getting why not putting an offline unlock code or unlock app into old cakewalk accounts to make legacy deals fair for those who bought their software.

Well we haven't reached that point yet so for now, I intend to remain open minded and receptive to Bandlab's ideas.
 
So far, they've fulfilled their promises

As said over and over- There will be no need for those unlock codes. What purpose would they serve now?
As said over and over the people who would have supplied them are gone. Why should Bandlab even spend 5 minutes worry about the handful of people who will be wanting to install Splat 10 years from now. 
 
The servers are still running and we have been told there are no plans to shut them down. 
We now have a new improved version of what was once Splat so why worry about installing the old version.
We have installers and codes for most of the 3rd party stuff. I'm not sure what would be missing? 
If you didn't get those from Overloud and? ( I forget) you might still want to do that. As I remember all they waned was a screenshot of your Splat "about" screen showing your serial number. 
 
The day they announced Bandlabs take over was the end of me worrying about the future of being able to continue with Cakewalk.
The only people who seem to be still worrying are either paranoid or haven't taken the time to read and follow what has happened.