Karyn

Paul P
I'd like to update, but I can't swing 150$ right now.

This is the precise reason The Bakers introduced the monthly plan.
 
Let's look at the math..
Buy now for $149 or wait and miss the promo price and pay $199.  That's $50 extra..
Buy now on the monthly plan, pay 12 x $14.99 = $179.88.  Still a saving of $19.12 on the "regular" price.

According to your math, because I'm short of money I'd be better off spending more.
 
I can't afford 150$  but I could afford 180$.
 
I prefer to believe that Cakewalk wants to offer the ability to rent Sonar by the month, rather than take advantage of short-sighted economics or worse, secretly leaking money out of a relationship.
 

Paul P

Karyn

Paul P
I'd like to update, but I can't swing 150$ right now.

This is the precise reason The Bakers introduced the monthly plan.
 
Let's look at the math..
Buy now for $149 or wait and miss the promo price and pay $199.  That's $50 extra..
Buy now on the monthly plan, pay 12 x $14.99 = $179.88.  Still a saving of $19.12 on the "regular" price.

According to your math, because I'm short of money I'd be better off spending more.
 
I can't afford 150$  but I could afford 180$.
 
I prefer to believe that Cakewalk wants to offer the ability to rent Sonar by the month, rather than take advantage of short-sighted economics or worse, secretly leaking money out of a relationship.

The part you missed out in your reply is Right Now.
 
I can't afford 150$ Right Now, but I could (or might) afford 180$ spread over a year...
 
More importantly,  after February it wont be $150,  it'll be $200,  and whatever way you try to fix the pricing to make it look bad, paying $180 over the year by starting now is $20 better than paying $200 next month..

Karyn
The part you missed out in your reply is Right Now.
 
I can't afford 150$ Right Now, but I could (or might) afford 180$ spread over a year...

 
That's what I called short-sighted economics.
 

More importantly,  after February it wont be $150,  it'll be $200,  and whatever way you try to fix the pricing to make it look bad, paying $180 over the year by starting now is $20 better than paying $200 next month..

Jabs aside, that's just plain weird.  May I suggest a home economics course ?
 

LJB
Personally I think the deadline should be 30 days after all the bugs have been sorted out :O)

 
Well, the first update after a release is traditionally mostly bug fixes, it is slated to come out in February, and the pricing ends on the 28th, so at least you'll have a few days 

Paul P

Karyn
The part you missed out in your reply is Right Now.
 
I can't afford 150$ Right Now, but I could (or might) afford 180$ spread over a year...

 
That's what I called short-sighted economics.
 

More importantly,  after February it wont be $150,  it'll be $200,  and whatever way you try to fix the pricing to make it look bad, paying $180 over the year by starting now is $20 better than paying $200 next month..

Jabs aside, that's just plain weird.  May I suggest a home economics course ?

Wouldn't your money be better spent on Sonar? 
 
It is simple.  You can't afford $150 this month.  That's fine.  Can you afford $15?
If you CAN then go for the monthly deal and the upgrade will cost you $180.
If you wait until next month the introductory price ends and it will cost $200 up front.  That's $20 more than the current monthly deal.

Paul P
 
According to your math, because I'm short of money I'd be better off spending more.
 
I can't afford 150$  but I could afford 180$.
 
I prefer to believe that Cakewalk wants to offer the ability to rent Sonar by the month, rather than take advantage of short-sighted economics or worse, secretly leaking money out of a relationship.

 
Strange then that they give you the product after 12 months rather than insist you keep "renting" to use it.

Paul P
I prefer to believe that Cakewalk wants to offer the ability to rent Sonar by the month, rather than take advantage of short-sighted economics or worse, secretly leaking money out of a relationship.

CakeAlexSStrange then that they give you the product after 12 months rather than insist you keep "renting" to use it.

 
I'm not insisting on anything, and this is where these discussions take a turn for the worse.
 
For your enlightenment, I said "I prefer to believe".  Meaning I choose to look at this a certain way because the other ways are economically or morally corrupt.  Neither you, nor anybody else, can argue that for the first 11 months you are not renting Sonar (if you're paying by the month).  Call it whatever you want, renting is as good a term as any other.
 
While we're splitting hairs, Cakewalk is in no way 'giving' you the product after 12 months.  That's crazy.

Paul P
Neither you, nor anybody else, can argue that for the first 11 months you are not renting Sonar (if you're paying by the month). 

Well actually, I can but it's getting into the level of pickiness reserved for contract negotiations...with Membership, when you sign up for monthly payments, you agree to commit to a 12-month term, not a monthly rental. So for the first 11 months, you are completing the first 11 months of your term. Some people have said that if you stop after 11 months, then that proves it was a rental because you didn't get to keep the software. But you didn't get to keep the software because you abrogated the agreement that specified you were committed to buying the software over 12 months. Like I said, picky but there is a difference.
 
FWIW Cakewalk had two main motivations for offering software monthly as well as upfront. First, people had asked for a monthly payment plan so they could have the software now, even if they couldn't afford it. Second, it was hoped that this inducement would cause more people to try SONAR because they didn't need to save up for a year, that they would realize how cool SONAR is, and make it their primary DAW. In any event there's a choice and people can do what they want. I think more people go for the upfront option than the monthly one.
 
 

Putting Craigs opinion aside for the moment which I agree with, the first 11 months you could treat like rental sure. If you stop after that you won't be able to use it. That has to be common sense otherwise what is the point of even offering it.
 
After 12 months you can use it for as long as you like ... However if Cakewalk wanted a rental model whereby they hook you in forever... then they wouldn't allow you to run the product if you stopped paying after 12 months. I prefer to think Cakewalk is simply allowing people with very low budgets to own a license for the product after a period of time that won't expire, and that has to be a good thing for both Cakewalk and it's varied user base.

THE answer to this is if you don't complete YOUR end by paying ALL the months, you haven't paid in FULL for the software. So there is NO reason why you should be able to keep it, if you pay monthly and LESS than 12 monthly payments.  Simple as that.  Why would they let you pay 10 months of payments, and then keep the full product?  As many have tried to explain...it's NOT a rental...it's a contractual agreement.

If you don't finish paying the mortgage on your house, should the bank give you possession?  You're NOT renting from the bank; you made a contractual agreement.  Until the mortgage is paid off, you "technically" don't own the house, but in all practical purposes, you ARE the owner, being able to make ALL final decisions how the house is used, maintained, updated, decorated... (within the law, of course).

The fact that people STILL don't get this basic agreement, is almost mind boggling.  Personally at this point, if I were Cakewalk, I'd basically stop trying to explain this to those that disagree with what is ACTUALLY presented and let them go their own way.  It would just weed out all the idiots that potentially might use Sonar and the direct result might be that these forums are TOTALLY populated by informed, educated people, helping and solving problems in an informed, educated process.  Trolls would then just become all that much more evident in their first few posts.