Platinum upgrade from X3 professional: the same price as last year.
 
Full Pay upfront: Less than 41 cents per day
 
Monthly pay: Less than 66 cents per day
 
And CW is offering to help you pay by accepting monthly payments.
 
How is this not completely understandable?
 
X3 had 5 updates over 6 months. Now for about the same price we will get 12 months of updates.
Twice the support for the same cost.
 
How is this wrong?
 
Lots of comments about how the new features are not worth an extra 50 bucs and we DO NOT KNOW all the improvements that have been made to the interface.
 
Good thing there are actual numbers to use for this "conversation."
Good thing we are not in a bar talking politics and religion.
 
$149+ for the best DAW on the planet and lots of complaints about getting more for less.
 
Phenomenal!
 

Anderton
.... We need more idealism, we need more companies to treat their customers with respect, we need more companies that give back to communities. We need more CEOs who are actually part of the world where their products are sold. We need more people who share their knowledge instead of hoard it, and more people who realize that humans are fragile so we can be more tolerant of others' frailties.

Very well said, Craig!  Amen! 
 
The world can be changed for the better but it must come from within.  This is a great start!
 

TabSel
Well, up to NOW, there was little financial motivation for cakewalk to hunt and squash bugs, so they concentrated on feature development for the next version one occasionally put out a free patch with bug fixes.

NOW, they get paid for bug fixing, so they MIGHT be way more motivated to squash bugs fast, in order to keep subscribers subscribing, so that MIGHT have a positive effect for the product quality.

However, it remains to be seen, not promised, as they get my money NOW, whereas I get the promise of more agile software development/maintenance. This I simply can't accept, at least not for the price.

The following is true for EVERY software company that charges money for software: There have not been, are not at present, and never will be free bug fixes. Bug fixes are factored into the pricing structure of the software. 
 
It is 100% not true that Cakewalk had little financial motivation to hunt and squash bugs. Cakewalk has always had extreme financial motivation to squash bugs, because if a program is too buggy, people will switch to other DAWs. On the other hand if bugs are addressed, then people feel good about the software and will continue to support the company. I believe one of the many reasons X3 has been so successful is because of the dedication shown in releasing X3b, X3c, X3d, and X3e in quick succession to eliminate bugs. BUT those were not free updates. They were factored into the cost of what you paid for X3, whether you were a new user or updated. 
 
So really, nothing has changed.

Teksonik
Sorry, late to the thread and can't read all 33 pages.  I just upgraded from X2 P to X3 Producer for a very nice price, happy with that purchase.  Can someone point me to some information that lists what I would get for upgrading to Platinum now for $149 ?
 
An open comment to ALL software developers.  I'm not paying a monthly subscription fee for software......any software. Period. End of Story.

It's not a subscription-based rental program. You own the software. You can buy it upfront the way you do now and not make monthly payments. The ONLY difference is you can make monthly payments if that's easier for you financially and after 12 months, you OWN the software and it NEVER expires. Please read the FAQ.

Kylotan
 .... I might grab it at the $149 level just in the hope that I get enough bug fixes on top to make it worthwhile. But I'll know 12 months from now whether that gamble paid off or not.

...and that's exactly the point!  It's going to be up to Cake to give us enough 'stuff' to make us want to upgrade again in 2016!  Thanks for that!
 

Paul P

Larry Jones
FYI, I know there is a difference between core functions and extras. I do use some of the extras that have come with previous versions. In most cases, I bought those versions because of the extras.

I'm not arguing with you, but for X2, you couldn't have based your decision on what was going to be given away during the Content Club.
 

Again, let me emphasize what's planned is not what the Content Club was about. The Content Club stuff was free. Upcoming content is part of the membership program. I could never have justified the time required to come up with original content had it been given away for free. Now I can. Those Amp Sims and the processor FX chains I designed would never have happened under the Content Club model.

Anderton
It's not a subscription-based rental program. You own the software. You can buy it upfront the way you do now and not make monthly payments. The ONLY difference is you can make monthly payments if that's easier for you financially and after 12 months, you OWN the software and it NEVER expires. Please read the FAQ.

Craig, it is a subscription or rental-based program for the first year for those who opt to pay per month.
 
What you say is only true starting with the second year (well, actually the 12th payment of the first year, so after 11 months and a day).
 
 

Larry Jones
I'm talking about unknown extras that are offered some time down the road, and are not available to be evaluated at purchase time. I'm talking about having the information necessary to make an informed purchase, or decline to make the purchase. Under the new system I would have to pay to find out what those are, and they will not be included if I reinstate later, meaning I will have to maintain a membership in case something useful is released.

Cakewalk has a track record that goes back 28 years. I think there's been enough time to evaluate whether on balance, Cakewalk comes up with enough cool stuff in a year to justify upgrading. Not to mention that Cakewalk will be giving more advance notice about what's coming up, although still, it can't go too far into the future because that would tip off competitors on how to counter it.

Paul P

Anderton
It's not a subscription-based rental program. You own the software. You can buy it upfront the way you do now and not make monthly payments. The ONLY difference is you can make monthly payments if that's easier for you financially and after 12 months, you OWN the software and it NEVER expires. Please read the FAQ.

Craig, it is a subscription or rental-based program for the first year for those who opt to pay per month.

But that's semantics. A program is the entirety of the model. In a rental program, you rent. Obviously this is not a rental program because at its conclusion, you stop "renting" and own the software. The closest you can come to a rental program is to call the monthly payment variation a "rent-to-own" program.

Anderton

Paul P

Anderton
It's not a subscription-based rental program. You own the software. You can buy it upfront the way you do now and not make monthly payments. The ONLY difference is you can make monthly payments if that's easier for you financially and after 12 months, you OWN the software and it NEVER expires. Please read the FAQ.

Craig, it is a subscription or rental-based program for the first year for those who opt to pay per month.

But that's semantics. A program is the entirety of the model. In a rental program, you rent. Obviously this is not a rental program because at its conclusion, you stop "renting" and own the software. The closest you can come to a rental program is to call the monthly payment variation a "rent-to-own" program.

But if you pay (ONLY) less than 12 months (i.e 1 or 3 or 9 or 11) then it is only a rental as it will revert to demo mode and you do not have at your disposal an unlocked program.