Anderton
It's perfectly fine for people to have opinions, but I just wish those opinions were based on facts.

My opinion is based on the available facts.  You are SPECULATING about how aggressively Cakewalk might drive this new program.  I submit they don't know the answer to that yet because that will depend on how much chaos this program causes on the sales front.
 
I know that I have paid about $150 for X1, X2, and X3 Producer upgrades.  That is about $450 in 4 years -- just over $100 a year if my math is correct.  And the fact is that this program is stated to cost me $200 a year going forward.  In my particular case, that is just short of a doubling of the price.  That's a fact.  That Cakewalk MIGHT offer a discount a year from now is SPECULATION.  That Cakewalk might actually deliver function at a faster rate is SPECULATION -- certainly not guaranteed anywhere in these terms..
 
As I say, every company is entitled to offer their product as they see fit.  In my case, I will probably do the first year and see how it goes.
 

cparmerlee

Anderton
It's perfectly fine for people to have opinions, but I just wish those opinions were based on facts.

My opinion is based on the available facts.  You are SPECULATING about how aggressively Cakewalk might drive this new program.  I submit they don't know the answer to that yet because that will depend on how much chaos this program causes on the sales front.
 
I know that I have paid about $150 for X1, X2, and X3 Producer upgrades.  That is about $450 in 4 years -- just over $100 a year if my math is correct.  And the fact is that this program is stated to cost me $200 a year going forward.  In my particular case, that is just short of a doubling of the price.  That's a fact.  That Cakewalk MIGHT offer a discount a year from now is SPECULATION.  That Cakewalk might actually deliver function at a faster rate is SPECULATION -- certainly not guaranteed anywhere in these terms..
 
As I say, every company is entitled to offer their product as they see fit.  In my case, I will probably do the first year and see how it goes.
 

$450 in 4 years for 3upgrades , ok  , but with their new model they might release (ok i say might) 2 versions 
worth of updates in 1 year , so in your case your price per year is going up, but the amount of features (and fixes) 'will ' be greater  thus giving more value in the end (theoretically)  , let's see how this turns out , maybe CW 
could reconsider after year one and allow to buy the program up to that version in 6 month increment subscriptions or similar.
 

potpourri
with their new model they might release (ok i say might) 2 versions 
worth of updates in 1 year ,

I agree.  That MIGHT happen.  I'm OK with it, at least for the first year.  My view is that the new version seems a little light in value compared to X3, but it is a respectable amount of new function that I will benefit from even if there is no additional value delivered during 2015.
 
But I do think there is a lot of risk of this program chasing away fence-sitters and potential new users.  And if that happens in big way, that will make it more difficult to fund development at a high level.  This is just an opinion, and nobody (inside or outside of Cakewalk) can say for certain how that will turn out.  It largely depends on whether products like Reaper, StudioOne, and Cubase adopt a similar model.
 
And I think people may not be looking at the "skip release" scenario quite right.  The purpose of eliminating the "X3", "X4", "X5" naming is to move away from the concept of periodic major releases.  If we take Cakewalk at their word, there wouldn't necessarily be a "release" to skip.  Sure, a person could let their subscription lapse and not make another payment until there was a specific new feature they just can't live without.  So in that sense, the "skip release" thinking makes sense.  I'm just saying it isn't like deciding to skip X2 and get back in at X3, for example.

cparmerlee

potpourri
with their new model they might release (ok i say might) 2 versions 
worth of updates in 1 year ,

  My view is that the new version seems a little light in value compared to X3, but it is a respectable amount of new function that I will benefit from even if there is no additional value delivered during 2015.

i'm not long enough a sonar user to comment wich version had the most important feature implemented , i can say though that i own (aside from a considerable amount of hardware)  reaper , flstudio , tracktion ,energy xt and reason,
each has their merits but for me sonar seems to have one of the best value considering
 ,   i have quite taken a liking for sonar since it has quite some classic features from my atari days , and audiosnap wich i find easy to work with(i have x3e studio and allready payed for prof2015) ,   a good reverb plugin alone would set you back more than what  100-150?,  so the new overloud convolution verb in prof/platinum is allready a good start , but it's features that enhance the workflow and midieditor i look forward to .
  

cparmerlee

Anderton
It's perfectly fine for people to have opinions, but I just wish those opinions were based on facts.

My opinion is based on the available facts.  You are SPECULATING about how aggressively Cakewalk might drive this new program.

 
I am not speculating about how aggressively Cakewalk will drive this new program. I know what at least some of the plans are.
 
But also, I have made no unconditional statement that the program will be a success. I have always made a conditional statement: It is up to Cakewalk to create a product that people want to buy. IF they do, THEN my belief is that the program will be successful.
 

I know that I have paid about $150 for X1, X2, and X3 Producer upgrades.  That is about $450 in 4 years -- just over $100 a year if my math is correct.

 
I'm not saying your math isn't correct. In your post you based your opinion on an upgrade cycle of 18 months. That was wrong. I pointed out that it's more like 13 months. Obviously X4 didn't come out in 2014, but a few changes have happened along the way, if you know what I mean...there was a fallow period prior to X3, and a long wait for the next version. Cakewalk has traditionally done yearly updates, and history supports that.
 

And the fact is that this program is stated to cost me $200 a year going forward.  In my particular case, that is just short of a doubling of the price.  That's a fact.  That Cakewalk MIGHT offer a discount a year from now is SPECULATION.

 
One more time, from the Membership benefits page: "Members are also entitled to free technical support and discounted Membership renewals." That statement is a matter of public record, not speculation.
 

That Cakewalk might actually deliver function at a faster rate is SPECULATION -- certainly not guaranteed anywhere in these terms.

 
Cakewalk has made significant, physical, already existing changes in the software, the way of implementing updates, and the way of delivering updates. There is now an infrastructure in place that allows delivering functions at a faster rate. That is not speculation. I really don't think that Cakewalk went through a year's worth of effort to create this system in order not to use it. I could be wrong, but I doubt it.

Anderton
One more time, from the Membership benefits page: "Members are also entitled to free technical support and discounted Membership renewals." That statement is a matter of public record, not speculation.

Are you saying the membership renewal for Platinum is not $199, or is $199 the "discounted" price?  If it isn't $199, then what is it?  As far as I know, the only fact on the table is $199, and that's what I based my opinion on.

I wish we had more time for the $149 promo subscription to move from X3 to Platinum. It is almost February and Platinum has not been released to the general Sonar base. I am antsy about being an early adopter because it is pretty much essential to me to be able to make my music without being damned by new release bugs. I see messages about problems with Melodyne and NI Kontact plugins (although from what I have read, they are not common to all users).
 
I started with Cakewalk at the beginning somehow getting a beta test floppy disk from Twelve Tones way back then (I wasn't the best choice, ... I used it a great deal but was not prompt in reporting bugs). I had a brief stint with Cubase, but huffed off after a few years a bit grumpy about the dongle and also their attitude that a discussion of a Cubase without a dongle was verboten on their boards. I have been loyal and have always managed to upgrade, although for the X series, I always upgraded when the price was lowered to $99.
 
Platinum seems to have improvements, but certainly does not qualify as a upgrade level improvement especially considering X3 has been out more than a year. It might be worthwhile for me to wait to subscribe even if it costs me $199, but that does represent a 100% increase in the bump I am accustomed to suffering.  I'm sure I will bite the bullet, but not with a smile on my face.
 
For the big picture, I am concerned because in the scheme of software development there has always been a flow: Company eats the cost of development --> released product returns the development cost and some profits which allow for further development (loop back). This subscription scheme however seems to attempt to pay ahead so that even though development occurs the money for the development has already been garnered and spent. Come tough times there is no longer a backup surplus for development. It is much like the 'no-no' of paying a contractor to do work on your house and paying the cost up front. Good for the contractor, but bad for you. I'm not really saying this could be an immediate problem, but it just nags at me from a distant corner of my consciousness.

You can still use X3 if you run into any problems with Sonar 2015. You shouldn't have any majors issues. 

 
There have been a number of occasions when it's been shown that Cakewalk not only listens to its customers, but also takes action on such comments.
 
From a personal point of view, I always remember one particular gesture that not only displayed a complete understanding of the customers' point of view, but also resulted in some excellent positive action on their part. To me, actions speak louder than words, and the actions they took at the time was both magnanimous and well-received.
 
To briefly summarise, a lot of SONAR Home Studio 4 and 6 customers were disappointed with what we perceived to be a 'dumbing down' of the follow up product Home Studio 7 (and Home Studio 7XL). There was a lot of adverse activity in the HS forum following the release, and I'm certain that a few of us also contacted Cakewalk directly to complain. To their eternal credit, Cakewalk came back to us and, although they stated clearly that HS7 would remain basically unchanged, they offered us an extremely generous deal for upgrading to SONAR 8 Studio.
 
As I say, it meant a lot to me personally that I knew we'd been listened to, and that a satisfactory outcome had been arrived at. And dare I say, the proof is in the pudding. I for one was very seriously considering jumping ship to another DAW, but the result of Cakewalk's understanding was that after having used SONAR 8 Studio for a while, I quickly upgraded to SONAR 8 Producer, and have continued upgrading/updating SONAR Producer/Platinum ever since.
 
It's often well remembered that just as the best advertisement and PR any company can receive is by word of mouth, the opposite is also true; 'bad news travels fast' as they say.
 
So I'm hedging my bets a little and have gone with Platinum. Based on past performance and through direct experience of being a customer since Guitar Tracks 2, I think that's a good decision. And as Cakewalk staff have been keen to state, this new modus operandi really does put the onus on them to deliver the goods, not just annually, but continually.
 
To me, that's worth my $149 now. It's up to Cakewalk to ensure that it's worth my $199 this time next year.

John
You can still use X3 if you run into any problems with Sonar 2015. You shouldn't have any majors issues. 

Yes, that is my plan. I do like that I can still run X3 if I really have a problem. In fact, looking at my hard disk I can still run 8.5, X1, X2 and X3. I think even if I subscribe immediately, I will not bring any X3 projects into Platinum, I would just use it to start new projects.