cparmerlee
bapu
"And every version includes 12 months of membership meaning you will always get the latest and greatest version no matter when you make your purchase."
So I can skip out now or after 12 months and then pay the going rate to upgrade ANYTIME and get EVERYTHING that was delivered from the time of my current version (X3e) and that moment in time. And of course I will get 12 moths of upcoming releases.
No I don't think that is correct. As I understand it, you don't get the things that were delivered during the time that your membership was not in force. Obviously if we are talking about the core DAW, chances are they would put out a new release that is cumulative. But if there are VSTs or other functions delivered while you were off the air, my understanding is that you don't get those.
And please not there is absolutely no software architecture reason why they cannot deliver optional components of the core DAW and require that you pay a make-up payment for those optional components if you let your subscription lapse. I'm not saying anybody has such motives, but it is certainly something that could be done consistent with the parameters of this plan. Maybe I shouldn't be giving Cakewalk any ideas here. :) My bad.
So imagine the list of add-ons that are part of Producer. And imagine they were delivered a few each month instead of all on the day you licensed the product, you could definitely miss out on part of the product's value.
And I don't think you read my example with the case where a major function is delivered a few weeks before your subscription expires. You get the download, but not patches or support if there should be any problems with that.
Yes, you can certainly decide to go off the air and live with what you have, in self-support mode. But as I said, a primary objective of this program, IMHO, is to put some pain on people who have customarily skipped releases.
I have purchased X1, X2, and X3 upgrades, so I am likely to do the continuous subscription thing. But please note that was not $150 a year. That was about $150 three times in five years. And now we will be talking more like $200 a year. So that is basically a doubling of the price.
This is something I wrestled with but look at it this way. They are going to still want to entice new customers with the REALLY good stuff like AD, TH2, Melodyne that have become mainstays of the program. So as that list grows and they become staples of the program you will be getting what a new user would get (who are being enticed by those shiny bobbles). What you will likely miss out on is stuff like what would have been in the X2 Content club or things like the Concrete Limiter or CA2A or one of plugs from third party vendors all of which you could buy yourself anyway AND they will post what is upcoming so if you see something coming up that you like you'll have advanced warning that perhaps NOW is the time to reup.
So you gotta ask... what are those extras worth to you? And THAT is how they'll get SOME perpetual customers. Then everyone else can come and go as they please so Cake makes money there as well (and we get our updates/upgrades whenever we want).
The thing is this could go HORRIBLY for a stupid person (someone who pays month to month for 11 months then quits) or it could go ridiculously well for a smart person who is paying attention.
For the average customer they'll be totally fine and have plenty of choices.
Seriously if I thought this sucked I would be saying so. It really REALLY doesn't suck. It just takes some getting used to... because it is indeed a little convuluted and takes some processing.
You're smar though. Just poke around and you'll see what I mean.
Cheers.