John
  I feel sorry for those that didn't have an opportunity to take it but I do not feel sorry for those that didn't want it.

You just said what I was trying to say in my first few posts. Perfectly put.
 
And you guys are right a lot has changed.
In my opinion it appears cake is not only trying to build a top 3 DAW, but more they are trying to build the best DAW. on the market. they have been doing very well.
 
FYI- glad this thread has turned positive. I felt partially responsible for sending it in a negative direction.
People like Brando and AzSlow I respect, I don't want to debate with those guys. We are strong opinionated people that's all. Probably why we are still here on this forum after all these years

My 2 cents worth, or maybe 1 cent, I thought that Cakewalk sent the email mid May that promised big things on June 1st.  However the lifetime updates was leaked at that point and users started jumping on the offer. (I did as well) Then we found out that the offer was good thru August. So that was 3 1/2 months.  Then it was extended thru December.  So in total the lifetime offer was good for 7 1/2 months. 
 
Please tell me if I am wrong on the numbers...  
 
I know that this is picking a nit, but just checking my memory.   

I think that is accurate. The part that backfired was it was initially pushed as stealth marketing IIRC which fell through because of email issues and people talk on the forum (go figure). Backlash opened the offer up and then extended it. Current state is that renewals are $250/year for people that missed it to make up the revenue gap.

chuckebaby

John
 I feel sorry for those that didn't have an opportunity to take it but I do not feel sorry for those that didn't want it.

You just said what I was trying to say in my first few posts. Perfectly put.
 
And you guys are right a lot has changed.
In my opinion it appears cake is not only trying to build a top 3 DAW, but more they are trying to build the best DAW. on the market. they have been doing very well.
 
FYI- glad this thread has turned positive. I felt partially responsible for sending it in a negative direction.
People like Brando and AzSlow I respect, I don't want to debate with those guys. We are strong opinionated people that's all. Probably why we are still here on this forum after all these years

Chuck remember we went out of our way to make sure that one member in particular could get the lifetime update. That is how strong we were about it. The problem was there was a significant group that were very negative about it and kept dreaming up reasons why it was a bad deal. Nothing we said seemed to make any difference to them. Now I wonder if any of those here were influenced by that group and didn't take advantage of the deal at the time?
 
To me it seemed CW offered the deal for the whole year. I know they didn't but it seemed like it. 
 
One thing is for sure, I'm glad I took advantage of it! 

I wish everyone could win here. Is there a way for everyone to like the current setup? How about a future deal?
 
One thing I never excelled at was business, but I do know simple math. Selling 500 units for a bit less is better than selling 100 units for more and alienating customers. As Craig has noted, the daw market is both competitive and much smaller than some think it is. One guy developed the Adaptive limiter. There wasn't team of coders on it. Most of these companies are a handful of software engineers. 
 
I don't know what Cake needs to break even.  Someone in corporate decided to set the buy in prices. I'll admit they are somewhat higher than the buy in of a few competitors. We could split hairs here and say that the competitors programs aren't as feature laden and this would likely be true in most cases. If you see this as added value and an advantage you would at least be partially right. Lowering the day to day price to the same levels would be seen as more of a value. That would put them on par with the same pricing on updates/ upgrades as the competitors with the added advantage of regular features and updates added faster usually than the competition. Where competitor A is adding some bug fixes, Cakewalk is adding adaptive limiter to the program. A major plug in.
 
Maybe the answer is to lower the day to day price in order to add value. OK maybe I should run for cover now. I don't mean to frustrate Cake if they need the revenue.
 
I wonder how many would be more apt to purchase in the same price range as the others? Would this add more business? 
I see this as more of a long term win/win compared to offering lifetime updates which isn't financially feasible in the long term.
 
A Sonar user couldn't argue that the others were less expensive when you take into account that they come around wanting coin every year or two as well. 
 
If I were in the position of many who can't justify upgrading every year. I might go two years. Not a perfect solution, but maybe a placeholder until other things get sorted out. Maybe wait until a special comes along like the one now offered to X users until the 31st.

I'm sure I don't understand your post Starise. But I do not think for a moment that CW is raising prices on a whim. I think they looked long and hard at this and found to stay in business they needed to raise them.  Actually I thought for a long time that the price structure was a little low for a pro DAW. Yes I benefited but I knew too that Cakewalk use to be around $1200.      

I guess I'm saying that although I understand they have their reasons, I know people like to go with what works for the best value they can find. Plenty of other things work at the level many home studio users are at. Do they work as well? Probably not in most cases. Is that a valid trade off? Maybe.
 
I'm mainly referring to the flagship program Platinum. I'm comparing it to the flagship of a few competitors. There are many other considerations as you know. It isn't just about price. But price is a BIG one.

Brando

chuckebaby
I should mention though.. Im with you, I hope they offer it again for a special.
Like a "3 days only" deal. Other people such as yourself deserve to get it.

And the people who miss the 3 days will look for another offer down the road, etc etc etc.
No offence to the OP, but the forums were full of people at the time the lifetime deal was first announced proclaiming the immediate demise of Cakewalk, that monthly updates would fail, that Cake was using the revenue from lifetime updates to fund Apple development, and who questioned the value of paying for bug fixes, etc. In the process a lot of people chose not to participate. 
The fact that there have been many customers since saying that they wished lifetime updates would be offered again is I think a credit to Cakewalk, and how successful the program has been.
Yes I am a very happy lifetime subscriber.
No offense again, but participation was a more difficult choice at the time given the uncertainty of how this would take shape. It was a leap of faith decision to invest in Cakewalk and spring for lifetime updates. Today it would be a true no-brainer, having seen the successful rollout of the whole process.
In other words, it's far, far easier now, given the benefit of hindsight to say - " hey ya, I'm in...."

Yup, the drama was pretty thick.  

I have an idea for CW: graduated renewals. Each year that you stay current reduces next year's re-up price by X%. After ten years you get the lifetime deal free of charge. This would promote brand loyalty and keep the revenue flowing.
 
I can't know if this would actually work without access to proprietary information, e.g. whether the price reduction would be offset by reduced attrition and increased sales.

I have to admit, I was one of the angry ones when they extended the offer. I already ordered it knowing I was going to have to extend the payments for a few months and pay interest.
I don't like to pay interest. So I would of waited to pay for the lifetime offer for several months to avoid the interest charges. All in all it was only a few dollars. I was actually more mad of the Cakewalk Store charging me Chicago sales tax. I'm not against paying state sales tax, I live in Illinois, but not Chicago. The tax rate is insane!
 
I'm liking what I see from Cakewalk in the monthly updates. Of course I'm one of the customers that harps on Staff view improvements. Maybe before my infinity updates expires Cakewalk will implement them
 
Hey Bitflipper, I like that idea. Maybe not free after a certain time period but at least a low charge upgrade say after 3 straight years of upgrading.