It is good news that the royalties are no longer required. But we are talking about 10 bucks for what was pretty LAME (literally and figuratively). I already paid, so I don't care about that. I am more interested in seeing stronger capabilities on the mastering/publication side. We have had lengthy discussion about the arcane ways that Sonar makes it difficult to something as basic as exporting the mix of the entire song. This whole area needs to be a lot stronger, simpler, and more intuitive. MP3 is part of that.
I rarely use the SONAR MP3 converter. It is very slow compared to external tools. Moreover, it is extremely crude. Instead I use the Sonnox converter. That program includes features that prevent the conversion of a WAV that is too hot. Even if the WAV didn't clip, it can clip after compression, and Sonnox detects/prevents that. Another nice feature of Sonnox is that ability to easily preview the sound of various compression settings, including the ability to see visualize what part of the spectrum is being damaged most by compression.
So, I really hope Cakewalk looks upon this as an opportunity not to end the $10 hassle, but as a much bigger opportunity to make their product much more useful.