If you really want the lifetime updates offer, I'm sure it will come around again. The prior promotion was just a cash grab to fund mac development and to keep the updates going. It will be back again when they need more money because nobody will pay these new prices. There has been nothing in recent updates to justify paying these prices. I too am disappointed in CW over the past year. Just look at the botched sonar4mac campaign as one example. A lot of people ponied up for the lifetime updates, which I'm glad I passed on, thinking they were going to get a free native mac version as well. Also, now they announce they will no longer be charging for mp3 encoding after hitting their customers up for an extra $10 for this over the years. I get the licensing issue but my other daws have included this in the core product at no extra charge for years. I still have SPlat, but it will not be my main daw going forward. I will not update it unless I see some compelling reason to do so. Sonar has gone nowhere recently in terms of social media interest whereas Cubase, FL Studio, and Abelton continue to gain ground and will probably be better funded going forward. I prefer Cubase or FL Studio over Sonar given the choice, but if you want to get back on board with Sonar just wait for the lifetime updates offer to come around again.

Alex Westner [Cakewalk]
I'm sorry you were having problems receiving emails from us. I'm going to look into this, as we've heard this from a few other customers as well. I'll reach out to you offline as well.

Hi Alex.  If you're looking into this, I'd like to throw my hat in the ring as well.  I had always received the emails until sometime past year.  Then they just stopped.
 
Thanks.
 
Paul
 

bsantini99
The prior promotion was just a cash grab to fund mac development

It is nice in case Cubase and FL Studio work fine for you. But your Crystal Ball probably has an alpha version firmware
As explained in the corresponding thread, no significant resourced was invested into mac development. By definition of the technology used to create Sonar4mac.
 

My goodness people. . . it's just a software program.  Please drop the whole "woe is me" attitude.  I wonder how some of you cope with day-to-day life and its disappointments if you get this wound up over something so trivial.  Are the people complaining actually making any music?  I kind of doubt it.
 
If you didn't want to have financial uncertainty for updates, you probably should have purchased the lifetime updates.  If you now regret that decision, then that sucks for you. 
 
Alex Westner, I know you have good intentions but there are always going to be people raising hell every time anything changes.  Coming on the user forums and engaging them just drags it out and encourages it.  I would question if it really has a positive impact on your business versus spending your time doing other things!
 
 
 

bsantini99
If you really want the lifetime updates offer, I'm sure it will come around again.

 
PM me if you want to place a bet. 
 

There has been nothing in recent updates to justify paying these prices.

 
If you don't use the Matrix View, MIDI, Bluetooth MIDI peripherals, linear-phase processors, comping, lenses, Windows laptops, Melodyne, Console 1, CPU-hungry plug-ins, themes, or TH3, browser improvements, and don't want bug fixes, I can understand your point.
 

A lot of people ponied up for the lifetime updates, which I'm glad I passed on, thinking they were going to get a free native mac version as well.

 
I don't think it's Cakewalk's fault if "a lot of people" didn't read what Cakewalk said in very specific terms about what was being offered. 
 

Also, now they announce they will no longer be charging for mp3 encoding after hitting their customers up for an extra $10 for this over the years. I get the licensing issue but my other daws have included this in the core product at no extra charge for years.

 
You paid for it because it was built into the price. The difference is that Cakewalk users didn't have to pay for it if they didn't want to, or didn't need it.
 
 
 

Anderton
The difference is that Cakewalk users didn't have to pay for it if they didn't want to, or didn't need it.

Or didn't need to pay (as an included cost) each time they bought a new version of their DAW, for that matter... I appreciate the fact that I bought the Cakewalk encoder one time years ago, and never had to pay for it again. Many have criticised Cake for not including the encoder in the cost of SONAR - to me it always seemed far wiser to pay for it once as an add-on rather than over and over each release as part of the cost (albeit a small one) of the over-all product. I wonder if the prices of the other DAWs that have included it all along are going to decrease to reflect the fact that the patent has expired? 
 

MP3 encoding can be done with many utilities outside of your DAW, so that's never been my main issue. MP3 is more a format for size convenience and FLAC/APE are always better for quality while saving on final size.
 

rlared
My goodness people. . . it's just a software program.  Please drop the whole "woe is me" attitude.  I wonder how some of you cope with day-to-day life and its disappointments if you get this wound up over something so trivial.  Are the people complaining actually making any music?  I kind of doubt it.
 
If you didn't want to have financial uncertainty for updates, you probably should have purchased the lifetime updates.  If you now regret that decision, then that sucks for you. 
 
Alex Westner, I know you have good intentions but there are always going to be people raising hell every time anything changes.  Coming on the user forums and engaging them just drags it out and encourages it.  I would question if it really has a positive impact on your business versus spending your time doing other things!

I hear you, and I used to think more similarly to you a while back, but I've learned that we're better off engaging with our customers and learning from their gripes. I've helped a number of customers offline from threads started on forums, Facebook, Twitter and our blog. I believe that more engagement with customers will have positive impact on our business.

I think it's already having a positive impact.

Great call Alex. Even though there is certainly no shortage of people who will always complain it is brilliant to see continuing active engagement from Cakewalk. Given the years that the company has been around it is self evident that disgruntled customers must be the exception rather than the norm.