Brian Walton

Anderton 
I would not have upgraded to Studio if I hadn't played with Essentials, but am very glad I did. I suspect I'm not an isolated case.

Because they included it in X3 and had the upgrade to Editor for $150, I jumped on it.  When they offered the upgrade from Editor 2 to Studio 4 for about the same, I also did that because of the integration with Sonar and the tempo mapping.  
 
So they got about $300 from me in 2 years, and I wouldn't have given them a Dime if it wasn't for the initial inclusion in Sonar.  
 
I actually haven't used it for pitch correction on a single project so far.  
 
Audio to Midi, Tempo Mapping + the Sound Editor tools will get some use though.

Same here, except that I have in fact got some decent use out of it. Not much, mind you, that I couldn't have done with just Essential, but it's nice to have options...

subtlearts

Brian Walton

Anderton 
I would not have upgraded to Studio if I hadn't played with Essentials, but am very glad I did. I suspect I'm not an isolated case.

Because they included it in X3 and had the upgrade to Editor for $150, I jumped on it.  When they offered the upgrade from Editor 2 to Studio 4 for about the same, I also did that because of the integration with Sonar and the tempo mapping.  
 
So they got about $300 from me in 2 years, and I wouldn't have given them a Dime if it wasn't for the initial inclusion in Sonar.  
 
I actually haven't used it for pitch correction on a single project so far.  
 
Audio to Midi, Tempo Mapping + the Sound Editor tools will get some use though.

Same here, except that I have in fact got some decent use out of it. Not much, mind you, that I couldn't have done with just Essential, but it's nice to have options...

Ditto - I also did the upgrade to Editor followed by the upgrade to Studio.   But I've also used the snot out of it along the way.   

Hi,
 
I just read Mr Bourthwick's open letter to all of us. I wholeheartedly support Rolling updates and am very happy to subscribe to them. What makes me nervous as a user is the limited nature of the lifetime offer and the pricing behind it. I do want to see CW thrive and survive, but having recently upgraded to Platinum, I am disturbed to be asked to pay to upgrade again with only a couple of months of my existing "upgrade" fee utilised. I know its a one off offer, but we have a saying in the UK about "throwing good money after bad" and I would like to have some comment made on this by CW.
(I apologise if this has bean dealt with in pages 11 - 14 of this thread, but I was loosing the will to live with all of the people telling me its "gonna be alright"). Is it though?
 
Best Regards (and in the hope that CW CTO reads this thread)
 
marko burrows

Marko,
 
Not to be snarky but what kind of comment do you want from Noel?
 
That you actually ARE throwing good money after bad? Or that you are making an investment in yours and CWs future?
 
Which do you think he will actually make?
 
BTW, no one is forcing you to go with lifetime support. It's optional.
 
If you're afraid, don't do it.
 
Then in three years of (probably) paying renewal fees you'll probably kick yourself in the arse. But I will not laugh at you then. I promise.

bapu
 
Not to be snarky ....

Man, I love their tuners.  
 
I agree, Ed, for those so very afraid of going with the Lifetime membership....just continue to pay monthly.  No, big deal.  

markoburrows
Hi,
 
 I am disturbed to be asked to pay to upgrade again with only a couple of months of my existing "upgrade" fee utilised

 
You don't have to upgrade , do you? It is only an offer!

Funny how this stuff works.   You know, from a "human nature" perspective. 

My feeling is I paid for updates that would cover me until the new year. Then I invested another $99 for lifetime updates. Given the cost of subscriptions, then all I need is to get updates until July of 2017 before I can say I made a very good deal. Cakewalk and Sonar don't feel like they have only a year to go ... at least not at this moment. If lifetime updates end along with Sonar's demise then it will be the same for those who don't take the offer. They lose at the same time. I'm willing to bet for the small additional investment that I will do better taking lifetime updates over the older subscription model.

So, I think there's a cultural thing here. I got this in my email this morning. Remember I am British, 1000 years of saying sorry when we step on people's toes, reserved, and overly aggressive when confronted. Maybe we see things differently from our American cousins.
 
To answer Bapu, I'm sorry Mate but you are being "Snarky". I'm looking for reassurance, the "good money after bad comment" was made to explain my anxiety. I don't know what your circumstances are, but I do know what mine are and I make decisions coloured by circumstances.
 
Let me put the same question as if I were an "American" (Which of course I am not so apologies in advance)
 
By telling us (the customer base) why CW have decided on the limited nature of the offer they may allay the anxiety of the customer base, who like me, are anxious about the offer and make even more money from their limited offer.
 
So, I am looking for further explanation.
 
Oh, and by the way, I do think you would laugh at me in three years time. I can't "kick myself in the Arse" because despite being British, my legs don't bend that way; And you have a CA address but you use "Arse" rather than "Ass". Do you have links with Britan.
 
Kind Regards
 
Marko
 

bapu
Marko,
 
Not to be snarky but what kind of comment do you want from Noel?
 
That you actually ARE throwing good money after bad? Or that you are making an investment in yours and CWs future?
 
Which do you think he will actually make?
 
BTW, no one is forcing you to go with lifetime support. It's optional.
 
If you're afraid, don't do it.
 
Then in three years of (probably) paying renewal fees you'll probably kick yourself in the arse. But I will not laugh at you then. I promise.

Marko - from a different cultural perspective, as an Australian, you don't want to know what we call everyone else. Especially our mates. 
 
But I didn't take Bapu's comment to be particularly snarky, to be honest. I'm in the same boat as he is, wondering why this is a thing. Cakewalk has embraced a new model where you can pay year by year, like we've always done in the past, or month by month (and better yet, you own that 12 months worth of updates, unlike what other companies *cough*Adobe*ahem* do), and now for a couple of months, to say thanks to the user base for being loyal, they're giving us a chance for Platinum users to get lifetime updates.
 
I can't see how this is a bad thing. Artist and Professional users aren't getting this deal, Platinum users won't get it after the deal ends (unless they do specials again - who knows?), and you don't need to take advantage of it anyway if it makes you feel uneasy. Perhaps think of it as a "buy one get one free" or "MEGA SUPER SALE THIS FRIDAY ONLY!!!" kind of sale if you like. Get yourself a big TV for $200 tomorrow, it's back to $1000 the next day.
 
In this case, I think it's more of a push to reward a bit of brand loyalty, to be honest. If you feel you're part of "the team" you're going to be more into using the product, telling other people about it, and generally helping make it better with suggestions and bug reports.
 
And if you want to be really cynical about it, you've got a program you've paid for that lasts "forever" (whatever that means in the software world)... you're gonna want to keep using it, right? And since it's your DAW of choice, you'll be more inclined to buy additional stuff that works with it - Pro Channel modules, plugins locked to SONAR, etc. and you'd be involved in all of the PR material that shows new products, without the need for being spammed because you're part of the community, because you want to be a part of it. It's great marketing sense if nothing else.
 
I've been hanging around the Cakewalk community since the mid 90s, back when they were om Usenet newsgroups even. The one thing that has made me stick around more than anything else is the people in the company. They are genuinely good folks that just want to make a good product. They don't always get it right (you don't wanna know my list of gripes that I want fixed! It even scares me  ) but at no stage have I ever felt that we were getting led down the path for the sake of dollars, and that feels especially true in the last couple of years.
 
TL;DR version: relax.