This subscription thing is a mess!

See "I am paying monthly but would like to change to annual. What are my options?" in http://www.cakewalk.com/Products/SONAR/SONAR-FAQ#start 
 
You may want to contact Cakewalk Customer Service to help get this sorted out.

Thanks guys, I contacted support three times about that but you have to understand that Cakewalk addresses an international market, the English language is not mine and I can't call. I give too much time to help them fix out their jam.

thierry.venin@gmail.com
Thanks guys, I contacted support three times about that but you have to understand that Cakewalk addresses an international market, the English language is not mine and I can't call. I give too much time to help them fix out their jam.

There is email support as well. While phone support is certainly the speediest way to have your issue addressed, emailing the support team is the alternative when a phone call is not an option. 
https://www.cakewalk.com/Contact/OrderSupport

Dana Harris
I considered upgrading again but after observing the direction that Gibson Corp. has taken Cakewalk compounded by posts read here it is certain I will not be upgrading from Sonar X3 any time soon. Software subscriptions are marketing scams that nobody should buy into. These companies should simply sell the user licenses & then maintain there products. Don't sell a product & then bleed customers for money to fix the bugs & there is always bugs. They should simply fix the bugs & distribute the patches, not charge us to fix faults in a product we have already paid for. Everybody needs to realize that this monthly yearly thing is a scam at best. I have paid for multiple upgrades of Sonar before the subscription scam & wish I would have leap frogged a few of them. Could have saved not only money but time learning elements of the software that was left behind. The only thing that justified money spent on the upgrades was added third party plugins. Only a few of the actual software enhancements to recent Sonar upgrades have been worth while. The rest of what they marketed as upgrade was little more than software bloat for implementing tools that were already their & of coarse color coding & other customization abilities that I never waste time with. As for the stripped down third party plugins that are added for their so called upgrades, those can be obtained directly from their parent companies anyway, so what are we actually gaining? Don't get me wrong folks I've used Cakewalk since the 1990s & at this point it has become as good as any DAW. I'm just offended by the marketing scams these companies employ to pick our pockets & it is time to say NO! If & when they offer a true upgrade I'll be the first in line & happy to spend but until then this trickle down nonsense they're pushing on consumers has to stop & only the consumer can stop it. Don't be conned into buying little of nothing because over the coarse of one short year that is all you're likely to get. Keep in mind the filthy riches of monstrous Corporations such as the Gibson Corp. as they dip into your bank account each month.

First of all, this looks like it's your first post -- welcome to the forum!
 
Many of our customers would disagree. Even the biggest skeptics have come around to the idea of rolling updates, because we've done nothing even remotely scam-like. We've delivered more new features, fixes, and content over the period of this one product cycle than any other previous product cycle, we haven't forced anyone to make monthly payments, and there's no bloatware - we're not just picking random things to add or change, we're basing our decisions on loads of research, and even though a particular new piece of content might not be something every user wants to use, there are still plenty users out there that will find the addition useful.

I don't mean to completely dismantle your first post here, and I don't want you to feel discouraged from posting more, but I wanted to try to help redirect any misled conclusions you may have drawn due to the words "Gibson, Subscription, Monthly, etc." being thrown around. 

Thierry - FIXED - good luck :)
 
Bob Bone
 

Hi Dana - I am one of the forum hosts, but have ZERO connection to Cakewalk - all of us forum hosts are just regular forum members who volunteer time and effort to help folks with some minor aspects of forum admin stuff, so anything I say is only me expressing myself - just wanted to welcome you to the forums and let you know I am not a Cakewalk employee or anything like that, and we forum hosts receive absolutely ZERO from Cakewalk or anyone else for our time.
 
I also wanted to say that whatever opinion you hold or express is fine, and I have not only no issue with that, but also your expressing whatever you feel about any of this is fine, so please do not think I am taking any action or anything like that.  :)
 
I just thought I would suggest a couple things - about folks and Sonar:
 
1) Different folks have differing needs - a guitar player will likely have a different kind of track mix than perhaps a keyboard player or vocalist, and someone else may write for film or classical or EDM, or simply be an engineer.  What is important to one set of folks may differ widely from those of another set of folks - and that's the nature of it all.  So, when you, or anyone, dismisses new features or functionality - or even just patched areas, on top of perhaps bundled effects or synths, it may well make perfect sense for you, and maybe not so much to some other set of folks using Sonar.
 
2) Whatever version of Sonar floats YOUR boat - kewl.  Some folks are running 8.5.3 or earlier, on XP, and are completely content.  Others are somewhere in the X series, but maybe on Platinum or not - other than maybe something no longer working because of OS changes or whatever, Sonar is a tool, and if ANY version meets your needs, kewl.
 
3) Whatever version of Sonar you own, will run forever, barring some change in Windows, or with hardware either no longer having drivers or perhaps simply failing - and that includes the new licensing model.  IF you pay for 12 months of Sonar Platinum up front, you get the product at whatever level it is currently at, and another 12 months of however many maintenance/update releases come within that 12 month period. AFTER that 12 months, you would either choose to again enter into some sort of licensing agreement, or you would not, whether or not that is for 12 more months, or month to month, or whatever, your Sonar Platinum will run at whatever highest level of maintenance you have paid to license forever - if you stop paying for updates, whatever ones are in place will indeed continue on til the cows come home (and longer).
 
4) Many folks are quite happy with the new model, and with the updates - and some are not.  But nobody that has a current Sonar license has ever expressed feeling ripped off by Cakewalk with any aspect of the licensing - I may have missed a thread about it - but don't think so.
 
I hope you are happy with whatever path you choose - as I wish the same for all who choose whatever path they choose - for Sonar and in general.
 
Good luck with it all - I hope you check on functionality/features from time to time, and that whatever you choose works for you.
 
Bob Bone
 

silbay
Having the same problem. I had to threaten stupidbridge with legal action to get the monthly subscription cancelled but of course Cakewalk would appear to be to stupid to understand that I purchased the $99 plan and therefore I now have nothing.
 
Funny how easy Avid and Adobe are to work with on their subscription models. Oh that's right they handle their own billing and don't send it thru some fly by night outside company.
 
I guess I will see if Cakewalk can figure out how to fix my account or guess it is time to call the lawyer again along with the State Attorney General's office of Consumer Fraud.
 
Companies like this should be brought down and one can only hope that they go bankrupt within the year with this infantile model that they have chosen. They keep it up and Avid will eat their lunch, besides there is no comparison to an industry standard like ProTools and this "DAW" that can't even handle proper routing of outputs when trying to do video soundtracks.

silbay,
 
Being far removed from the situation, it is hard for me to know why cleverbridge may have give you a hard time - you have the right to end your monthly subscription at any point. But you do need to tell them to cancel it if you want it to end while it is still active, otherwise purchasing the $99 annual plan will just stack on top of the monthly plan. In any case, it shows that you were refunded and the monthly membership is no longer active.
 
There's no need to contact support in this case (though that would be the normal course of action here), I've sorted your account for you and you should be all set. 

Hello?

calatk
Hello?

We are looking into this issue right now. Apologies for any inconvenience.

Hi I would like to understand something about the subscription model that is being used. In February I paid for another full year's subscription - I am still not that convinced this model - I seem to spend more time in a year updating - however, I did like the idea of "Monthly" updates, not necessarily for the "Bug Fixes" - I note that on Cakewalk.com - a banner shouts out - coming in Spring - has Cakewalk now moved to Quarterly updates - I waited all March to see what this Months offering was - and Nothing arrived - Has something changed?

simbar1959
Hi I would like to understand something about the subscription model that is being used. In February I paid for another full year's subscription - I am still not that convinced this model - I seem to spend more time in a year updating - however, I did like the idea of "Monthly" updates, not necessarily for the "Bug Fixes" - I note that on Cakewalk.com - a banner shouts out - coming in Spring - has Cakewalk now moved to Quarterly updates - I waited all March to see what this Months offering was - and Nothing arrived - Has something changed?

It's available as Early Access in Command Center. There will be another update in April as well. So far it's been every month. 

To see the early release from a store account, click the SONAR Platinum item, then click the "Show Other Downloads" button at the bottom of Available Downloads. Now, the early release should be visible in Available Downloads.

Andrew Rossa [Cakewalk]

simbar1959
Hi I would like to understand something about the subscription model that is being used. In February I paid for another full year's subscription - I am still not that convinced this model - I seem to spend more time in a year updating - however, I did like the idea of "Monthly" updates, not necessarily for the "Bug Fixes" - I note that on Cakewalk.com - a banner shouts out - coming in Spring - has Cakewalk now moved to Quarterly updates - I waited all March to see what this Months offering was - and Nothing arrived - Has something changed?

It's available as Early Access in Command Center. There will be another update in April as well. So far it's been every month. 

Can I download it from other PC at office and then take it home to install?
Regards
Snehankur?