I don't think it's fair to be upset with Cakewlak for being nice or generous to pull in new customers by offering such deals as this thread has presented.

How can I relate this to you. I'll try this way:

Jesus told a story in the Bible about an employer who went looking for people to work in his field. He found some in the morning and said he would pay them x amount to work til the evening. They agreed. He then found some in the late afternoon and asked them to work in his field: They agreed. At the end of the day, he paid all the workers the same amount of money, but that angered the workers who started working in the morning. So the employer said, did you not agree to work from morning til evening for X amount? I have paid you the amount you agreed to. Why should you be angry because I'm a generous person and have also paid these workers who started in late afternoon the same amount as you?

I see the logic in this story, and I don't think it's fair to be upset with Cakewalk because they are being generous. I agreed to pay the amount I paid when I paid it. Furthermore, for us loyal customers, we still are being considered by Cakewalk as we get the newest release at a low price such as $179 or something like that.

The only thing I'm unclear about is what is meant by a paid update. Does this mean that we will have to pay something for the point updates that we used to get for free? If it means we have to pay for a point update, that would be different from what we are used to, and I think this is what is causing some concern, but it is not neccessarily unfair on the part of Cakewalk, either. I guess we perceive this as Cakewalk used to be nice by having point updates free, but know they aren't being that nice any more,, if they are charging for a point update. But even to charge for a point update doesn't mean they are being unfair. Does it?

ORIGINAL: djjhart@aol.com

ORIGINAL: Stone House Studios

ORIGINAL: djjhart@aol.com

Starting July 1st, 2009, when you upgrade to SONAR 8 Studio or SONAR 8 Producer at Cakewalk.com or select music and sound retailers, you will be eligible to download the next paid update to SONAR for free.


WHAT CRAP> so if you been with cakewalk for years and when the new update comes out the person that waited gets a free updates, the customer that is loyal and updates when the updates comes out has to pay full price... PLEASE tell me I am wrong and this is a typo.. If not your company will loss loyal customers and thats just plain F'ed UP...

Get a grip, man.
Did you get your last upgrade at "some specially priced offer?"
If you didn't, shame on you. Cakewalk has always made special upgrade offers that are money off, or come with a book, or a t-shirt, or a cheap buy in to Dim Pro, etc, etc. The value seems to be about $50.00. So what makes you think that this offer will have any more value than that.
Go ahead and argue that the "Buy X and get X+1" deal proves me wrong. Think about it. That's a win win for Cake - old inventory goes away - new inventory has just been purchased. Usually at about a $50.00 dollar break.

Brian

I did not Man I get updates when they first come out.. $180 and when the new version comes out another $180.. Free if you wait till July 1,
Let think this out 8.3 was released when 2 months ago? and that update was the update that actully worked sorta bug free.. So from September to march I had a daw that work LIKE Crap crashing loud screething noise, unable to midi clip copy, Beatscape finally stopped crashing, wann keep going on.. I'm just saying Loyal customers are getting Screwed .. pick up a few new users that are unproficient in that software and stick the dagger in the loyal customers back THANKSSSSSSSS

You're still assuming that this offer means that the loyal user is going to have to pay for something that someone else "like another loyal user?" will be getting for free. It is a deal for upgrading/buying now. It's marketing and product moving.
I upgraded to Sonar 8 a month or two ago when it was like $50.00 off or something. Sorry I screwed you. But I didn't get a shirt or a book. Looks like I got screwed too.

Brian

Edit: Reread ad to see that offer is available to new users too. Is it still 400 bucks?

ORIGINAL: keith

ORIGINAL: Urdypooh
ew,

the page clearly states:

*********
SONAR Upgrade offer

There has never been a better time to purchase SONAR 8. Whether you are new to SONAR 8 and buying it for the first time or upgrading from a previous version, you will be eligible to download the next paid update to SONAR absolutely free. Read on for more information and eligibility.

**********

Upgrade and update in the same paragraph.
*I* find that pretty confusing and agree with daveny5 that it means something different....not just in Cakewalk terminology but in IT speak in general.

Every use of the term "update" is preceded with the words "next paid", as in "next paid update". It never says "next version", "next upgrade", "next paid upgrade", "next version upgrade", "next paid version upgrade", or any other combination of the words "next", "paid", "upgrade", and "version".

The only place where "upgrade" is used ambiguously in that text is in the heading "SONAR Upgrade offer". But if you read the text it seems obvious to me that "upgrade" is only used in the context of upgrading older versions to v8. As in: if you've been waiting to upgrade to v8, here's an offer that we hope will help to make up your mind sooner rather than later. And if we didn't make this entirely clear: the economies bad, sales are down, and we need your money now, not later.

Hi keith, sorry it`s gonna seem like i`m picking on you but i`m not... i`m just statin the facts:





at the top it clearly states upgrade now and get the next paid upgrade FREE , and we all agree an upgrade is totally different than an update, so is this a misprint, if so, we`d like to know....wouldn`t we?

So we'll not have Sonar 9 this year?
In that case I will buy S8PE

HERE You Go I GOT IT !!! YOU buy Sonar Once for a set price and UPdates and newer versions are FREE for EVER . LOL...
I hate being the guinnie pig and spending the most to be completely aggravated.. I wish the software was flawless from day 1 , On the back of the software its has system requirements if your system meets these, requirements it should work plain and simple If we were to go to a store and buy products that claims to do something and it fails to do what it claims, what would consumer protection think.. caint they just get it right...

I think you have to go from what has happened in the past. The last several years, this ugrade deal has come around with free upgrades and/or pro-rated incentives starting about this same time (although, it may have been August 1). On the prior N versions, no mention of sonar N+1 was ever released until September. Usually ads and websites leak the information before the announcement and the speculation begins... It seems like the same re-run every single year!

I'll be patient and wait until they are ready to release something. For those Sonar 8 users with their panties in a bunch over the possibility that an 8.5 version will be released as a paid update, I would wait and see what you are going to get. It may be a worthwhile content update with one of their other products bundled in for free.... who knows? In the meantime, I'm still finding new features in Sonar 8 to keep me happy :)

Could it be that, maybe, perhaps, that Cakewalk is not sure what they are going to do? Is it possible that they may be abandoning the old SONAR series, like they did with the PRO AUDIO series, and may start with a completey new name? Maybe it will be called something like AUDIPHONY or SONAR CS like the folks at Adobe did with Photoshop. The numbering IS reaching that magic number of nine or ten. Or, it could be a point upgrade like everybody is saying. Obviously, Cakewalk has heard these posts and may not know what to say yet about their next upgrade release.

And apparently neither does anyone at Cake as none of the bakers has stepped back in to clarify things here.

ORIGINAL: thomasabarnes

But even to charge for a point update doesn't mean they are being unfair. Does it?

We must be getting tired because no one has yet made the agrument that a software developer company should have an obligation to release a product that fulfils it's advertisement content. So if a software product does not perform as advertised, I feel the company is obligated to release free updates until the product performs as advertised.

Any more thoughts on this?

I don't mind paying for new features...but paying for bug fixes, be it an update or upgrade, advertised or unadvertised...gets under my skin.

I understand the line needs to be drawn somewhere. At a certain point, support for a version becomes infeasible and efforts must be placed moving forward. Maybe we should have "software warranties"...if you discover a bug in our software within the first 6 months of release, we promise to fix it for free.

I have absolutely no problem paying a small amount for a version 8.5.
8.2, 8.3 etc are fixes for the program we already have. Obviously they are free. But if they are giving us brand new features, plugins etc, well that in my opinion is a new version of Sonar, and i'm not going to start complaining because they named it 8.5 instead of 9.
They could have easily padded it out with unnecessary junk, and later released it as version 9, but if they have chosen to give us cut-price version in the form of an 8.5, well then that sounds like an honest and generous move to me.
I haven't read this whole thread, so sorry if i'm missing something here.
Not sure what the other issue is about, with new upgraders... i got what i paid for and got what i expected. How Cakewalk decide to treat new customers is between them and the new customers, in my opinion.

Though i must say, seeing all these posts with no official response is pretty lame. They really couldn't log in for 5 minutes and put everyones mind at rest? Not nice to see.

ORIGINAL: John

Though i must say, seeing all these posts with no official response is pretty lame. They really couldn't log in for 5 minutes and put everyones mind at rest? Not nice to see.

I am sure they will today. Saturday was our Fourth of July Holiday. It marks the founding of this country. I think most everyone is thinking about anything but work at CW.

Yeah fair point.

Yes... milk and software... exactly equivalent...

It sounds like you want to be an "early adopter" when it comes to software, but you don't want to assume any of the risks of being an early adopter.... wouldn't that be nice!

Maybe you should skip upgrades every other year and buy the latest only after it's been out for 10 months or so?

So... no new version this year. I guess the update won't cost that much: normally you can get an upgrade to a new version for 180 dollars and then you get a complete package with dvd's and all: tons of software. This update will be downloadable. The site says 'The next update to SONAR will also be available on DVD for a nominal fee at time of release for those customers with slower connection speeds or who prefer physical media.' So I expect it will be something that's 1 Gb max, maybe (probably) even smaller. And this REALLY is an update that has to be applied to version 8. It won't be a seperate version like 6, 7 or 8 was. (So if your current version is working well, it can get tricky. Normally you'd keep the older version installed, just in case.) So I guess the price will be something between 50 and 75 dollars. It can't be that much more when you compare it to an upgrade to a new full version. And since this deal is on until March 1 2010, it's even possible it won't be released this year.

I'm just guessing, of course... We'll see how far off I am...

ORIGINAL: djjhart@aol.com
No I am not a beta version Tester so what the differance if I update when an OFFICIAL version first comes out or 6 months later ..

I think you've answered your own question. You've experienced the difference.

Early adopters deal with the pains of being early adopters... whether you were first in line to buy Vista that needs a couple service packs, the new iPhone that you can't find a wireless provider for, a whisper quiet Solid State Drive that slows down over time... uh... the new Coca Cola recipe... those new non-latex condoms they just came out with... whatever.

Think about it. Why is it that every single time I buy version 1.0 of a new piece of software it requires a bunch of patch updates to get it to work properly?!

Can you spot the pattern(s)? (hint: there are two)

ORIGINAL: dbmusic

ORIGINAL: thomasabarnes

But even to charge for a point update doesn't mean they are being unfair. Does it?

We must be getting tired because no one has yet made the agrument that a software developer company should have an obligation to release a product that fulfils it's advertisement content. So if a software product does not perform as advertised, I feel the company is obligated to release free updates until the product performs as advertised.

Any more thoughts on this?

I don't mind paying for new features...but paying for bug fixes, be it an update or upgrade, advertised or unadvertised...gets under my skin.

I understand the line needs to be drawn somewhere. At a certain point, support for a version becomes infeasible and efforts must be placed moving forward. Maybe we should have "software warranties"...if you discover a bug in our software within the first 6 months of release, we promise to fix it for free.

What you say makes good sense to me.