It's unbelievable that Cakewalk continues to charge customers for an MP3 encoder even after that customer pays $400+ for a piece of software (Sonar 8 producer edition, in this case).

If I recall correctly the MP3 encoder is licensed seperately to Cakewalk and is not allowed to be included in the Sonar Package.

Cakewalk apparently continues to remain absolutely clueless about how to treat customers with dignity. We're all just little squirrels running around the Cakewalk Cages, folks. Tomorrow we'll have to jump through yet more hoops and waste yet more time to perform some basic software function.

Come on Mike, that's simply not true. Cakewalk does make service delivery mistakes, but almost every time they owe up to them and attempt to fix them.

ORIGINAL: CJaysMusic

??? I take issue with you taking issue with me. Oh, wait a sec, I was mistaken that i actually cared for a sec. I am not seasoned in any way. How dare you. Oh yea, that was not over reacting. I was reacting to his post. Theres a big difference.
Pass the pie, it looks good
Cj

"don't know what we don't know" route..

I found out what i dont know, before saying something is a RIP. Thats just insane to make a judgement without knowing what you dont know

Wasn't really taking issue with you CJ...just pitching for a little civility. Insane judgments aside, reacting with personally derogatory remarks toward any poster is just unnecessary. Now I'm not implying you do that, but it does happen on all forums with annoying frequency.

Regards,

DB

Personally, I think it should be free (well, included in the price actually) as well.
In fact, I think they should have a "Media Encoder" that exports in a variety of current "mobile" file formats.

I can live without it, and just use iTunes or something for that, but given the amazing current range of possible formats, particularly for mobile devices, or for embedding in flash objects, etc... it seems an oversight at this point.

For very little money, they could license the codecs, like many other DAWs do, and code an encoder.
To me, it's way past just the MP3 encoder at this point. Times have changed.

No big deal...
Just sayin',
- zevo

"Rip off" ? No ... I would not go that far. I would just say that this is a ubiquitous need and should be a standard part of any and all audio programs that export sound files.

With regard to the $5 per license, you have to bear in mind that you also have the administration of the encoders, and while the costs are relatively low, it is a standard business model to include a profit not only to cover costs , but also to include ..... shock ...... horror ....... profit. There may also be exchange rate variations to take into account as well, all of this could quite easily reach 3-4 times the actually cost of the license.

You pay for this once, whereas other people think it should be thrown in free, even if this did cost Cakewalk $10 to include that with each sale, and they have 1000 sales worldwide, thats $10,000 cost over that perio. Research to see how much actual profit that Cakewalk make, and you will find that this is a sizable chunk of money for them.

Rather than charge you for it they give you the opportunity to buy it once for all the products (actually saving you money), they also give you the opportunity (and even tell you how) to do it for free. Either of which is preferable to them bundling it with everything, and the consumer having to pay for it with every disk sold.

Also Im curious to know what other professional audio software includes it, I certainly know that Cubase Essential and Cubase Studio do not include it. I wonder if Pro Tools has an mp3 encoder?

Really not a big deal since there's free ones that can be configured to use directly in Sonar's Export Audio dialog boxes. I paid for the unlock program so I'm personally not sure how to do this. Though I know Papa???? supplied an in depth step by step procedure recently. Do a search for it...

Wasn't really taking issue with you CJ...

I knew it wasnt aimed at me, as you can see my half hearted response.
I would like to add something and not at you, just in general.. When a poster starts off as arrogant, then the responses will follow suit. If he would of just asked, why doesnt cake come with an MP3 or something, he would of got a civil answer from many of us. When he talked about being ripped, then he just didnt do his homework before assuming such a farce. WOW, i justsaid Farce...
Cj

Indeed.
Post it like it's a feature request (and actually make a feature request).

- zevo

RAPTURE - DIMENSION PRO - ZETA - VC64- and all the BEST plugins on earth for 750Swiss Franks???? Thats like a Present! ITS AN AMAZING PRICE FOR REAL!!!!!


Intel DX58SO , i7 920 , 6GB RAM 1333, MOTU ultralite

ORIGINAL: webseed

It's unbelievable that Cakewalk continues to charge customers for an MP3 encoder even after that customer pays $400+ for a piece of software (Sonar 8 producer edition, in this case).

It's not the $19. I'd gladly pay an extra $19 for Sonar if it just included the MP3 encoder. It's the TIME wasted dealing with Cakewalk's lousy shopping cart system, lousy software delivery system, multiple layers of passwords, save files, running the encoder and then finding out it doesn't even work on x64 systems anyway!

Cakewalk, get a clue! MP3 should just be part of the package. What are you gonna do next, charge us for the RECORD button? Charge us for exporting WAV files? Charge us for every virtual effect?

Ridiculous. MP3 is part of music production today. Just put it in the software from the get-go. Don't make your customers jump through all these hoops, wasting their time trying to activate your silly MP3 encoder.

Cakewalk apparently continues to remain absolutely clueless about how to treat customers with dignity. We're all just little squirrels running around the Cakewalk Cages, folks. Tomorrow we'll have to jump through yet more hoops and waste yet more time to perform some basic software function.

- Mike

This is the best response to this post of them all IMO.

ORIGINAL: cryptexmarble

RAPTURE - DIMENSION PRO - ZETA - VC64- and all the BEST plugins on earth for 750Swiss Franks???? Thats like a Present! ITS AN AMAZING PRICE FOR REAL!!!!!


Intel DX58SO , i7 920 , 6GB RAM 1333, MOTU ultralite

ORIGINAL: webseed

It's unbelievable that Cakewalk continues to charge customers for an MP3 encoder even after that customer pays $400+ for a piece of software (Sonar 8 producer edition, in this case).

It's not the $19. I'd gladly pay an extra $19 for Sonar if it just included the MP3 encoder. It's the TIME wasted dealing with Cakewalk's lousy shopping cart system, lousy software delivery system, multiple layers of passwords, save files, running the encoder and then finding out it doesn't even work on x64 systems anyway!

Cakewalk, get a clue! MP3 should just be part of the package. What are you gonna do next, charge us for the RECORD button? Charge us for exporting WAV files? Charge us for every virtual effect?

Ridiculous. MP3 is part of music production today. Just put it in the software from the get-go. Don't make your customers jump through all these hoops, wasting their time trying to activate your silly MP3 encoder.

Cakewalk apparently continues to remain absolutely clueless about how to treat customers with dignity. We're all just little squirrels running around the Cakewalk Cages, folks. Tomorrow we'll have to jump through yet more hoops and waste yet more time to perform some basic software function.

- Mike