well I guess this marks the end for all the box sets.

No, the boxed upgrade is available at retailers like this one http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SonarPltUpBx
 
Cakewalk has also indicated they will continue to sell physical media on their site too.

To clarify... C3 is NOT required to run SONAR.
But, as said previously it does make the experience a lot easier with the ability to easily get updates, see what's installed, etc.  
However, we understand the use cases for offline machines. 
As Noel said, the .crq request file generated is per machine.  But once you receive the .dat file you can archive that for the machine and reinstall at any point and reimport that file.  You own it.  
Just like any other product key, it's good to back that up.  We thought a lot about your experience so changing the pc's hardware shouldn't invalidate your setup.

I'm with the OP on this one.  A selling point of Cakewalk has always been its light and permanent copy protection scheme.  I've been with Cakewalk since Cakewalk 3.0 and have bought every version since then.  
 
Being able to install on all machines I own solves my biggest issue with the challenge-response copy protection.  That's the reason I don't own Presonus One, MOTU Digital Performer or Ableton Live, but do own Cubase, Logic, Pro Tools, Reaper and Sonar. 
 
But access to the activation servers is a legitimate concern.  Does anyone remember Opcode Vision?  It was one of the most popular midi sequencers in the early days of sequencers.  It also required a challenge-response type of activation to install.  Gibson bought Opcode and shut down the Opcode Vision development.  People could no longer install the software and couldn't open their old files, although I think there was some permanent authorization fix eventually made available.  It has happened before -- with the same company as currently owns Cakewalk.
 
 
 
 
 

Andrew Rossa [Cakewalk]
Challenge/response? ... Where are people reading this stuff? Please tell me so I can pull it.

Noel Borthwick [Cakewalk] Our EULA is very flexible but we're no longer allowing multiple machine installations without a logged request to prevent abuse of the system.

Do you really have no time to drink coffee together?  

Keith Albright [Cakewalk]
As Noel said, the .crq request file generated is per machine.  But once you receive the .dat file you can archive that for the machine and reinstall at any point and reimport that file.  You own it.  
Just like any other product key, it's good to back that up.  We thought a lot about your experience so changing the pc's hardware shouldn't invalidate your setup.

That's extremely helpful info - does the dat file work if you change hardware on the computer?  For instance if a hard-drive dies etc?

tlw
I'll admit that I much prefer the pre-2015 installation process because I can keep copies of the installers, serial and registration codes locally and reinstal on any PC capable of running Sonar even if Cakewalk the company no longer exists. I also have severe doubts whether Calkewalk could, as a final act of the company, remove all copy protection and make the installers a free download as Cakewalk staff have indicated on this forum. It would depend on the circumstances.

 
The installers are still on your local system, difference is they are all in a place you chose to keep them in. That's set in the CCC settings page---> "Download path". No real difference there, I assume you keep your other install files in a directory of your choosing.
 
Serial numbers are in your account area as they were before. You now need an activation response instead of a "Registration number". They amount to the same thing and you can generate one of those if you have Sonar offline on initial install. If you don't you don't need it because the CCC looks after it for you.
 

 
I don't know about the US, but in the UK if Cakewalk/their owners went bankrupt the software code and the possibility of charging for support would be regarded as a highly valuable financial asset by the reciever in bankruptcy. The reciever would be running the residual company, seeking to maximise its value so that the maximum possible can be paid to creditors, either by realising assets or selling the company. The owner (or staff) simply giving away a potentially valuable asset would not be allowed, and if the asset were given away at the point the company was clearly bankrupt but had not yet sought the protection of bankruptcy the owner/staff might find themselves in a great deal of trouble.
 
Having said that, the only alternative to Sonar I can readily see myself using is Logic Pro, and exactly the same situation arises with Logic as well. So I've just bought Sonar Platinum anyway.
 
I guess the safest answer is to not only back up projects and audio data but to also export all MIDI stems so that the project can be recreated, as far as possible, in other software if required.

Once activated it'll keep running whether offline/online/end of CW/end of the world etc. Of course there'll be no more updates or bug fixes in the case of the last two. However that's true of any company and if I thought like that I'd never buy any software ever...just in case.
 
Hope that covers your concerns.

FastBikerBoy

tlw
 
Once activated it'll keep running whether offline/online/end of CW/end of the world etc. Of course there'll be no more updates or bug fixes in the case of the last two. However that's true of any company and if I thought like that I'd never buy any software ever...just in case.
 
Hope that covers your concerns.

We don't know if the above is correct.  Cakewalk has not answered this question yet.  Change a hard drive, resize the partition, swap a motherboard, change a video card -- your activation file may no longer work and you'll have to get a new one.  That's the nature of machine specific activations -- they may quit working with changes to your machine. 

Ric4001

FastBikerBoy

tlw
 
Once activated it'll keep running whether offline/online/end of CW/end of the world etc. Of course there'll be no more updates or bug fixes in the case of the last two. However that's true of any company and if I thought like that I'd never buy any software ever...just in case.
 
Hope that covers your concerns.

We don't know if the above is correct.  Cakewalk has not answered this question yet.  Change a hard drive, resize the partition, swap a motherboard, change a video card -- your activation file may no longer work and you'll have to get a new one.  That's the nature of machine specific activations -- they may quit working with changes to your machine. 

 
Yes they have. Keith did, a handful of posts above this one....
 

As Noel said, the .crq request file generated is per machine.  But once you receive the .dat file you can archive that for the machine and reinstall at any point and reimport that file.  You own it.  
Just like any other product key, it's good to back that up.  We thought a lot about your experience so changing the pc's hardware shouldn't invalidate your setup.

So if I'm reading this right, in order to activate the new Sonar, I need undertake a dangerous journey to Rivendell, put together a band of people who are supposed to protect me, then have one of them try to kill me, then literally walk to another country, one full of creatures who want to kill me, with my only protection the stupidest person from the former group, pick up a horrible little goblin who wants to kill me, literally walk up a volcano, and throw the only thing I own worth a penny into the lava, and then walk back. And I need to do this for every machine I install on.
 
Cakewalk are dead to me.