I see downloads but they are sites I have never heard of. I am so frustrated with Sonar and the old Cakewalk was so easy to use.

Is the old Cakewalk available somehow?

Unless you can find an unregistered CWPA 9, the short answer is no. 
 
I started with CW Professional 6 and ended up staying with CWPA 9 for a while. Till Sonar 5 came out. And I thought CWPA 9 was a damn good program.
 
But now I am on Sonar Platinum, and I ain't even thinking about going back! I can do so much more, easier with what I have now.
 
This is a change if your use to CWPA 9, but I would suggest to stick with SPlat. If you need any help, there is lots of help on the Sonar forum. Just ask away!

euronymus
I see downloads but they are sites I have never heard of. I am so frustrated with Sonar and the old Cakewalk was so easy to use.

Is the old Cakewalk available somehow?

do you no longer have your install disk?
reselling unused software is legal in the eu, so possibly get one off ebay?

Even if you could, I suspect you would have problems running it reliably on anything past XP.
 
You have a much better chance finding a copy of Sonar 8/8.5 (which IIRC was still like PA9, only more evolved) on Ebay.
 
What specifically about the new Sonar (I assume you're on X3/Plat) do you find difficult or frustrating?  Maybe we can help.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cakewalk-Audio-Pro-9-cd-Music-Studio-software-/252362601818?hash=item3ac1fbb55a:g:KHMAAOxyVaBS49nu