As a new user, is there anything stopping me from buying a boxed X1 from an online retailer, and then immediately grabbing the free upgrade to X2 through Cakewalk's site? I see closeout prices on X1 in some places, and might save a few bucks...

Nothing at all, though I think you only have until Dec 31st to do this - check it out.

Thanks. Just out of curiosity, Sonar's not for sale online anywhere is it? It's boxed only for new purchases?

http://www.store.cakewalk...ductid=10-CXSP2.00-20E

Only the Cakewalk store offers SONAR as a download. FYI, if you purchase the boxed X1 version from a retailer, your X2 upgrade will be download only, here are the details http://www.cakewalk.com/p.../Free-SONAR-X2-upgrade

Ah, got it. The Cakewalk store offers the upgrades to X2, but not the standalone software, from what I see. I have the X2 trial now... I was wondering if there was a way to simply unlock what I have and get going. I suppose there isn't. I suppose I'll have to uninstall the X2 trial when the X1 box gets here, then install that, then take the upgrade path via download...

You can skip installing X1 if you wish. When you register X1 you will receive links for X2. The links to X2 will be the full version and are not dependent on X1 in any way.

I may be misunderstanding but you should indeed be able to just buy the full version of X2 from the Cake store without having to buy X1. However it is likely cheaper to just get the X1 box and if you can find the X1 Production Suite for a good price you get an extra couple goodies like the top version of Zeta. However the Suite seems to be a little harder to find and the price is still pretty high. Actually the price is high again. There was a brief period where the retailers dropped the prices because they thought it was outdated but it seems they realized Cakewalk was giving away X2 with it so they jacked it up again. I saw Producer going for under $300 shortly after X2 was released. Not anymore.

It would appear that the CW store is only selling the upgrade at this time. If you go to the SONAR X2 pages on this website and select buy now, if you are a new user they direct you to a retailer.

Really? That seems... odd. :-/