Hell no.

Subscriptions are a good business model for something that people either need or can't get anywhere else. You pay rent because you need a house to live in. You lease a car because you need to get around. You want the local news so you purchase a newspaper subscription. However, once the internet came along and the news was 'free' the newspapers started to see subscriptions drop. I have a XM radio subscription because that is the only place I can listen to bluegrass radio.
 
Subscriptions can also take a quick death when financial times get hard. We pointed out the drop off in newspaper subscriptions. If I take a hit financially, the XM radio is gone. Bluegrass is nice, but it is not a need.
 
Microsoft is testing the waters with the Office on the cloud. Lots of reasons I don't like that. But last I heard, it wasn't doing well. People still wanted to 'own' (license to be technically correct) their own version of Office.
 
Software can be very similar. I may like using Cakewalk's Sonar, but I don't need to use it. I record as a hobby, not as my business. There are times when I may go for months without recording (like now when I am in school). Do you think I'll pay a monthly subscription for something I don't use? Nope. Can I find other alternatives to Sonar? Yep.
 
I sincerely hope that Sonar doesn't go down the road of subscription only. I believe it would be a bad business decision. I know for me Sonar X3 would then be the last version I would have.

I'm thinking that by 2014, Cakewalk like Steinberg and the rest of them has a somewhat stable pool of users which is unlikely to undergo sudden massive growth.
 
At a rate of one major upgrade a year, considering that not every upgrade offers a breakthrough in terms of features and workflow, a relatively important percentage of that user base may decide to skip an upgrade or two and spend that money on plug-ins or such.
 
Not to mention that DAW software prices went down dramatically over the last couple of years.
 
How do you stay in business and get people to give you their $ in such a context?

Since most of these products update once a year, the subscription model is somewhat in place in a soft mode.  The big difference is that upgrading is optional.  There are several people on this forum still using 8.5 and content.  Also, old versions are still usable.  If Sonar goes that route, looks like i will be on X3 or whatever the last non-subsctiption model.  Unlike video, audio tecnhology is not advancing as quickly.  You don't have huge workflow leaps like SD to HD to 2k to 4K in relatively short times. Upgrades ae simply not as ctritical if you have a stable DAW already.

RobertB
Hell no.
 
 
 
 
(not sure what I did wrong here but this is my response to RobertB)
 
That was my first reaction; but what if the subscription service included the latest and greatest plug-ins at little extra cost.

For example: the use of Omnisphere, Hollywood Strings, LA strings, Lexicon Reverbs, all the expensive stuff that one could rent without having to pay the individual consumer price.

I don't know if the above is even feasible but just having the latest version every time you log-in, seems a big plus. Also, (I'm assuming here) when logging into the cloud the software will be working perfectly. The crashes, if any, will be on the cloud side and not your headache.

I paid full price for Omnisphere and I think I may have used it twice. Half the contents of Kontakt Ultimate I haven't even looked at. The price of a subscription based software DAW doesn't scare me. It might even save me money.

I'm on Adobe subscription right now and I'm warming up to it. Of course, I had no choice in the matter.

+1 for Hell No ,  
 
there is absolutely no way will I go there and I don't care what you bring to the table ….enough said 
 
Kenny
 

The question on the survey was "Would you rather pay $9.99 per month or $99 per year". That's $119.88 per year on subscription or $99 outright. There seems to be a small savings if you bypass the subscription. Who let that get onto the questionnaire.

I'll switch to Linux before I would do a subscription for Windows or anything else.  

Confused One Say: It is inevitable that, in the end, everything will be on a subscription basis... including your life. Forget the Borg. In the future, when you wake up (if they let you), you'll be programed to log into the Central Orb where you'll be asked if you have renewed your existence subscription. It will be a feature of everyday life. If you are unable to pay for that day you will not be allowed to exist, hence, the following day you will not be allowed to wake up.... sounds like a movie plot, but I assure you.... it's not!
 
The slogan "We're All Connected!" will have more meaning than you ever imagined!
.

ampfixer
The question on the survey was "Would you rather pay $9.99 per month or $99 per year". That's $119.88 per year on subscription or $99 outright. There seems to be a small savings if you bypass the subscription. Who let that get onto the questionnaire.

ampfixer , where was this survey ? 
 
Kenny