Yeah, so putting two and two together based on the PM I got and what's going on in this post I think what is happening is they are ditching the Professional level (at least) and going with a choice between annual renewal which comes with everything including rolling updates and any new "bundled goodies" and a lifetime license which includes rolling updates forever but you need to buy any new "bundled goodies" separately.
 
 
 

TerraSin
I went ahead and got the lifetime license. Cakewalk has never really steered us wrong with licensing issues before and being that it's only for such a limited amount of time, leads me to believe this is more of a gift to people who have been dedicated to the company for a while than any ploy because of a big change coming that will really change the face of the company for the long run (hopefully for the better). If nothing else, it means I get next year paid for and if there are third party stuff I miss out on, I can buy them and likely still come out on top; though as I said before, I can't imagine too many companies would not give us the plugins that go into future updates of Sonar because of how much money they make from all of us upgrading... like Melodyne and Addictive Drums have.

I agree with this sentiment. I came looking for some answers like a lot of others but by the time I got done reading 17 pages of opinions I came to the same opinion that TerraSin stated. I'm hoping that the June 1st will bring us great news, but I believe that it will be great and that everyone is going to dive into the lifetime upgrades (at least my speculation). It's really a no brainer for those that are already a Platinum subscriber and plan on using Sonar going forward.  You get the upgrades, and as TerraSin said so astutely, we will probably get a lot of what we have been getting already because they are entry level offerings, and they want us to buy more. we get to try them out (for free after the life time upgrade) and then buy the full version if we like it.
If I'm wrong I'll buy you all a beer in July!!! You'd have to come to Minnesota to collect it however.
Until then.

Oh, the only thing that puzzles me is that statement which said the renewal was only valid through December 25, 2037. Does that mean that they expect us all to be dead in 21 years or that is how long they expect to be in business? Till death do us part!!! 

Carl Posz
Oh, the only thing that puzzles me is that statement which said the renewal was only valid through December 25, 2037. Does that mean that they expect us all to be dead in 21 years or that is how long they expect to be in business? Till death do us part!!! 

Someone from Cake chimed in and said that was just a placeholder graphic and it will be updated to "infinity" during the next update. 

skitch_84

Carl Posz
Oh, the only thing that puzzles me is that statement which said the renewal was only valid through December 25, 2037. Does that mean that they expect us all to be dead in 21 years or that is how long they expect to be in business? Till death do us part!!! 

Someone from Cake chimed in and said that was just a placeholder graphic and it will be updated to "infinity" during the next update. 

Thanks for that. I'd hate to think I was only going be alive for only 21 more years.
 

“... we've got full Console 1 integration coming. And thats not even part of the announcement :)”
 
That is incredibly exciting, prochannel C1 plugins? New vst3 plugins?
 
693

Rocsee70

streckfus
IF lifetime membership meant core functionality (aux tracks, fixes, etc.) but NO add-ons (Vocal Sync, Drum Replacer, etc.) unless you bought them individually as needed, I'd probably be more inclined to stick with the current annual renewal model. Although I don't use all of those bundled features day-in and day-out, they're still nice to have. And depending on how much those would cost on their own ($99? $149? More?) things could get real expensive, real quick.

This is exactly why I don't believe they won't also change the regular monthly/yearly subscriptions to the core functionality and stop providing extras. Otherwise you're leaving your customers a lot of guessing work whether they are better off with a lifetime or monthly/yearly subscription. Plus, they would also piss off a lot of customers that are now jumping on the Lifetime deal, and then afterwards realize they are missing out on whatever extras Cakewalk would throw in the regular subscriptions. I really don't see that happening.
So my guess is that after June 1 (or maybe even on) they will also significantly lower the monthly price.

I think our approach to development would be the same for lifetime updates as it would for membership. The difference is there is no cut off for lifetime updates. We'll still deliver new features for SONAR, in fact we have some cool ones planned. We say core features to distinguish between features that are core to the program and other products we develop at Cakewalk. For example. we develop Z3TA+ 2 and that's not included in SONAR. Any future products including effects and plugins may not be included in SONAR (like Rapture Pro, Expansion Packs). And this certainly will allow us to focus on core improvements and enhancements, which honestly is what people have asked us to do. 

This thread is getting long and hard to find those that are still not getting the email. Please PM and I'll try and take care of it.
 
Disclaimer: If you didn't buy a renewal this year (or a second upgrade last year during the winter holidays) then you wouldn't get this letter we sent to customers. The email was only for those folks since they had already renewed. Everyone else will get their pricing info on June 1st. In other words, if you only purchased SONAR Platinum once in your life, you wouldn't get an email about this offer today.

MakerDP
Yeah, so putting two and two together based on the PM I got and what's going on in this post I think what is happening is they are ditching the Professional level (at least) and going with a choice between annual renewal which comes with everything including rolling updates and any new "bundled goodies" and a lifetime license which includes rolling updates forever but you need to buy any new "bundled goodies" separately.
 
 
 

There's no plan to segment that way. We will still have Professional and Artist (with no lifetime updates). Whether you are on membership or lifetimes, you will still get the same updates. 

Andrew Rossa [Cakewalk]

Rocsee70

streckfus
IF lifetime membership meant core functionality (aux tracks, fixes, etc.) but NO add-ons (Vocal Sync, Drum Replacer, etc.) unless you bought them individually as needed, I'd probably be more inclined to stick with the current annual renewal model. Although I don't use all of those bundled features day-in and day-out, they're still nice to have. And depending on how much those would cost on their own ($99? $149? More?) things could get real expensive, real quick.

This is exactly why I don't believe they won't also change the regular monthly/yearly subscriptions to the core functionality and stop providing extras. Otherwise you're leaving your customers a lot of guessing work whether they are better off with a lifetime or monthly/yearly subscription. Plus, they would also piss off a lot of customers that are now jumping on the Lifetime deal, and then afterwards realize they are missing out on whatever extras Cakewalk would throw in the regular subscriptions. I really don't see that happening.
So my guess is that after June 1 (or maybe even on) they will also significantly lower the monthly price.

I think our approach to development would be the same for lifetime updates as it would for membership. The difference is there is no cut off for lifetime updates. We'll still deliver new features for SONAR, in fact we have some cool ones planned. We say core features to distinguish between features that are core to the program and other products we develop at Cakewalk. For example. we develop Z3TA+ 2 and that's not included in SONAR. Any future products including effects and plugins may not be included in SONAR (like Rapture Pro, Expansion Packs). And this certainly will allow us to focus on core improvements and enhancements, which honestly is what people have asked us to do. 

Andrew, in the current model, Cakewalk has given us entry level versions of those products, Like Z3TA +2 or the likes. I would hope that this would continue.