Sonar 8 Upgrade Offer – Free Sonar Update

July 10th, 2009 | Category: Sonar

Every year about this time, when Cakewalk is poised to announce a new version of Sonar, they offer to give you the new version free if you buy the current version. This year’s announcement has come.

I’ve taken advantage of this offer in the past, and while I think it’s a great offer, my experience was that the “free” upgrade took several months after the software release to land on my doorstep. If you do this, don’t expect to get Sonar 9 the week it is released.

Update: As Joe D pointed out in the comments, this is not Sonar 9, but a paid point release of Sonar 8. Also, those who take advantage of this offer will be able to download the update, rather than having to wait on Cakewalk to ship you a DVD.

3 comments

3 Comments so far

  1. Joe D July 11th, 2009 9:10 pm

    You seem to be implying that Sonar 9 is the next major release, when it’s already been made clear in their forums that it will not be version 9, but rather 8.xx (as their first-ever paid for point release).

  2. Dave July 12th, 2009 9:04 am

    Thanks for the correction, Joe. I got the Cakewalk email and assumed the next version would be Sonar 9, but you’re right – it’s a point release of Sonar 8.

  3. Scott August 19th, 2009 5:27 pm

    Another thing to consider is the difference in stability of a major release (9) versus a point release. New, major releases tend to have a number of issues with them due to the “get it to market quickly…even if that means before it’s really ready ” behavior of so many software companies m(marketing and competition are the more direct elements to blame that just the company outright, but still).

    A point release (versus a new version that folks get excited about ’cause of new features) will give you a product that has gone through considerable revising, with bugs and issues being working on and (mostly) resolved. This is also a good reason why not to buy new software until a few updates have been made (unless you want to be a partial guinea pig ;-) .

    Of course if MFRs rolled out their products in a manner that actually had no flaws, releases would come every 2-3 years (slowing down profits, missing the seasonal flurry of new products, etc.)

Leave a reply