Others say...

"pointlessly difficult software"
I have the Cakewalk Music Creator software and thought I'd "upgrade" to the Sonar 6 XL. What a mistake! The Music Creator program works just fine, while the Sonar 6 XL has fancy bells and whistles it's much harder to access the elements that make my Music Creator program (bought in 2003) so intuitive and easy to use. As with most software made these days the manual and online tutorials are convoluted and not at all user friendly. I uninstalled the Sonar 6 XL after several frustraing hours trying to get a handle on the program, and I am glad to be rid of it. I am not a Luddite by any means. But I have no use for "upgrades" that provide only frustration and no results when the older version of the software was just fine.

"Significant update to an already great product"
The big news for this update is that it now uses the same sound engine found in the high-end professional versions (Studio and Producer). Includes well-chosen set of virtual instruments and effects, and be sure to search the net for the huge number of free VST and DXI effects out there that will add a lot of additional value to this product. See the Cakewalk site for details of this product, and be sure to watch the instructional videos even if you are a long-time Home Studio user (you can find them on Cakewalk's site too to have a preview of what you get). This is probably the most significant update of Home Studio ever, and well worth the money for the home studio musician... you can make very professional-sounding recordings with this product. Note you will also need a MIDI and audio interface to plug in your keyboard/microphone/guitar, etc. BTW I recommend the XL version even at the extra cost over the non-XL version, the extras are worth it.

"Actually works with Vista"
I have had zero problems with this software. It works with Vista, it does what it promises and the instructional videos are actually helpful. I am satisfied.