There is zero need to debunk people’s distaste for dongles in this thread. Clearly, license dongles are a major turn-off to many customers and potential customers. But, love them, hate them, or don’t care about them… I heard of an alternative on the way from Steinberg and simply wanted to get a feel for how far out that was.
Erm… that’s not strictly true. If you like me carry your eLicenser from home to work everyday, you’ll see how fast it falls apart, precisely for the key ring. They should be made of metal, not plastic.
Lets not jump ahead to anything.
It was me, in some threads, (I don’t remember which ones) somebody was complaining about ilok and elicenser dongle based secured software etc… I mentioned that we were considering that as well, but that was it.
As much as some of you would like to have a dongle free software, unfortunately, I do not see that happening in the near future
Well, my laptop is dongle free but also free from Steinberg products. Go figure.
I’m even considering buying a tablet and I don’t think that any Steinberg product will find it’s way on this device. Having to attach an USB-hub to a tablet to be able to connect dongles to the tablet just to run software is just plain absurd.
Apologies. I had read your posts as if an alternative was on the horizon.
You also mentioned working on a dongle-free trial for Cubase 7. That seems critical from a business/logic perspective. Can you even estimate how much business is lost due to this? Potential customers are forced to buy a proprietary dongle before they can even trial Cubase. They cannot simply download and try; they actually have to go out and buy this thing, or order it and wait for delivery. Then, if they want the full version, they get another dongle.
Will a dongle-free trial be available in the near future?
Being able to trial Cubase (without having to get a dongle) is not a right.
Steinberg chooses to allow trials (on their terms).
Steinberg has to weigh the potential to bring new customers versus the risk of their product being cracked.
J.L.
Cubase use for a laptop onstage is maybe a little overkill. There are a few other apps that would be better for the task if you are worried about the dongle. And they’re readily available and much cheaper, probably much simpler to use as well. But then I’m a big fan of keeping it simple and not needing to be worrying about things like dongles when I’m doing a show that needs a sequencer controlling the show.