Steinberg's dongle alternative coming

RitchieM, maybe I’m misunderstanding your post, but users have been voting with their wallets for years now, and they are saying, “Okay, I’m cool with having to use the dongle.”

Sorry Steve, you’ve misread my ballot. Mine says “I’ll put up with the dongle another year because the pros of sticking with it still outweigh the cons of moving to Logic”

Not quite the same…

Now I’m completely lost. I was responding to RitchieM. :confused:

I don’t mind the dongle …infact I like it :slight_smile:
I just wish everything else used it instead of having to buy an iLok!

This is my point entirely, the feature sets between DAW’s is now so close that it really is down to workflow and other factors that may affect an individuals decision, one of those being the dongle. When PT was the only game in town for reliable track counts, or the Cubase MIDI features (obviously still the best, but others are catching up) then a certain amount of complacency was common, but that just CANNOT be the case in 2013.

$teinberg must be soo pissed that they cant get a dongle working with ipads.

:mrgreen:

Catching up, how?

Does it matter about specifics? All DAWs feature sets are arriving at the same place, they have to in order to compete. Same with cars (want to know what tech will be on the family motor in 3 years, look at the S Class now), there is ultimately homogeny in all competing products, it’s the USP that counts, or, what will stop you buying one over the other.

If the dongle works for you, great, but I doubt that can be said of the whole.

Word! Big time!
{‘-’}

All this threats about the dongle eventually ends in 3 points:

  1. I hate the dongle I will quit from using any software with USB based protection scheme, if you don’t quit too then you are stupid or a Steinberg Fan Boy
  2. I’m never had any problem with the dongle, so, since I represent all the people, the dongle is good and all the people how think different are stupids (and probably I’m a fan boy so?!)
  3. I don’t have any problem with the need of a dongle, but please give me a FSM dammit good dongle hardware instead of that cheap piece of plastic crap. If you don’t agree then you are stupid.

I’m a stupid #3

You made a statement about MIDI in relation to DAW’s in general.

Yeah! Me too! :smiley:

#3 here as well.
+1
{‘-’}

I think that we have unfortunately reached a point in time, where the remaining viable option for Steinberg will be to do the Internet validation scheme. In this light, I would say that a dongle is the better alternative. There are a couple of improvements that I would like to see though.

  1. The ability to have the eLicenser on a local network, so that other local computers could be used, without moving the dongle around. This should not be compromising, since I believe that most users only own one license per product anyways. And the ones that can afford it, would probably buy additional licenses anyhow, since that would keep their progress from being interrupted in case of network problems.

  2. The ability to have a secondary COPY of the USB eLicenser with all my licenses. It is really a concern, to have to call around and reactivate my licenses if it were to go. I own licenses from FabFilter, Steinberg, VirSyn and Waldorf. All which uses the eLicenser, and in case my eLicenser were to go, I really am not looking forward to the hassle, if this were ever to occur.

The argument for copy protection I support, absolutely, but not at the expense of the user who wish to pay for the products. Sure, it is preventing piracy, to a point, but it is also inconveniencing legitimate customers.


A greater concern, IMO, is the way that continuous upgrades are becoming the norm. This in DRM land is better than good, even though the scheme in my opinion is a total rip off. E.g. you buy Cubase 4 for $500, and upgrade to every version at the cost of $200 each, up to C7, which totals $1,100. Someone else buys that same C4, but decides to skip upgrades until C7, which for this person is $300, and that brings the grand total of $800. Fairly big difference, and if the upgrade cost increases, so does the difference.

Well now, some arguments will be “no one is forced to upgrade” and “they also cannot use the new features”, etc. but I have yet to get to my point. Companies (in general) put out so much software of absolute crap quality, that a lot of times you don’t even get the value for which you paid, and certainly not when you paid for it. The upgrade cycle actually benefits from this. E.g. If you have no problems with C4, then what’s the real incentive to upgrade? You could actually feel comfortable staying with what you are familiar with until you need some newly presented feature, which are harder for companies to come up with. As it is now, you are compelled to upgrade since you are still experiencing problems, on your system, and worse, in some cases the problems from the past are promised to be fixed in the newer version, which you now have to pay for, even though you technically already did. A feature that got lost in the previous version shows up as a new feature in a new version is a classic too… Maybe C5 will improve my situation. Maybe C6 will… Hopefully C7…

It is in no way particular to Steinberg, it is a global phenomena. The same thing is happening with operating systems, and the whole thing appears to be increasing too. E.g. apps that just “closes” and you or the system restarts it and you are left with a greater fear of loss… an upgrade will surely fix it, eh?

This may not have been a plan per se, but it’s also not fiction. I may have bent things a bit, but there is no denying the underlying red line. It’s 2013 and there is no HAL to be found on Amazon… if Clarke’s right, his timing was way off. Maybe the people behind Idiocrazy are more accurate… :wink:

If other companies can support multiple authorization schemes http://www.izotope.com/support/portal/authorization.asp, Steinberg can as well.

If other people can live very well with the dongle, you can as well…

Come on, thinkingcap, that was really cheap of you. :angry:

For me, the dongle is really hamstringing my use of Cubase with my band, because (as I said before) I don’t want to carry about EUR 1.000,- of software around with me in public transport.

A “lease software for x hours to other dongle” with automatic (!!!) return of the license to the original dongle would solve all my problems. If the dongle where I have the license on for, say, 12 hours gets lost I simply laugh and shrug it off.

At the moment, taking Cubase, Halion, Waldorf Largo and Padshop Pro with me is an absolute no - go. Absolute.

We’re often talking about the possibilities of using Cubase and all that during rehearsal in my band, btw… I just wish we could… :frowning:

I understand your concerns. I would be happy with a system like the new TLC (Theft & loss coverage) from ilok.


“Theft & Loss Coverage (Requires Second Generation iLok)
We are pleased to announce a new option with Zero Downtime™ service called Theft & Loss Coverage (TLC). With this new option, we can handle your lost or stolen iLok RMA the same way as a broken iLok RMA - we’ll be able to replace your licenses instead of you having to contact each of the software publishers and potentially pay for new licenses. Imagine the time and cost savings should your iLok ever be lost or stolen.

ZDT/TLC settings in iLok License Manager
TLC Details and Requirements:

Requires a Second Generation iLok
TLC allows us to replace your licenses if your iLok is lost or stolen.
In order to have instant access to your licenses, you should have a spare iLok handy.
An RMA License Recovery and Replacement fee will apply.
An iLok must have ZDT coverage to be eligible for TLC.
The TLC option MUST be turned on your iLok BEFORE it is lost or stolen for full license replacement to occur (see the iLok’s Details panel in the iLok License Manager application).
The TLC option must be refreshed in iLok License Manager (with one click!) every 90 days.
The refresh operation is quick and does NOT depend on the number of licenses on your iLok.
If an iLok’s TLC expires, it will stop working until refreshed by the iLok License Manager application.
Get coverage today by purchasing ZDT then use iLok License Manager to enable TLC on your iLok!”

Well, why for some people is an argument “cheap”, if it is agaimst their opinion, but “valid”, if it supports one´s opinion…? Mr. “Pro” paaltio also seems to have difficulties with that…
Sure Steinberg can implement that, but obviously they don´t want to - said several times already. And “everyone else does it” is simply an invalid argument - in both directions - it´s just, for some people it seems only true in one direction.
I personally don´t care, if someone likes the dongle or not. And I don´t really want to think about why people buy Cubase, if it´s such a problem for them. Fact is, it has been said by Steinberg several times already, that the dongle will stay - and it will probably be the same, when that discussion comes up again in 3 or 4 months