When you say shorter, I assume you mean like the Bluetooth mouse transmitters? That to me would satisfy all problems. Mine has been in my laptop or 18 months and I don’t even think about it!
What about the “leasing” of say the Artist soft licence within ELC though in the short term? Is this not feasible? Essentially you are disabling the dongle but still getting 75% of the product as and when you need it.