Steinberg licensing

[Examigan]

I just saw this in the news:

Steinberg have announced their intention to migrate to a new ID-based licensing system which will begin to roll out in the next few months. Steinberg Licensing will be introduced with the release of Dorico 4 early next year, followed by Cubase 12.

For many years, Steinberg products have used the eLicenser system, with its combination of the USB-eLicenser hardware key and the Soft-eLicenser software key.

Over time, as new versions of their creative tools and instruments are introduced, the eLicenser will eventually be replaced by the new Steinberg Licensing system. The overall transition is expected to take between one and two years across their product line.

[chk071]

Good morning.

[Examigan]

Ok thanks. Well I posted this here as I saw it in the Virtual Instruments news, but am late to the party I guess.

https://www.kvraudio.com/news/about/instruments

[chk071]

Ah, OK. Yeah, it should apply to Steinberg's instruments as well, of course.

[BBFG#]

Nice and not so nice.
Am I reading correctly that it has to "check-in" every thirty days? Or is it just a check once after install?
Because required regular check-ins will kill it for me...

And if this is the case, I'd rather keep the dongle. Or maybe even have one license on the internet computer and dongle key for the other.

[chk071]

Sounds like it's regular checks.

[MirkoVanHauten]

Sounds exactly like the subscription-like periodically asking-for-permission-to-use-the-software-I-paid-for-pretty-please thing. And "offline" activation will also only last for 1 year, if it comes at all. Just stinks.

[chk071]

Sounds exactly like the subscription-like periodically asking-for-permission-to-use-the-software-I-paid-for-pretty-please thing.

A subscription requires you to regularly pay to use the software.

[fmr]

have one license on the internet computer and dongle key for the other.

For me that would be the preferred solution. And I was hoping they would go that route. Apparently, they are willing to ditch the dongle completely in a couple of years.

[Amram]

This 30 days activation sounds to me like rent to own. and they actually saying we are buying license .
Steinberg got the money .So where is the "own" ?

[BBFG#]

And if this is the case, I'd rather keep the dongle. Or maybe even have one license on the internet computer and dongle key for the other.

For me that would be the preferred solution. And I was hoping they would go that route. Apparently, they are willing to ditch the dongle completely in a couple of years.

Yeah, but one bad thing to replace the other is not optimal. My studio computer is no where near an internet connection. So that means I need to start considering what I need to replace everything from them...
(Obviously can't be my desert island company any more.)

Irked beyond belief.

[noiseboyuk]

This 30 days activation sounds to me like rent to own. and they actually saying we are buying license .
Steinberg got the money .So where is the "own" ?

Oh good lord. What hoops did you have to jump through to arrive there?! It's just a background check, the same as a dongle check, only less frequent. You don't pay a sub every time the thing automatically checks in, you just... [DRONES ON, FADES TO DISTANCE]

Few issues get as hysterical and conflated here as much as copy protection.

Here's the thing. Pirates are bad people and they muck it up for everyone else. There it is. Everyone can point to their favourite least bad solution, but there's always a trade off. Some people love dongles, they can carry it around and plug it into other studios. Others think they're Satanic.

I just wanna get stuff done, I'm not tying myself to any ideological mast.

Nothing in the Steinberg proposal upsets me in the least - quite the opposite, it's a big step forward for me. Oh, I can sell my 2nd Cubase laptop license for one thing....

[MirkoVanHauten]

Sounds exactly like the subscription-like periodically asking-for-permission-to-use-the-software-I-paid-for-pretty-please thing.

A subscription requires you to regularly pay to use the software.

That's why I wrote "subscription-like" and further specified the part that's the same: "periodically asking-for-permission-to-use-the-software-I-paid-for-pretty-please thing".

[BBFG#]

Won't say it's a step forward or backwards, but definitely a step sideways. Which my first impression of it will set me back.

(I also don't believe there's as many "pirates" as any of these companies want us to believe.)

[imrae]

As always there are four main scenarios to worry about with phone-home systems:

- studio computer is disconnected from the internet by choice

- studio computer suffers from unexpected internet outage

- licensing server is disconnected by choice (end of support, push users to new products etc.)

- licensing server suffers from unexpected outage

I hope Steinberg will provide some information about how all of these cases are mitigated. I for one am rather uncomfortable with giving developers the power to remotely break my plugins for selfish business reasons. It doesn't matter if they don't intend to use it now; it's a temptation that should not be available.