One too many Machine ID changes = dead Tracktion?

[oxymoron]

Hi everyone, it has been a while since I've posted here.

Just wondering if anyone has insights into my problem. I've been using Tracktion 1 NFR since it was graciously made available by Jules and Mackie. I ran it almost exclusively on my Thinkpad. This summer I inherited a powerful (but buggy) desktop from my boss that I wanted to use for music. I spent many months swapping components, hard drives, OS's etc trying to make it stable. In the end I chucked it and bought a Mac mini. Six weeks later I sold the Mac (!), bought a big & fast HD for the Thinkpad, and settled down to a 1-computer existence.

The problem? During this experimentation, I was constantly loading Tracktion and changing/registering Machine IDs to authorize it (even on the Mac...it worked fine on Tiger for me, BTW). With the new hard drive and OS reload on my Thinkpad, its Machine ID also changed. I went to my.mackie.com account as usual, but the account will not allow me to make any more Machine ID changes. I emailed Mackie, but no response.

So (finally) my question is: am I stuck with a useless copy? More importantly, if I buy T2 and go through another period of computer promiscuity, how can I avoid this happening? The NFR was free, so I can't complain too much; but I'd be verrrrry ticked if I was forever locked out of software I paid for.

Has this happened to anyone here?

Thanks for any guidance on this.

Cheers,
oxy

[AD80]

I think there IS a limit on how much you can change your ID. They do that obviously to prevent people from installing it on a million different computers. You might want to try posting on the mackie forum maybe that will get you an answer faster. Regardless, you should get T2, its worth it .

[Mauvehead]

There is a limit on I.D. changes according to one mackie tech I spoke with on the phone a few months ago. He didn't give me a fixed number of how many times, but it would be worth a phone call to tech support or customer service to resolve the issue. I wanted to stick T2 on a third PC (my 12 year old son is recording now) and Mackie said I'd have to buy another hard copy of T2 in order to do that. Two machines is their limit. I even asked if I could pay an extra fee for the extra machine license. Nope. Not a chance. The tech guy said if I liked T2 so much then I should do my part to try to keep them in business and buy another copy. Needless to say I have not obliged them in this and have found other alternatives. I bought the program and I should be able to install it on all of my machines using my same personal info and account. I understand their need to prevent piracy, but in my case their policy "limitations" are irritating and pathetic.

(Sorry.......had to vent there.)

[oxymoron]

Interesting! I never thought about the piracy aspects of this system. Talk about naive

Mackie do not sound very helpful. So I guess this is a cautionary tale? Run Tracktion on one, stable computer for as long as possible. Don't change components or your OS drive so that the Machine ID changes. Don't make Machine ID changes until you are sure your machine is stable. But that means putting up with the demo version, right?

Thank you for your responses. I realize that my situation was an unusual and possibly unforeseen by Jules or Mackie.

I'll think about about buying T2, since I love the Tracktion experience, but this situation has made me wary of net-based activation.

[chinadrum]

The biggest problem with net based activation is that if the company providing the activation goes out of business you're stuffed if you need to reinstall it. I've had to reactivate T2 about 5 times already due to a desktop upgrade, a dead motherboard, new laptop and two reinstallations of windows.

What really annoys me is that everytime I have to reinstall a machine I have to hunt down the installation codes and go through the 'registration' process for about 10 different applications (ie. IK, Mackie, etc). And each time you have to enter all sorts of guff and log into a site somewhere. In some cases it takes a couple of days before I get an 'authorisation' code back. This is VERY annoying considering I've paid good money for the software. The least PITA is the dongle software, except that sometimes the dongle isn't recognised and I have to reboot to make it work again.

[chico.co.uk]

Well I think PCs are better than Macs, generally speaking. You get more spec for your money. Besides, Mac users smell.

etc.

[james0tucson]

I regard it as an attempt to abridge my copyrights. My copyrights are not surrendered to the idea that a software company must protect its interests against me. It's really that simple, and this kind of arrangement costs them my business.

[AD80]

Mackie do not sound very helpful. So I guess this is a cautionary tale? Run Tracktion on one, stable computer for as long as possible. Don't change components or your OS drive so that the Machine ID changes. Don't make Machine ID changes until you are sure your machine is stable. But that means putting up with the demo version, right?
.

FYI Mackie gives you 2 licences per. So you can run it on two different machines as long as you want.
The demo version will let you work just like normal. You can save projects and open them. You just have to put up with some white noise now and then.

Good luck sorting it out!

[james0tucson]

Regardless, you should get T2, its worth it .

I don't see how such a bad experience is supposed to encourage someone to continue to do business with the vendor. "Worth it" in this case would mean, worth putting access to my own copyrighted works, in exchange for a temporary agreement with a software vendor that puts its interests ao far above my own, that it actually seeks to abridge my rights.

Nothing doing. I don't care how good the product is, nothing is worth that. For the record, copyrights are rights, among the few things literally worth killing or dying for.

[oxymoron]

Oh yeah, the white noise! I suppose you one work around that. I've read that it has been toned down. In the early days (2.5 years ago), the white noise blast used to scare the crap out of me.

Thanks for the info, AD80. In my case it was just Machine #2 that was changing constantly (Machine #1 was the laptop, which was unchanged until last week).

James, I agree with your sentiment. Legally, though, all software is essentially license. We don't "own" it. It sucks when an operating system changes and no longer supports the software you used (like OS X won't run Propellerheads Rebirth and some OS X Tiger users had problems with T1...).

I hear Sonar has an easy registration process. Might go there or P5?

Cheers guys and thanks.

[Miles1981]

But with Sonar, it's only one license...

[AD80]

Regardless, you should get T2, its worth it .

I don't see how such a bad experience is supposed to encourage someone to continue to do business with the vendor. "Worth it" in this case would mean, worth putting access to my own copyrighted works, in exchange for a temporary agreement with a software vendor that puts its interests ao far above my own, that it actually seeks to abridge my rights.

Nothing doing. I don't care how good the product is, nothing is worth that. For the record, copyrights are rights, among the few things literally worth killing or dying for.

Hay you may be right. But Tracktion's always been like that even way before Mackie. So this is all Jules's fault.

Luckily theres plenty of other sequencers out there for you to choose from. So you dont have to even bother with the whole Tracktion experience.

[oxymoron]

Hay you may be right. But Tracktion's always been like that even way before Mackie. So this is all Jules's fault.

Luckily theres plenty of other sequencers out there for you to choose from. So you dont have to even bother with the whole Tracktion experience.

Ah, back in the day, I remember Jules dealing with problems like this *personally*. All these small requests must have driven Jules insane, but those were amazing times in retrospect. I recommended Tracktion to everyone back then and got a lot of puzzled looks. Now T's mainstream, people recommend it to me.

I don't blame Jules at all, not even with a !

[Beno]

Send me the email of the my.mackie.com account via PM and I will have your account reset.
Ben

[oxymoron]

Thank you, Beno!!!