KVR Audio

Uncle E · Post by **Uncle E** » Sun Jul 01, 2012 5:16 pm

samsam wrote:Also I haven't got time to argue with everyone, have to be selective

hehe, ok, I can accept that.

Uncle E · Post by **Uncle E** » Sun Jul 01, 2012 5:24 pm

JimmiG wrote:Correction: every copy protection scheme gets cracked, eventually.

The original iLok had a long run - something like 12 or 14 years, if I remember correctly - and that may be a huge contributing factor to Waves being the success they are today. If you weren't there, iLok's were massively unpopular and troublesome back then, much more than today, and Waves was one of the few companies that consistently relied upon them.

It might reduce piracy slightly, but it doesn't increase sales. If anything, it decreases sales because a small group will always avoid the most intrusive DRM schemes.

Please illustrate two similar companies, one that uses DRM and one that does not, so that we can see the impact as it actually exists in reality.

A simple personalized serial number is enough to give honest users a hint that they should pay for the product. Dishonest users will pirate it, or if they can't find a serial/crack online, just ignore it and pirate something else. They won't just "give up" and pay $200 for the application. This is true regardless of what protection scheme is in place.

Not true! Think of how many of us started as poor college students and then graduated to being professional users, don't you think that our habits can change as we mature and as our needs evolve?

Uncle E · Post by **Uncle E** » Sun Jul 01, 2012 5:36 pm

osiris wrote:I'm liking the Tone 2 keyfile way. No muss, no fuss. Where's your keyfile? Point it there and authorized. PLus the good thing is I can make a copy and keep it somewhere safe. Serial numbers can get ridiculous. especially with my aging eyes. Is the an o or a zero, a 5 or an S? Keyfile. Done.

It might be cool if we could define our own passwords. That way we wouldn't even have to store anything. Also, I think people would be reticent to share their passwords if they use the same ones across all their software.

Anyway, until that happens, I'm actually really happy with the Native Instruments licensing method. I keep all my NI or Kontakt library serial numbers in a single text file and all the library files on a single drive, making reinstalling so incredibly easy.

Loki Fuego · Post by **Loki Fuego** » Sun Jul 01, 2012 5:38 pm

Uncle E wrote:
It might reduce piracy slightly, but it doesn't increase sales. If anything, it decreases sales because a small group will always avoid the most intrusive DRM schemes.
Please illustrate two similar companies, one that uses DRM and one that does not, so that we can see the impact as it actually exists in reality.

Do you know why Windows is dominating PC market for the last Nth years? Because at one point of time Microsoft had decided that it's better to let everyone pirate it so that people would get used to it, and only after that start caring about how to make everyone pay for it.

Uncle E · Post by **Uncle E** » Sun Jul 01, 2012 5:55 pm

Loki Fuego wrote:Do you know why Windows is dominating PC market for the last Nth years? Because at one point of time Microsoft had decided that it's better to let everyone pirate it so that people would get used to it, and only after that start caring about how to make everyone pay for it.

I thought it was because PC's were reverse engineered by Compaq, et al, and thus available for much, much cheaper than Macs. That's the reason I always used PC's.

hibidy · Post by **hibidy** » Sun Jul 01, 2012 8:53 pm

Here we go.

dalor · Post by **dalor** » Mon Jul 02, 2012 12:04 am

JimmiG wrote:
dalor wrote:
skitchy wrote:
Don't blame companies trying to protect their immaterial property to stay in business.
Except they don't protect anybody from anything - every copy protection scheme gets cracked.
Not true: iLok2 hasn't been cracked yet.
Correction: every copy protection scheme gets cracked, eventually.

You're absolutely right with that one, they all get cracked - rather later than sooner. Any copy protection is considered successful if it lasts longer than 120 (insert your number here) days after release. The first couple months of a new product are most important to make sales. A friend of mine wrote the copy protection for a big player in the VST industry, the product was cracked 180 days later after its initial release, it was considered a success. Funny, the crackers called it a lame protection and wrote messages inside the dll of the cracked product - yet it took them 180 days to crack it.

Trakstar · Post by **Trakstar** » Mon Jul 02, 2012 3:20 pm

Reason 6 still going on strong

highkoo · Post by **highkoo** » Mon Jul 02, 2012 3:34 pm

"Strong"

dalor wrote:it took them 180 days to crack it.

There is also a chance that it happened over a cup of coffee, in an afternoon, 180 days after release.

No offense. Im sure your friend is quite smart to be involved in writing protection software. Im just sayin there are smart guys lurking.

Anyway, just in case it hasnt been mentioned...;

Acronis!

Schedule a full backup of C:, /VST, /Projects, etc....
My entire C: is backed up every Tuesday at 3AM.

The fear! It just disappears!

Acronis!

osiris · Post by **osiris** » Mon Jul 02, 2012 3:36 pm

Listen to your fish....

hibidy · Post by **hibidy** » Mon Jul 02, 2012 7:15 pm

SAW75 · Post by **SAW75** » Tue Jul 03, 2012 1:28 am

I just wanted to report that today came and went with no answer from Arturia support. Even though I was able to solve my problem with the help of KVR, I think it's pretty lame that Arturia would just let me be locked out of my own software for this long and not even bother to respond today.

I really believe if you are going to inconvenience a customer with buggy copy protection, at least you could stay on top of support requests concerning authorization issues.

This is actually the second time Arturia support has been below par for me. I'm kinda done with them.

We'll see how long it takes them to respond. I'm not holding my breathe.

The fish have spoken. Time to make music.