iLok?

[Dasheesh]

Knock knock... it's iLok!

The point is to get rid of the pace chit and not have to validate every time you want to use your kit that you paid for.

[Dasheesh]

...plus, if you embed the license you have your unique product and feel some ownership of that product, as opposed to just borrowing it for a limited time.

[Deisss]

If you want to get honest and have a real frank discussion about this problem I'm not sure it wouldn't violate all rules of this forum. While I DO agree Ilok came about because of the thieves, the honest truth is you will NOT stop the thieves or crack heads enabling them. The crack heads will crack ANYTHING. That goes for the stuff they deem "worthy" of cracking, but that doesn't happen often. The crack heads love soft targets, easy targets. They will tell you they have some kind of moral agenda or cause; but, they will crack the fair companies, the cheap companies, the free companies, and the truth is they are getting recognition and they are getting paid for clicks at this point to do it. The trick is to make it hard for them. Make it difficult, WITHOUT harming and discouraging legitimate users more than the crackheads.

There is a better way. There are companies that do things better. The problem is there are people who depend on other people buying in to Ilok now. What needs to happen is Ilok need to evolve. When you buy a product, it should be stored on the developers server (you could even make it a centralized server that all developers go to). Then when you purchase you are given your login and you have to go to the server and login to download your UNIQUE product that has been embedded with YOUR license. The first time you open up the product it validates the computer it's on. but ONLY the first time. When you move to a new computer it validates the new computer with YOUR unique license. Tie the product to the license. What you want to do is make it traceable, so that if something gets out into the wild it is easily traced back to a source and can be invalidated and rendered unusable quickly.

Let's go for an honest -and long, and over-talked - debate:

The second method your promote is actually already in use by some companies (in the audio industry). I'm not sure I've the right to tell which company use this system or not as there is a lot of NDA running around, so I will just shut up, but for sure, this system is already in use in the audio industry, I've been receiving tons of documentation for various reasons, and at least 4/5 major companies got such system running under the hood, and certainly much more but I don't pay attention to all of them.

But the point you forgot in all of this, is rather simple: it's not easy at all for many companies (especially small ones), you need knowledge, know what you are doing. Software protection is highly technical stuff:
- you have to know what is all about -and it's not easy at all, some people spend their entire life on those security/piracy questions-
- what the strenght and weaknesses of every method (none of them are perfect, like having a server in the middle of all of this = if the company died, all activations died too)
- be sure after everything is working well in terms of security and easy of use for the user.
Generally speaking, it cost much more than buying a license to iLok and start using their solution.

Add to this the fact many companies are rather musician enthusiasts rather than developers/software engineers. And you can easily understand why iLok is so often used.
Yes, iLok cost a lot (in time, easy of use, even sales suffer from it for the exact reason of this thread), and many of that cost is on the user side, it's shit for sure exactly because of what's decribed above (loosed iLok key, broken key, ...), but the system you describe is more, much more complicated than iLok.

Therefore, many company goes for iLok, they got help from iLok CS team, documentation how to setup without understanding shit about what is security, they don't need to hire people and infrastructure for it, it's quite convenient to them, and still much faster than implementing their own solution, and probably better than doing a simple serial system that will get cracked in a minute with the first reverse tool on the market.

It's like a mix between running without any protection, and making an overkill system, and that is appealing to them, I can easily understand that. They can concentrate on something else, at a really small cost (time and money).


So yes, I don't like it, like possibly all users, but as long as piracy is out there, such system will continue to exists for a long time...


EDIT: and to go back on the initial thread question:
Pro:
- well, pro are mostly for the company than you the end user...
- the USB key, once the activation is done, is enough, you can install the software on thousand of computers if you want, as the iLok is only available in one of them at a time, it will work and be OK. Some system are less flexible on how many installation running at a time due to that point. So it's a pro.

Cons:
- take a USB slot (and sometimes more as there is many companies out there), iLok and the Cubase's one are the biggest available here. No need to say iLok is not only there in the Music world...
- Suffer from broken/lost key (and don't forget it when you go to travel...).
- Globally shitty if you want to transfert a license, pay attention to that point as every company decide about the re-sale policy.

Globally speaking I don't have much problem with it so far, so it's working and is not too much of a pain.

[SODDI]

Cubase's one are the biggest available here.

Cubase's dongle is very big. It sticks out nearly 1 3/4 inches from my USB port. My trackball and keyboard's dongles stick out less than 1/2 inch. I do not know about the iLok dongle.

Why does it have to be so big? So it can have the useless little red light? I worry that I'm going brush up against it and break it off.

I am all for CP, but jeez, this is 2016. They COULD make them smaller.

Also, I recently bought an Alesis keyb and they offered a freebie synth at me - except that freebie required an iLok licence and the whole iLok process. Please. If I am going to need an iLok license, I'll do it with both eyes wide open and for a product I actually want.

[xx JPRacer xx]

I only use plugins that have software iLok without dongle. So far I didn't encounter any problems.

I hope your HD or computer don't die because you'll lose all your licenses!

[aMUSEd]

Cubase's one are the biggest available here.

Cubase's dongle is very big. It sticks out nearly 1 3/4 inches from my USB port. My trackball and keyboard's dongles stick out less than 1/2 inch. I do not know about the iLok dongle.

Why does it have to be so big? So it can have the useless little red light? I worry that I'm going brush up against it and break it off.

I am all for CP, but jeez, this is 2016. They COULD make them smaller.

http://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/the ... eed-643803

[Examigan]

I only use plugins that have software iLok without dongle. So far I didn't encounter any problems.

I hope your HD or computer don't die because you'll lose all your licenses!

I had an issue like that with my PC (it died basically) and luckily the company fixed it for me, and I was able to use the synths again on my new PC even though they used ILok and I didn't use a dongle.

[TheKid]

The problem I have with iLok is the loss of licenses when shit goes wrong (and additional hardware costs combined with another occupied USB port).

Soft iLok: HDD/SSD crashes -> licences gone.
Hardware iLok: USB dongle crashes -> licenses gone. USB dongle lost -> licenses gone.

Either way you can be screwed.

If there was a way to regain thoses licenses (without being dependend on the developer's grace to hand out new licenses) I would be absolutely okay with it. I use a laptop for music in a band and the possibility of stuff being stolen or stuff breaking at gigs is high so no iLok for me.

[aMUSEd]

The problem I have with iLok is the loss of licenses when shit goes wrong (and additional hardware costs combined with another occupied USB port).

Soft iLok: HDD/SSD crashes -> licences gone.
Hardware iLok: USB dongle crashes -> licenses gone. USB dongle lost -> licenses gone.

Either way you can be screwed.

If there was a way to regain thoses licenses (without being dependend on the developer's grace to hand out new licenses) I would be absolutely okay with it. I use a laptop for music in a band and the possibility of stuff being stolen or stuff breaking at gigs is high so no iLok for me.

ZDT/TLC

https://ilok.com/%23!license-manager#!zdt-details

sure there's a small yearly fee but for peace of mind it's worth it

[TheKid]

Yeah, if I have a $100 plugin on my iLok I pay almost one third each and every year to "protect" it? And if the iLok gets stolen I have to pay the 30$ for ZDT/TLC again for the new dongle.
No way. That "service" should be free and already be covered by the fees a developer pays to use iLok.
That whole system needs to die a quick death. It's a punishment for legit customers.

[aMUSEd]

Yeah, if I have a $100 plugin on my iLok I pay almost one third each and every year to "protect" it? And if the iLok gets stolen I have to pay the 30$ for ZDT/TLC again for the new dongle.
No way. That "service" should be free and already be covered by the fees a developer pays to use iLok.
That whole system needs to die a quick death. It's a punishment for legit customers.

It's a tradeoff, most people with just one $100 plugin on the dongle may not feel it's worth it and take the risk, those of us with many more however will feel it is well worth it and a small amount to pay for what is essentially insurance. I moved as many licenses from my eLicencer to my iLok as I could when I took it out. It does include a free replacement iLok in case of a broken one (not sure about stolen) and you are only paying it for one dongle at a time.

btw if it is a broken dongle my understanding is Pace will recover the license and give you a free one even if you don't have ZDT - the ZDT just means you get them quicker (ie before they have recovered licenses from the broken dongle rather than after)

https://www.ilok.com/#!support/help/102 ... /102029704

[Lotuzia]

The problem I have with iLok is the loss of licenses when shit goes wrong (and additional hardware costs combined with another occupied USB port).
...
Soft iLok: HDD/SSD crashes -> licences gone.
...

Iirc in almost all cases, you have two simultaneous installs on two different computers available. So in case of crash you should still have at least one licence left to use (And the time to contact the developper to solve the problem of the crashed Hdd/Ssd)

Might be worth to check if it's the case for the specific synths you have/would want, but this is the scheme for plugs I know.

[TheKid]

Until now the GAS threshold wasn't reached to jump for iLok protected software; there was no plugin THAT great that made me swallow that bitter pill. Until now I was able to resist although there are some great "iLoked" products out there.

[ghettosynth]

The problem I have with iLok is the loss of licenses when shit goes wrong (and additional hardware costs combined with another occupied USB port).
...
Soft iLok: HDD/SSD crashes -> licences gone.
...

Iirc in almost all cases, you have two simultaneous installs on two different computers available. So in case of crash you should still have at least one licence left to use (And the time to contact the developper to solve the problem of the crashed Hdd/Ssd)

Might be worth to check if it's the case for the specific synths you have/would want, but this is the scheme for plugs I know.

Just for the sake of this thread, iZotope does not do this, neither "did" cycling 74, and at least for the free stuff, ironically, neither does Slate. I've not tried to request a second license from slate, but, I don't own any of their paid plugs.

[Dasheesh]

Until now the GAS threshold wasn't reached to jump for iLok protected software; there was no plugin THAT great that made me swallow that bitter pill. Until now I was able to resist although there are some great "iLoked" products out there.

Yes, and tomorrow there will be better ones, and the day after that, and the day after that.... There are some great ILOK plugs, and there are some great non ILOK plugs. Everytime you buy in you continue the circle.