Why the iLok hate?

[digitalboytn]

i actually love my dongle and the mobility it offers

Loud and proud

[morelia]

Because sometimes iLok sucks. And when it sucks it sucks bad. And when it sucks we shouldn't have to deal with that because our part of the transaction is paying for the dongle, paying for the license and using our software. That's it. Nothing more. In reality part of our purchase includes a requirement to waste our personal or working time to email support when things don't work, not be able to use a product until iLok have finished giving you the run around and actually sort the problem out, experience frustration etc.

[mister-rz]

Few things I don't like about ilok are the transfer fees, not so bad with expensive plugins, but for cheaper stuff or things that are on sale a lot you can end up with doubles (upgrading to bundles) or plugs you don't use.

My biggest peeve with ilok though, is they don't waive the fees for the annual kvr charity drive, few of us have been intouch about this but no dice. One thing that made me appreciate ilok more tho was when I had my main board replaced due to the graphics card issue on my mbp, few vendors plugs stopped working, waves and p.a spring to mind as I have a few of their plugs, but ilok was hassle free.

[Ichad.c]

I had a issue with a physical ilok in a studio once, somebody actually stepped on the dang thing and broke it, but the real problem was that we couldn't find a replacement in my country (this is old ilok 1 days), so the studio was down for 4 days waiting for an imported dongle.

That being said, I really like the software version, I recently upgraded my workstation and moving/activating all my licenses was a breeze - I like that everything is in one place.

[layzer]

dont got it, dont need it... i have everything i need to make great music without anything that uses it.

[robotmonkey]

There are many reasons I dislike iLok. Including but not limited to:

Cost - no way am I going to pay extra money for copy protection. Especially 70-80$ (shipping included) for a cheap flimsy usb dongle costing probably 5$ to make. And if it happens that it needs to be sent in for repairs, a round trip form here would probably cost 100$. That they even have a nerve to ask extra money for the so called downtime protection, is despicable. You will have to add troubleshooting costs and costs related to downtime, if something gets messed up. This is just not acceptable however you look at it. Copy protection should work 100% of the time and never ever get in a way of a paying user. So whenever I see a iLok plugin on sale, I add these cost, and it's always an easy pass.

Convenience and user experience - iLok is the highest maintenance copy protection ever made. It needs constant fiddling, updating, troubleshooting and so on. There's literally a new thread every week here or on GS about iLok problems. When I buy music software I do not want to be troubleshooting fu*king copy protection for days end. It also wastes an USB port, which I have a shortage even on my huge full tower case with extra USB expansion panel. I also find it insulting, that cracked versions of the same plugins are easier to install, load much faster and take about 50% less system resources.

General lack of trust in Pace - I find it worrying that my software depends on a faceless entity with long history of fu*kups and dubious actions. And if something is not working, it's often unclear who is at fault. I have seen this a lot with clients. When something is screwed up with licenses Pace tells to contact developer and developer says it's Paces fault. Paying customers should not be screwed around like that, end of story. Moreover, as Windows 10 is ever more cracking down on all kinds of third party system level sh1t and generally throwing things around, I doubt Pace's ability to keep up with it.

Granted, I fully understand why some companies have gone iLok. From the business perspective it might make sense to outsource license management. iLok was also not cracked for quite some time. And I do understand that some people like iLok because they can easily move licenses around with their key. But then again, Waves and PA also have this option without any downsides of iLok. And not even mentioning serial/keyfile protected plugins.

Personally, I am barely putting up with soft iLok, frankly, because I know that all the plugins I have on my account can be replaced ASAP with patched versions without iLok if something stops working. iLok greatly diminishes any plugin's value in my eyes, so I will never pay serious money for any iLok plugin. I rather look iLok plugins as mobile apps - if free or very low cost, I can probably live with it, but I except them to stop working any time. My two most expensive iLok plugins have cost ~35$ and these have been really special cases that have been pushing it to the limit. Most of them are freebies or super cheap second hand activation codes though.

Fortunately, there's so many good plugins using much customer friendly protection that avoiding iLok is generally not a problem.

[quantum7]

No dongle? No deal! Long live the dongle!

[chk071]

Why the iLok hate?

Because copy protections are bad mkay?

And, really, we don't need another 30 page thread on this stupid topic. I wished the agitators would put their money where their mouths are, literally. Noone is forced to buy dongle or iLok protected plugins.

[ruslan.st]

There is no hate, just rational estimation. Dongles add cost and inconvenience and many dongled plugins have alternatives. For example that generic ancient Sonnox EQ with black Friday 50% discount costs 100GBP plus ilok on top
There were reports on forums that Sonnox EQ almost nulls out in tests against daw stock plugins. Are there still people buying Sonnox EQ for that price?

[e@rs]

Aside from all the already mentioned motives, I find the fact that I have to pay for their copy protection infuriating.

Yet I bought a dongle because of Soundtoys. Was it a smooth sail so far? No, one day the f***ing thing just failed to recognize the licenses stored on it. I found a fix quickly, but this situation never happened to me with any of the other copy protections.

At the present, when I see that a new software is iLok protected, a defense mechanism inside me activates and stops me from even demoing it.

[lajosuti]

I had a software iLok, and when I reinstalled my system, it turned out I should have removed the iLok licenses first... and they cannot do anything; I had to contact Metric Halo, Sonivox, Eventide, ... one by one to please reset my stuff.

And today I don't have any iLok software on my machine. I am sad about the soundtoys little plate or the metric halo channel strip, but there are alternative solutions without iLok, and it feels safer. How ridiculous is that they are not prepared for the scenario that the computer goes wrong. I didn't have issue with my NI, IKM, Toontrack, ... plugins, only with the iLok ones.

[digitalboytn]

At the present, when I see that a new software is iLok protected, a defense mechanism inside me activates and stops me from even demoing it.

Now that is the real deal iLok protection !

Protected from iLok

[Acid Mitch]

I prefer ilok dongle to challenge/response protections and hard drive authorisations.
I've had stuff where it’s taken over a week to get a response code to activate my software.
Plus it’s easier if you need to reinstall or use a different computer and no having to ask for more codes when you’ve ran out of authorisations.

[chk071]

Aside from all the already mentioned motives, I find the fact that I have to pay for their copy protection infuriating.

Yet I bought a dongle because of Soundtoys.

Don't forget the costs you have to pay for the implementation of ANY kind of copy protection. Even serials require some amount of coding, and, of course, that has to be paid by the customer. It's good though. You never know how much more the plugins would have to cost to make up for the warez.

[AnX]

it's 100% unnecessary and a scam, simple as that.

Any dev that uses it i avoid.