PA subscription incoming ?

[escalona]

...and... going back to our topic, I'll be glad to pay PA $1.99 a month tops for their subscription.


PA plugins are somewhat becoming paperweight... or is it only me? (selling for as low as $2 in the forum? ...)

[plexuss]

What a bunch of nonsense and bad advices... but is ok, fill the pocket of Ilok/Pace buying their overpriced dongles or paying the yearly fee for "protection" ZDT, be dependent of them.

I love iLok. For those of you who might consider it, you can do without ZDT by using an 2nd dongle and putting a 2nd activation on it. This way you won't need ZDT because if the first dongle is lost you can use the 2nd while you recover from the loss. It means you wont have access to licenses that only have 1 activation but it saves you paying for ZDT. And as I mentioned you get access to a whole wack of other amazing audio software you can't access without an iLok dongle. Either way, have fun.

[ATN69]

...and... going back to our topic, I'll be glad to pay PA $1.99 a month tops for their subscription.


PA plugins are somewhat becoming paperweight... or is it only me? (selling for as low as $2 in the forum? ...)

One thing I learned over the years is that cheap doesn't always mean bad and expensive doesn't always mean good. When a developer have sales prices on the second hand market is of course dropping even more. I saw many people dumping PA and selling out what ever PA they have and it's driving down the second hand prices even further. Personally I never buy plugs as an investment and I never go into buying hoping that I can sell them and get all my money back.

Diva from Uhe used to sell for about $100 - $120 in second hand market a year or two ago but after the (was it Arturia?) sale of Uhe bundles, Diva is normally around $80 these days. I took Uhe as example because they normally never have sales and still the one sale that did happen affected the prices at second hand market. Diva is a very nice synth and it's not less good now just because it dropped from a typical $120 down to a typical $80.

[Tappistry]

I made the mistake of doing the Slate thing and I wish I wouldn't have wasted money on a hardware iLok stick. It's now collecting dust in a drawer. I was just starting on my DAW/recording journey and I fell for their marketing.

That money could have been spent on plugins that are actually worth buying and using. [Flame suit on.]

I hated the idea of iLok especially the need for a dongle. I was on that anti-iLok band-wagon. But, I was able to get a iLok dongle cheap so I decided to do it. Now, I have access to so much other amazing music software it's incredible. Granted there is a lot of great stuff available that is non-iLok. However there are so many iLok only products that are amazing I now really like iLok! So much so I now have two dongles! One is a back up for licenses that have more than 1 activation. I also like not having licenses on my system - I have had the experience of my machine dying and having to manually ask companies to re-issue my licenses that depend on machine ID. I am an iLok dongle convert! If you have GAS its probably best to stay away from iLok but if you can control your GAS or simply don't suffer from it (me) then iLok gives you access to a whole other world of great audio software.

I think it's safe to assume that just about everyone who posts here suffers from GAS over the course of spending time on this forum. It's the nature of the beast, and also why the Sell/Buy exchange forum exists. But that's beside the point.

I have yet to see any software that's dongle-only and think to myself, "Oh, I want that inconvenience of reserving a USB port on my computer!"

So now it's not just Slate hate, it's ilok hate.

I got over that 10 years ago. And it's not idea, I agree. But it's like resisting electricity in this day and age.

They were one of the first and most notable to start the subscription model. So yes, Slate will inevitably get lumped into this discussion. They tried to market the plan as a way to save money, and simple math proved their marketing wrong.

I think there are plenty of other developers who don't lock people into dongles and subscription plans, while making better products with sensible upgrade pricing over the long term. (Some even do free for life updates, as long as the product is still current.)

[reggie1979]

I don't have a problem with Slate being put in the equation, I have a problem with the "activists" who constantly parade their dislike of useful services like it's some kinda evil entity.

[plexuss]

I don't have a problem with Slate being put in the equation, I have a problem with the "activists" who constantly parade their dislike of useful services like it's some kinda evil entity.

+1

[JunSev]

For all darkness there will be some lights and for each misinformation and bad ways that lead to not so good destinations, there will be clearness and truth prevailing...

I just believe in a better future independent, where the user is independent of "services", where they buy a products and they might feel that their investment is there, not relying in companies/corporations/"plans" or some "protection" methods.

I mean I wouldn't enter in this topic if it wasn't for Plexuss quite wrong advice, so all ok. Please continue with the topic.

[dionenoid]

For all darkness there will be some lights and for each misinformation and bad ways that lead to not so good destinations, there will be clearness and truth prevailing...

I just believe in a better future independent, where the user is independent of "services", where they buy a products and they might feel that their investment is there, not relying in companies/corporations/"plans" or some "protection" methods.

I mean I wouldn't enter in this topic if it wasn't for Plexuss quite wrong advice, so all ok. Please continue with the topic.

So you decided to troll a topic with your misinformation about iLok and ZDT once again. Spreading lies that people have to pay for ZDT when using iLok.

[Hink]

well this thread is fortunately not about ilok or zdt so we can put this to rest now

[lwj]

Yeah the question is how successful it’s really gonna be. They can really undermine themselves with it.

Since a lot of people already own some or lot of PA plugins, a blanket subscription has no benefit for them. Unless they start unloading their owned plugins on the second hand market.. which will drive the second hand price even further down, and by extension the value of that subscription.

[SiliconDeath]

I think the subscription model is hard to justify, as it's something that seems to be disliked in all areas in general (be it people looking for alternatives to subscription locked adobe products, or people avoiding monthly sub MMOs in favor of non-sub MMOs). People have harder time to justify when something is has reoccurring payment.

I can understand paying for a service like cloud storage or internet radio, but paying for something that's already in your computer, and that you will never get to "own" a license of, doesn't sit well with me. This whole "product as a service" model in general seems shady imo, regardless wherever it's applied.

[plexuss]

I went through the decision process with Adobe when they went full subscription. After weighing the pros/cons I decided it just didn't make sense for me. It did mean I'd have to find viable alternatives at least for Photoshop, for the work I do. It wasn't long before an inexpensive perpetual license product was available. Now I don't use Adobe unless it's a client need and then I just subscribe for the duration of the project and bill it back to them.

But for music/audio, I use those tools every day. And I have a lot across a lot of companies. It just wouldn't be financially viable to subscribe to all of them. I make way less money with music. If it was my main source of revenue then it would be the same as Adobe. But since I would presumably be using it every day, I'd want a perpetual license, not a subscription.

I guess what I am saying is that for me a subscription doesn't make sense unless it's for a paid project's duration and it's for something I wouldn't use otherwise. Audio software doesn't qualify.

[Razzia]

What a bunch of nonsense and bad advices... but is ok, fill the pocket of Ilok/Pace buying their overpriced dongles or paying the yearly fee for "protection" ZDT, be dependent of them.

I love iLok. For those of you who might consider it, you can do without ZDT by using an 2nd dongle and putting a 2nd activation on it. This way you won't need ZDT because if the first dongle is lost you can use the 2nd while you recover from the loss. It means you wont have access to licenses that only have 1 activation but it saves you paying for ZDT. And as I mentioned you get access to a whole wack of other amazing audio software you can't access without an iLok dongle. Either way, have fun.

What? That doesn't make any sense.

If you have a second dongle there's no reason to keep spare licenses actually on it. I've never used ZDT but I can only imagine that its only usefulness is for single activation licenses because as long as you can log in with ilok license manager you can load the spare activations on your dongle after you lose your first one.

You're just putting your spare licenses on a physical object that could be broken or lost instead of leaving them in your account, where you can get them in less than 30 seconds if you need them. That's actually the worst way you could handle it lol

[Russell Grand]

This is the first time I've ever seen someone say that they love iLok.

[plexuss]

From what I understand from reading how the iLok RMA process works, once you open an RMA, they deactivate all the licenses on the RMAed iLok off your account, including those not activated and in your account. If you do not buy ZDT then you have to wait for them to get and process your iLok to get new licenses deposited. The strategy is to put the 2nd activation on a 2nd iLok so that they can be used after RMAing the lost/dead iLok. You can buy ZDT at the time of the RMA for $30 however there is a 7-day waiting period before they will deposit temp licenses. If you want them deposited right away its an additional $100. By putting the 2nd activation on a 2nd key you'd have a spare key with a set of licenses you can use right away while the main iLok is being RMAed, without having to pay for ZDT. What am I missing?