Finally the very good news from Steinberg!!!

[alberto_balsalm]

But it's the time in between that matters because that's the time where the product gets sold and keeps the dev alive as there is the peak in the beginning when a new version gets released

True, but very very few copy protection systems are that good. iLok, eLicenser, Reason's copy protection, and also Denuvo (games use that) come to mind. The vast majority of software and games don't use this kind of drastic copy protection though, and consequently they get cracked fast.

It's the old problem of assuming that pirating equals a lost sale, which is a pretty nonsensical view. TAL and Valhalla DSP, just to take an example, use extremely basic protection systems, and yet they don't seem to have any issues staying afloat. Both are pretty popular developers and have next to zero marketing. Virtually every major DAW aside from Cubase and Reason gets cracked, but even massively popular ones like Live and FL Studio still don't have any issues selling new copies.

[elxsound]

I'm cautiously happy about this.

I've been eyeing Cubase/Wavelab for a bit, but I didn't want another dongle as it seems future gear will likely keep heading in the direction of eliminating additional USB ports. This is just my personal opinion of what to expect and nothing more.

Like others have said... I'm curious what their "environment" looks like, but I'm in no rush to buy.

[Orbit-50]

Yay more subscription/cloud things. Being online all the time, yay.

I love your sentiment. I feel the same way. People bitching about dongles but the last thing I want, is effing 5,000,000 cloud authorizations going on when I fire up my machine. I'm not in love with being at the mercy of company servers just to use my software licenses. Feels like my freedom is being stripped away every day with that crap. If I can't have a serial, give me a dongle and get the hell out of my life!

[pixel85]

Yay more subscription/cloud things. Being online all the time, yay.

I love your sentiment. I feel the same way. People bitching about dongles but the last thing I want, is effing 5,000,000 cloud authorizations going on when I fire up my machine. I'm not in love with being at the mercy of company servers just to use my software licenses. Feels like my freedom is being stripped away every day with that crap. If I can't have a serial, give me a dongle and get the hell out of my life!

Those people will complain about new copy protection instead of dongle. But if this will make them happy... Oh, who I'm to judge
If Steinberg will do same system as Roland Cloud I'll laugh through my tears (as it will be time to abandon Cubase after all those years).

[andypryce]

This is from the Steinberg forums:

The goal of this project is to replace the old license management system, not to introduce a subscription model replacing perpetual licenses.

Time to dry those panties boys.

Nobody:
Cubase users: No! We do not want subscription!

[LeVzi]

Personally, the eLicenser dongle doesn't bother me. It sits there on my USB hub tucked away behind my computer (along with my iLok and Waves flash drive) and the only time I ever remember that it's there is when I have to register a new product to it (which hasn't happened in years).

I'm a bit scared that they can stop functioning when I have them plugged in for months (after all, everything wears), so, I only plug them (eLicenser and iLok) in when I make music.

So there is your calm and chilled attitude, you are paranoid to leave the dongle in, if it breaks it breaks, relax, calm down, take a chill pill

[LeVzi]

Surely a good solution would be the way the elicenser software works with Cubase. You still need the elicenser software installed, much like the iLok one, and it authorises Cubase on your system using a Hardware stamp.

Remove the need for the actual dongle and leave it as it is. That's the only way I use iLok, as a software licenser, I have no issue with that. It's the actual hardware dongle I hate.

[Reefius]

My eLicenser dongle has been connected to the same USB hub for over 6 years now, and my PC runs 24/7. Never had an issue with it.
I guess I'm one of the few people here who actually like dongle protection. Makes it so easy to reinstall on a new PC. Just install and it works without activation or entering a serial. I even bought an iLok dongle recently to secure all my iLok protected plugins.

[aMUSEd]

Does that mean they are also phasing out eLicenser? That has implications for other companies too (although tbh I think most devs seem to have moved to either dongle free or iLok - I don't have much left on my eLicenser dongle now except Steinberg stuff so maybe it was becoming less sustainable anyway?)

[KenjiDeVries]

I guess I'm one of the few people here who actually like dongle protection.

No. Don't forget it's always the minority that cries the loudest. I too like dongles very much and the independence of license servers and such (just look at the recent NI mess about activating their older products). I know my system back up will work exactly like this 10 years from now. No reactivation or home calling needed to check my license and no-one can take my license away from me.

[chk071]

Yay more subscription/cloud things. Being online all the time, yay.

I love your sentiment. I feel the same way. People bitching about dongles but the last thing I want, is effing 5,000,000 cloud authorizations going on when I fire up my machine. I'm not in love with being at the mercy of company servers just to use my software licenses.

The funny thing is that the announcement by Steinberg to go dongle less comes after 4 days of the eLicenser servers being offline, and a big shit storm on the Steinberg forums by people who couldn't register their newly bought software, or do the eLicenser maintenance job: https://www.steinberg.net/de/newsandeve ... -5864.html

You are "at the mercy of company servers" in either case, with any C/R, or dongle protection. And I don't know a single payware DAW now which comes without that. Frankly, I experienced very, very little problems with that though, with any audio software. I am happy that I don't have to stick that expensive dick into my USB port anymore, that's my main priority. C/R protection is fine, as long as you don't have to stay online every DAW session, which I doubt will be the way Steinberg does it. Seriously, why would they? Presonus and others do well without such a thing.

The sheer thought of being able to run Wavelab Elements and Halion Symphonic Orchestra without having to plug in the dongle every time for those 2 softwares alone is a delight.

[felis]

If I remember right, the last time Steinberg got rid of the dongle (25 pin printer/parallel? port), they offered $50 if you sent it in.
I kept it, and still have it, but it's useless on any modern computer now.
Scroll down a bit on the link below to see the old dongles. I can't seem to be able to attach the pic.

http://www.oldschooldaw.com/forums/inde ... opic=210.0

[HSum]

Stenberg is know for their well thought decisions and superb support, right? We all totally trust Steinberg, right? We're confident they're not f**king this up, right? No, me neither. But then I can only say the last Cubase version installed here is 5 and as long as nothing changes for me I could not care less. There are alternatives on mass.

[LeVzi]

Stenberg is know for their well thought decisions and superb support, right? We all totally trust Steinberg, right? We're confident they're not f**king this up, right? No, me neither. But then I can only say the last Cubase version installed here is 5 and as long as nothing changes for me I could not care less. There are alternatives on mass.

Im waiting for the sh!tstorm that follows when ( I assume ) it all changes with V12. So far they seem to break a lot with every release, then patch it quickly after. With something this big happening, I will sit back and observe how they roll that out. Maybe its across the board, who knows, we will wait and see just what happens.

[Dasheesh]

"developers", are single developers. steinberg etc. are companies full of people they have to pay. they need more cash. obviously, the best way to do it is to buy, and have the product locked away behind your company account support wall cr free. but, if download copy protection is necessary, the elicenses dongle free (softlog) is the better version. it's the least intrusive. i wound up trying to delete my waves off my hard drive yesterday. holy hell, if any of you have ever tried to get waves off your hard drive... good luck. they leave about 10 gigs of orphan files to track down. it was too large to recycle. it's like ripping an alien tracking device out of you.