Thoughts on Ilok?

[kidslow]

IK's manager is very unintrusive. Its only flaw is that like Waves and iLok, you have to deauthorize from the same computer to reclaim your authorization. But IK is super generous and gives you 10 authorizations, which is the best in the industry by a lot.

Last I tried (and last I will ever try), IK couldn't de-authorize a computer except from that computer, so if you go brick one slot down. That's why the give you 10 authorizations, no remote de-authorization. Terrible!

And so what if Arturia leaves a process in the memory from boot-up? Windows leaves hundreds. What's one more?

One process more than I'd prefer. Without it running, you cannot load their plugins. Kill it and try. Windows is your baseline.

[jamcat]

IK's manager is very unintrusive. Its only flaw is that like Waves and iLok, you have to deauthorize from the same computer to reclaim your authorization. But IK is super generous and gives you 10 authorizations, which is the best in the industry by a lot.

Last I tried (and last I will ever try), IK couldn't de-authorize a computer except from that computer, so if you go brick one slot down. That's why the give you 10 authorizations, no remote de-authorization. Terrible!

Underneath the new Product Manager, IK's authorization system is still the same as it ever was. It's a C/R system that has one unique authorization code for your serial number + unique machine ID. So if you reformat your hard drive and reinstall the same OS without changing any of your hardware, you will have the same authorization code, so it will be reused and it won't cost you an authorization. It used to be that you couldn't deauthorize a computer once authorized at all, but now you can since the introduction of the Product Manager.

But in the event that you keep getting new computers or make frequent major hardware changes and don't ever deauthorize your computers first, IK will give you more authorizations when you run out. So your complaints seem a wee bit overwrought.

[ATS]

I use one but honestly I never think about it.

[kidslow]

So your complaints seem a wee bit overwrought.

Was an observation and not a complaint. You want to see me overwrought, get me complaining about IK. LOL. This conversation is me being very underwrought. I actually think iLOK proponents make a convincing argument. I'm more open to it than I used to be.

[rj0]

I keep waiting for someone to say "I prefer CodeMeter".

[kritikon]

I couldn't imagine going without Eventide, East West Opus, or Relab LX480.

I can live without most of those. I have hankered after the Eventide pitchshifters, but in terms of reverbs both Eventide and Relab have very decent alternatives that aren't iLok. East West ditto. As with most things though, I've lived without fancy pitchshifters the whole of my life, so though it would be nice to use them they're not essential. I can't think of any single plugin that is absolutely indispensible, so it's unlikely I'll ever relent on iLok. Fortunately there are enough companies that don't sell with extraneous protection. Horses for courses...no skin off my nose if others use iLok, and also no skin off my own nose if I don't.

[jamcat]

I'm not real big on sample-based instruments, myself, preferring physical modeling instead (MODO, Pianoteq, SWAM). BUT there is no alternative to EW Hollywood/Symphonic Choirs, outside of hiring an actual choir.

[The Noodlist]

HoRNet and vendors who don't play DRM are to be lauded. The true heroes are the ones who open source their code.

These often seem to be be smaller independent developers, maybe it's less to lose or the cost of implementing more stringent protection.

[kidslow]

Perhaps because they don't have private equity overlords breathing down their necks demanding filthy lucre, so they can explore alternative business models that maybe better meet their needs?

[ghettosynth]

Perhaps because they don't have private equity overlords breathing down their necks demanding filthy lucre, so they can explore alternative business models that maybe better meet their needs?

^ This!

[Echoes in the Attic]

I was sour about ilok for a long time because of a bad experience where my plugins were not working for some reason all of a sudden and I couldn't open the ilok software to remove them. So I also couldn't transfer them. ilok said it was the vendors responsibility and others said it was ilok's. It was crazy. Then one day it started working again and I de-authorized. Lately I got back on board because I really like softube synths.

I haven't looked into whether you can de-authorize a computer from another computer, but obviously you should be able to do that. We shouldn't be out of luck if a computer dies, clearly.

[jamcat]

I will say this:
Celemony gives you the option to choose either iLok or Melodyne’s own C/R based authorization. I chose the C/R authorization.

[jamcat]

I forgot to mention this one. Definitely one of the best, if not THE best authorization/install manager:

Audio Modeling Software Center!


It does it all: installs, authorizes, manages updates, manages plugin formats and paths, uninstalls...

You can authorize on up to 4 computers at once, and authorizations can be deleted from your Customer Portal at my.audiomodeling.com. Perfection!

[Lazarus451]

There are some things I like and other things I hate in iLok. It's easy to manage your licenses and install software once you have authorized them in iLok. But the computer authorization is problematic because one day all your licenses are unavailable and then you have to wait a couple of days to get them back. If you don't have the dongle, remeber to keep your system restore point active. That's the only way to get through unwanted computer id changes. I bought the dongle and zero problems now.

[nitex]

This "contact every vendor" nonsense doesn't happen. iLok just clear all your activations so you can reactivate. Because that's iLok's purpose - activation - licensing is definitely down to vendors but if your iLok account shows those licenses, iLok will reest your activations if you have a problem. Or they did for me.

This is not quite true. I'm going through a "License Reset Request" right now. A BIOS update locked me out of my old Windows installation and i had to reinstall my OS. I've sent the request to deauthorize those inaccessible licenses on Monday this week, a few vendors responded very timely in 1 to 2 days, while the other half of my plugins is still not deauthorized a week later. Looks like i will have to contact those companies to get things hopefully moving.
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