Thoughts on Ilok?

[ghettosynth]

A laptop can get pulled off a table because it’s light. And sitting on a table top. That’s why Apple has the MagSafe charger.

This entire line of reasoning is absurd. Your argument is that the ports can get damaged and yet you really have no choice but to have something plugged into your ports for most types of music production. What do you do about your audio interface, or your controller? Sure, you can sometimes use a bluetooth controller, but good luck with a bluetooth audio interface.

Here's a pro tip for you: USB Hub or Docking Station. They're great. Personally, even though I use laptops, I could never use a laptops screen for music production, it's just too small. They stay in one place on my desk and I can quickly take my laptop by unplugging one to a few cables. Dongle stays put.

If you regularly knock your laptop off of the table, breaking a dongle sounds like the least of your worries.

[jamcat]

I pretty much only use a laptop for music when I'm traveling. I'm not taking an iLok with me for that. Why would I when I don't need to? I can authorize on the machine. So that's what I do. I don't need to bring anything with me other than the software that's already installed. I just sequence in the step sequencer in these situations, usually detail work with string arrangements, etc. I have an iRig HD to plug in, if I need it, but I usually don't have a guitar with me to use.

It's not the dongle I would worry about breaking. It's the port it's plugged into.

[The Noodlist]

The logic is that because of the placement of USB ports on a laptop and the fact a laptop is not stationary, it is way too easy to have an incident that breaks the internal tab in a laptop USB port. And it’s difficult and expensive to replace a laptop USB port. I’ve seen it happen more than once.

It makes absolutely no sense to have a dongle permanently sticking out of your laptop. Unless you remove it frequently, which leaves you vulnerable to losing it. I have an iLok inside my DAW with an internal port like the one I linked to above. But I use machine authorizations only on my MacBook Pro. With a Mac at least, there is no worry about machine IDs changing on you. Even after major new Mac OS versions.

I use one of these for Ilok and notebook, no-brainer. £2.39
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/155061760589 ... S&LH_BIN=1

[Ah_Dziz]

I have never had any issues with iLok, but I would prefer not having to use anything like it. I do prefer the hardware iLok to the weird "system based" version. I think it's a bit burdensome for the end user, but not to the point where I won't use something that I feel will help me with my music.

[plexuss]

A laptop can get pulled off a table because it’s light. And sitting on a table top. That’s why Apple has the MagSafe charger.

This entire line of reasoning is absurd. Your argument is that the ports can get damaged ...

It's important to be mindful of other people's use-cases and opinions. I felt the same as jamcat, as irrantional as it might have been. Using iLok on my macbook was a huge mental barrier for me. Once I got a macpro the issue for me was resolved and that was my gateway into iLok. We all have different experiences and are all prone to irrational thinking and so I think it's good to be mindful of that when interacting with others. ymmv

[SLiC]

Well, whilst everyone is debating the pros and cons I have now been over a week without my EW Play Library's (10 of them), AKAI software and Zynaptiiq software...all of which only give one licence. A simple windows crash has now meant that I wait at their mercy to renew the licence, no guarantees. How can that be a good thing for someone who has paid for software? This is an iLok issue, my Windows install recovered, same hardware but locked out and potentially thousands of pounds of licences lost...how can this be good copy protection?

[plexuss]

Well, whilst everyone is debating the pros and cons I have now been over a week without my EW Play Library's (10 of them), AKAI software and Zynaptiiq software...all of which only give one licence. A simple windows crash has now meant that I wait at their mercy to renew the licence, no guarantees. How can that be a good thing for someone who has paid for software? This is an iLok issue, my Windows install recovered, same hardware but locked out and potentially thousands of pounds of licences lost...how can this be good copy protection?

It isnt. You likely won't lose your licenses - the companies you own licenses from will eventually get you a replacement. iLok is mainly a "hardware" DRM solution eg. ilok usb key. As discussed the main difference with iLok is that the onus of license safe-keeping is on the user. This provides strong security for licenses which is a "pro" for the user but it means leg work if you lose them.

Using the computer to hold iLok licenses is a huge risk - a system failure could mean losing your licenses and having to do work yourself to reclaim them. iLok seemed to only support machine authorization because people wanted it however I am not sure everyone understands the risk associated with it.

With iLok it's better to use the USB key and ideally a 2nd key for backup licenses. Sorry.

[ghettosynth]

A laptop can get pulled off a table because it’s light. And sitting on a table top. That’s why Apple has the MagSafe charger.

This entire line of reasoning is absurd. Your argument is that the ports can get damaged ...

It's important to be mindful of other people's use-cases and opinions. I felt the same as jamcat, as irrantional as it might have been. Using iLok on my macbook was a huge mental barrier for me. Once I got a macpro the issue for me was resolved and that was my gateway into iLok. We all have different experiences and are all prone to irrational thinking and so I think it's good to be mindful of that when interacting with others. ymmv

Hold whatever opinion you want, it's still absurd reasoning. For it to have validity you have to give up all uses of your USB ports on a laptop. As he states, he only uses it for traveling. Ok, then while traveling use disk authorization and put it back on a dongle when you return. The likelihood that you disk will go south for that small percentage of time is fairly low.

I don't feel the need to be mindful of absurd reasoning, but especially not when one is being forceful with respect to their absurd reasoning in a public forum.

[SLiC]

Using the computer to hold iLok licenses is a huge risk

It seems that way- perhaps they shouldn't offer it and make it hardware dongle only, I suspect they offered the very substandard computer locked method as so many people don't like the dongle! I have no problem with copy protection and ilok per se, I just cant believe they cant come up with a better method when copy protection is all they do.

[kritikon]

Using the computer to hold iLok licenses is a huge risk

It seems that way- perhaps they shouldn't offer it and make it hardware dongle only, I suspect they offered the very substandard computer locked method as so many people don't like the dongle! I have no problem with copy protection and ilok per se, I just cant believe they cant come up with a better method when copy protection is all they do.

Probably very true. There has always been a loud vocal opposition to dongles, so that will have swayed PACE at the time. In the same way there's always been loud opposition to Steinberg dongles (though IMO it mostly originated from those who were never going to legitimately buy it anyway...which shows how effective dongles are). Ultimately though, dongles do put the onus on the end user, which I don't like. I don't dislike dongles per se, I just dislike PACE as a company. I far prefer companies that don't impose crap onto me, but ultimately dongles are just part of life...always had one since Cubase on Atari so I never saw one as a hardship. I agree that they don't seem to have put much inventive effort into protection though...the buying customer seems to be the one at the bottom of the list in terms of safety and convenience.

[ramseysounds]

I’ve used dongles and ilock for 15 years. Never had a problem with either. Never had a broken usb port. Never lost a license or been able to not use a piece of software because of them. It is what it is. Some people just like the sound of their own opinion methinks

[kritikon]

Yeah...broken USB port is just made-up fancifulness. BUT, broken pcs/drives do happen so you're just lucky (though the majority are probably not affected by it). I've had one pc completely die on me with HD access screwed...hate to think how pissed I'd have been if I had licenses lost because of it.

[kidslow]

I’ve used dongles and ilock for 15 years. Never had a problem with either. Never had a broken usb port. Never lost a license or been able to not use a piece of software because of them. It is what it is. Some people just like the sound of their own opinion methinks

May the computer gods shine on your for the next 15 years. Some of the complaints I'm reading here are no less valid that they don't match my or your lived experience. With iLOK it seems to come down to how lucky do you feel that you can avoid being an edge case. It doesn't seem to handle those well.

[jamcat]

Hold whatever opinion you want, it's still absurd reasoning. For it to have validity you have to give up all uses of your USB ports on a laptop. As he states, he only uses it for traveling. Ok, then while traveling use disk authorization and put it back on a dongle when you return. The likelihood that you disk will go south for that small percentage of time is fairly low.

I don't feel the need to be mindful of absurd reasoning, but especially not when one is being forceful with respect to their absurd reasoning in a public forum.

And yet in the course of your post, you demonstrated why it's not absurd. The risk of losing you dongle when traveling is substantially higher than the risk of your SSD dying. So it is in fact quite rational to prefer disk based authorization in this case, which you seem to acknowledge yourself.

I lost a disk based authorization once. I had forgotten I authorized an Eventide plugin on my computer, since it was also on my iLok. After many years, I decommissioned the computer and parted it out, only to discover later it had one of my authorizations. Still more years passed and eventually I decided to email Eventide to reclaim it. They reset it for me in under 24 hours. So as far as I'm concerned, the extremely unlikely circumstances of being without one of my 2 or 3 authorizations for a day is an acceptable risk in exchange for not having to deal with all of the risks and inconveniences of having a dongle sticking out of my laptop. If your laptop hard drive dies, then you're going to be without a laptop for longer than you will be without your iLok licenses.

When it comes to my Windows desktop PC, I do use the iLok. Because here, the risk distribution is different. The computer is stationary and the iLok is locked away inside of the computer with the rest of the components, out of sight, out of mind.

For it to have validity you have to give up all uses of your USB ports on a laptop.

This is of course faulty logic. Other uses of USB ports may not have a viable alternative the way the iLok dongle does. Each situation must be assessed individually. This is about minimizing risk as much as reasonably possible, not eliminating it completely.

[ghettosynth]

Yeah...broken USB port is just made-up fancifulness. BUT, broken pcs/drives do happen so you're just lucky (though the majority are probably not affected by it). I've had one pc completely die on me with HD access screwed...hate to think how pissed I'd have been if I had licenses lost because of it.

Right, your drive doesn't have to even just die. Partitions can become corrupted beyond repair for the average person. Back in the day, before I knew better, I would dual boot Linux and Windows. Mounting your NTFS volumes in Linux for write back then was flirting with disaster.

Also, I agree, you PC can die for other reasons and you won't be able to just take the drive and reboot in a different machine to get your licenses, unless they're on a dongle, of course.