Thoughts on Ilok?

[tonymax]

does this mean i cna have 2 dongles, all with the same licences on, so i cna use 1 on my laptop when working away from home and the other on my desktop for when i am at home without having to conne/eject the dongle?

thanks

Shall I create a new email address for the iLok USB dongle, or key the same one?

Does activating on the same address counts as 1 (virtual + USB = 1 activation), or does it count for 2 activations?

use the same account you already have. you can have as many usb dongles as you like on one account.

activation is not per account, it's per device and the ilok manager app will show you what's activated where.

[Digivolt]

does this mean i cna have 2 dongles, all with the same licences on, so i cna use 1 on my laptop when working away from home and the other on my desktop for when i am at home without having to conne/eject the dongle?

thanks

You usually get 2 activations per license (some vendors only give 1 for whatever weird reason) that you can activate however you want, so you could have 2 iloks with same licenses for 2 computers, or 1 iLok for travel and the rest on cloud (if vendor allows cloud) etc

[tonymax]

thats good to know, thanks digvolt, im working away from home a lot at the moment so this would be useful....

does this mean i cna have 2 dongles, all with the same licences on, so i cna use 1 on my laptop when working away from home and the other on my desktop for when i am at home without having to conne/eject the dongle?

thanks

You usually get 2 activations per license (some vendors only give 1 for whatever weird reason) that you can activate however you want, so you could have 2 iloks with same licenses for 2 computers, or 1 iLok for travel and the rest on cloud (if vendor allows cloud) etc

[jeromejenkins]

Hate it. I found most plugins companies of value dont use it so I deleted it and stopped using said plugin companies

[nusound mind]

I've had it for years and personally it's worked well and I've never had any real problem with it.

That doesn't mean other people haven't, though. I think I've had to unplug the dongle a few times over the course of that time, that's the extent of my ilok troubles, about as minimal as you get.

As for cpu authorization method, never an issue. I prefer a simple "enter auth. code" and you're all set forever, but there are some plugs I use that require it, so. I'm sure I'd be singing a different tune if it ever whigged out on me, but it's magnitudes of order preferable to having to reathorize monthly or be online to use plugins. I draw the line pretty firmly there, personally speaking.

[sQeetz]

I have 52 activations and don't mind it at all....

[LoveEnigma18]

Probably the only thing I don't like about iLok is the $25/$50 license transfer fee, which is why these days I only try to buy anything with iLok only if I am sure I will keep it or can resell it without much inconvenience (transfer fees still suck though!). Otherwise, I never faced any problems with copy protection, activation process, etc. for some iLok-based plugins that I use.

Also, some good plugins out there only support iLok Cloud or Dongle activation and not Machine activation, which sucks. This may not be an iLok problem per se, but just thought to mention it.

[sQeetz]

I could not live without my Softube and/or Pulsar plugins....

[LoveEnigma18]

I could not live without my Softube and/or Pulsar plugins....

Softube and Soundtoys for me

[sQeetz]

I expect Softube and iLok to stay as long in the game as I'm alive.
gimme 50 more years and I'd be 100.....(approx)

[_leras]

Because the computer was not able to boot, I had many machine activated licenses that I had to contact the dev to have reset etc for me to regain access. This is why I prefer not to use machine activation. But some plugins give no choice. Take that into consideration when you work out a strategy that works for you.

I think the iLok is also better than the machine activation just to save a bit of hassle in case of error.

Of all the license models that worry me the most - are the ones where you are granted say 5 installs and they decrement each time you make an install. I have this with FXPansion and worry that one day I'll get a new computer and simply won't be able to install their synths anymore...

[Halonmusic]

ive never had any issue

[MadDogE134]

never had a problem and only use dongle activations. some companies i have found with their automatic activation processes actually activate on dongle AND the cloud burning up (2) two activations so i always delete the cloud activations. if i travel i carry the dongle and don't bother with the internet check. simpler and safer imo

also one said here "companies of value" don't use ilok lol... this can't be farther from the truth. they must have meant 'of value to them'. fact is most of the top tier companies (sample libraries and plugins) rely on ilok to this day.

so no matter how people piss and moan about the license security company (PACE) quality developers pay to have their intellectual property covered by ilok and there is a reason for that.

i will admit when i first started in engineering back around 2005 based on the horror stories of the first iloks i refrained from using ilok but the fact remains that if you want some of the finest plugins developed and instrument libraries created by reputable developers you WILL have to deal with PACE in the end.

cheers

[SLiC]

Hate it. I found most plugins companies of value dont use it so I deleted it and stopped using said plugin companies

Really? Moog, Stymon, UVI, Eventide, Softube, Soundtoys etc?

[inaheartbeat]

I don't get the hate. It is incredibly reliable and works well and unobtrusively in my years of experience with it. It makes updating to or working on another computer super easy. I also don't have to worry about running out of activations like is about to happen when I upgrade my PC again with my Spectrasonics software. I have 65 licenses with it and zero problems.