Reason 12.7: goodbye Authorizer, hello Reason Companion!

[FarleyCZ]

It should matter. And I'm trying to teach that to the kids. But if Reason Studios makes it so that pirated versions of their software are longer lasting then their licensed versions, then I'm sorry, in eyes of those kids my "pls don't steal" doesn't hold any merit, does it? The main way I used to convert pirates to paying cutomers used to be: "See if you pay, not only you feed the devs, but also you won't have any more trouble with running the program." But with all the subscriptions, EOL e-licensers and HW keys that argument doesn't work. And I hate that, because I know you can talk good into people. ...if you have a way to do so.

Simple license string. That's the whole protection any SW company realistically needs without abusing their paying customer base. Thanks to all the FabFilters, U-He's, X-Fers and everyone who understands that. And reality check for anybody else: Alll the other cr*p is as ineffective as you fear it is. All the iLoks got cracked. All the online licencers got crackerd. It only punishes paying customers, not the pirates. Unfortunatelly.

[Jac459]

It should matter. And I'm trying to teach that to the kids. But if Reason Studios makes it so that pirated versions of their software are longer lasting then their licensed versions, then I'm sorry, in eyes of those kids my "pls don't steal" doesn't hold any merit, does it? The main way I used to convert pirates to paying cutomers used to be: "See if you pay, not only you feed the devs, but also you won't have any more trouble with running the program." But with all the subscriptions, EOL e-licensers and HW keys that argument doesn't work. And I hate that, because I know you can talk good into people. ...if you have a way to do so.

Simple license string. That's the whole protection any SW company realistically needs without abusing their paying customer base. Thanks to all the FabFilters, U-He's, X-Fers and everyone who understands that. And reality check for anybody else: Alll the other cr*p is as ineffective as you fear it is. All the iLoks got cracked. All the online licencers got crackerd. It only punishes paying customers, not the pirates. Unfortunatelly.

Well, I don't disagree. My point is just to say that there is no moral excuses to steal a product. Stealing a product is stealing a product, even if the company is taking unproductive action and makes it finally more appealing.

But frankly, I am not judging, on my student day, I had my fair share of torrent and p2p. I was not proud of it but I just wanted the product too much. (and by the way, as soon as I had enough money, I purchased the product).

[FarleyCZ]

But frankly, I am not judging, on my student day, I had my fair share of torrent and p2p. I was not proud of it but I just wanted the product too much. (and by the way, as soon as I had enough money, I purchased the product).

Exactly. The main problem is that in the beginning kids have no idea if they just s*ck, or if they chose the wrong software. So they fight it by stealing the stuff they know should work cause their idols use it. I don't encourage that, I don't like that, I'm just pointing out their thought process. But that's exactly the point where using the legal software just HAS TO be more pleasant than to use the cracked version. It has to be less hustle and last longer. Especially in the environment, where you have all the Steve Aokis and Kanye Wests showcasing stolen Sylenths and Serums on social media, the fear of "getting cought" will not do a thing. It has to be a moral thing. It has to be a convenience thing. And if that isn't possible, I have no other way to help. I'd love to, but I don't.

[Jac459]

But frankly, I am not judging, on my student day, I had my fair share of torrent and p2p. I was not proud of it but I just wanted the product too much. (and by the way, as soon as I had enough money, I purchased the product).

Exactly. The main problem is that in the beginning kids have no idea if they just s*ck, or if they chose the wrong software. So they fight it by stealing the stuff they know should work cause their idols use it. I don't encourage that, I don't like that, I'm just pointing out their thought process. But that's exactly the point where using the legal software just HAS TO be more pleasant than to use the cracked version. It has to be less hustle and last longer. Especially in the environment, where you have all the Steve Aokis and Kanye Wests showcasing stolen Sylenths and Serums on social media, the fear of "getting cought" will not do a thing. It has to be a moral thing. It has to be a convenience thing. And if that isn't possible, I have no other way to help. I'd love to, but I don't.

If you go in this direction, the worst was music distribution. There was a point of time before Spotify were to get music content it was much easier to stole it than purchasing it.
I remember the majors whining about piracy but for some content, it was simply not possible to have it paid. I have a collection of about 350 CD (now collecting dust) that I purchased in my early life but at one point, for very specific content, piracy was the only way.
Now that the market has evolved, piracy has almost totally disappeared in that field.

[jens]

...and it kinda makes me sad to see how people on this forum fail to reckognize their priviledge. To assume that everyone is capable of paying for updates regularly? I am. You are. But that makes us lucky. And not everyone is as lucky. Developers need to care about one-time buyers. Bacause that's the courageous kids that fought the urge to steal. Period. ...I'm glad Rossman did this video. PR that Reason Studios gets from this is very well deserved. Sorry.

While that is of course a valid and imo very good point, it should also be irrelevant to the topic at hand. I could be a billionaire who decides that none of the upgrades past R7 are worth it for me.

I'd still own a peerpetual license for R7 which grants me the right to use the software forever.
I can of course not expect it to work on the latest hardware, but I can expect it to always work on the hardware I bought. I also have the right to re-install the OS on said machine every week and the right to expect that this does not affect my ability to use my property (R7 license).

This is simply a matter of both legal and moral/ethical principle. And it's very sad (while not unexpected these days) that the Props fail to realize this. It means that they're neither morally nor legally on stable ground anymore.

And a company that does this - without realizing and owning their mistake - what are they going to do next? You just can't trust them.

I trust Waves and I trust Bitwig - because they messed up (it happens) but then owned their mistake.

The current Props management however prefers to instead comfortably sip away on some IPA in their office, meanwhile some dumb shitty influencer is making crappy noise in their kitchen and all the (present) rest of their staff probably makes some dorky, wannabe-cool dance-moves to it while getting drunk (which most probably won't take them long) rather than coding the long due improvements to Reason-DAW.

They seem to make it a habit these days to not give a f**k and almost appear like they get off on adding insult to injury.

[chk071]

I'd still own a peerpetual license for R7 which grants me the right to use the software forever.
I can of course not expect it to work on the latest hardware, but I can expect it to always work on the hardware I bought.

No, not at all. Nobody can guarantee you that unsupported software will always work, even on the same hardware. Such a guarantee is totally unrealistic and impossible to give. Somebody who gives you such a guarantee is a swindler.

[D-Fusion]

I'd still own a peerpetual license for R7 which grants me the right to use the software forever.
I can of course not expect it to work on the latest hardware, but I can expect it to always work on the hardware I bought.

No, not at all. Nobody can guarantee you that unsupported software will always work, even on the same hardware. Such a guarantee is totally unrealistic and impossible to give. Somebody who gives you such a guarantee is a swindler.

I have been reading more about the case and they did remove offline authorizations to get away from Codemeter so you can still use Reason but you have to be online to do so or upgrade to v12.7 and Re-Authorize every 12 months.

So Offline authorization is not possible anymore for any version.

[jens]

I'd still own a peerpetual license for R7 which grants me the right to use the software forever.
I can of course not expect it to work on the latest hardware, but I can expect it to always work on the hardware I bought.

No, not at all. Nobody can guarantee you that unsupported software will always work, even on the same hardware. Such a guarantee is totally unrealistic and impossible to give. Somebody who gives you such a guarantee is a swindler.

Same hardware, same version of the same OS - i.e. no changes - is what I meant of course - in which case your reply is obviously bollocks

[imrae]

I'd still own a peerpetual license for R7 which grants me the right to use the software forever.
I can of course not expect it to work on the latest hardware, but I can expect it to always work on the hardware I bought.

No, not at all. Nobody can guarantee you that unsupported software will always work, even on the same hardware. Such a guarantee is totally unrealistic and impossible to give. Somebody who gives you such a guarantee is a swindler.

Holy goalpost-move, Batman. We're talking about activation here, not demanding patches for weird edge cases.

[chk071]

I'd still own a peerpetual license for R7 which grants me the right to use the software forever.
I can of course not expect it to work on the latest hardware, but I can expect it to always work on the hardware I bought.

No, not at all. Nobody can guarantee you that unsupported software will always work, even on the same hardware. Such a guarantee is totally unrealistic and impossible to give. Somebody who gives you such a guarantee is a swindler.

Holy goalpost-move, Batman. We're talking about activation here, not demanding patches for weird edge cases.

The same rules apply for authorization, of course. That's all just software as well. All that is subject to change, as is your OS.

[D-Fusion]

I'd still own a peerpetual license for R7 which grants me the right to use the software forever.
I can of course not expect it to work on the latest hardware, but I can expect it to always work on the hardware I bought.

No, not at all. Nobody can guarantee you that unsupported software will always work, even on the same hardware. Such a guarantee is totally unrealistic and impossible to give. Somebody who gives you such a guarantee is a swindler.

Holy goalpost-move, Batman. We're talking about activation here, not demanding patches for weird edge cases.

The same rules apply for authorization, of course. That's all just software as well. All that is subject to change, as is your OS.

True but when they decided to change their copy protection they could have made it better instead of making it worse for those that prefer to be offline when making music.

Most Software companies these days are trying to push us further and further into Ransomware instead of ownership With their required online authorizations and Subscriptions.

I am also curious about how long the Elicenser will work for those that use Cubase before they are forced to upgrade.

[sjm]

Well when you are not happy about a company product, the normal reasoning is to "not buy the product". Not steal it.

Which is a really poor argument when this is about people who have already bought the product.

[Jac459]

Well when you are not happy about a company product, the normal reasoning is to "not buy the product". Not steal it.

Which is a really poor argument when this is about people who have already bought the product.

It is a poor argument because I wasn't answering this point my friend... You may not have noticed but KVR discussions are sometimes going in multiple directions and we had a side discussion on piracy.

[sjm]

It is a poor argument because I wasn't answering this point my friend... You may not have noticed but KVR discussions are sometimes going in multiple directions and we had a side discussion on piracy.

You were replying to a post about the Louis Rossman video. You should probably watch it to understand the context.

[Jac459]

It is a poor argument because I wasn't answering this point my friend... You may not have noticed but KVR discussions are sometimes going in multiple directions and we had a side discussion on piracy.

You were replying to a post about the Louis Rossman video. You should probably watch it to understand the context.

Certainly not ! How dare you ?