Thoughts on Ilok?

[Gamma-UT]

speaking is pains in the ass… that softube installer is annoying when it does that.

There's a box in settings at the top marked "auto-activate": turn this off to prevent it doing it.

It's sneaky though, I just loaded Central to check what the option was called and saw it had turned itself back on with the update it just installed.

[choomaque]

User error.

No. It's iLok's design choices. Not user error.
Other software behaves differently. Thus seeding certain expectations, which iLok doesn't meet.

Don't waste our time anymore please.

Topic was created by other person. Not you.
Who also doesn't like iLok. Unlike you.
Waste or not waste your time is your responsibility alone.
Because you, not me, decide if you should continue to participate in this discussion, or not.

[t.o.t.s.]

speaking is pains in the ass… that softube installer is annoying when it does that.

There's a box in settings at the top marked "auto-activate": turn this off to prevent it doing it.

It's sneaky though, I just loaded Central to check what the option was called and saw it had turned itself back on with the update it just installed.

lol same experience!

[billinder33]

I think my iLok licenses are down to Soothe, a couple of UVI plugs, and VSX. The UVI plugs are nice to have but not critical, Soothe gets some spot use, but I could probably live without it, and now that I have a pair of MM-500s I rarely use VSX anymore.

I'm pretty sure iLok won't make it to my next computer build, whenever that happens. In the last couple of decades iLok has gone from near necessity to an afterthought. Without Avid, I'm not sure how iLok even has a viable business model anymore, assuming it even still is.

[martinjuenke]

iLok is pure evil!
Those who use it will vote for the wrong candidate on 11/5.
Beware!

[whyterabbyt]

User error.

No. It's iLok's design choices. Not user error.
Other software behaves differently. Thus seeding certain expectations, which iLok doesn't meet.

iLok has been around longer than most 'other software'

good try at a 'the world should adjust to people's assumptions' argument, though.

[choomaque]

good try at a 'the world should adjust to people's assumptions' argument, though.

iLok is not the world

good try at "you are holding it wrong" argument, though

[whyterabbyt]

good try at a 'the world should adjust to people's assumptions' argument, though.

iLok is not the world

whoooooosh.

[concealed identity]

Just to clarify, iLok does have a way to deactivate licenses remotely from another machine. So even if you forget to deactivate them before selling your computer or whatever, you can do so after the fact. This was not always the case, so maybe that's why some people don't know about it.

The issue with this system is that iLok acts as a go-between, so "deactivating" remotely just means that they send a message to each plugin developer asking them to deactivate. This means waiting a day or two, sometimes longer, and sometimes having to contact a developer yourself to remind them. There is an option to do this instantly (actually iLok just gives you your licenses back while they contact the developers), but they charge money for it.

[jrwaltb]

Have not noticed for 3 years now but use my VSX headphones everyday so..

[rj0]

Transferring program and plugin licenses from an old system to a new one can be an absolute pain, especially for system locked licenses purchased long ago.

Moving an iLok dongle from one system to another is a breeze.

Looking at purchasing a new system soon. My iLok license transfers are the absolute least of my concerns.

[Alexander_D]

Btw. Question about Ilok. Should I need to buy the dongle and transfer my licenses to the key? At this moment I have only one computer and register my Ilok plugins to machine directly...

[Harry_HH]

Btw. Question about Ilok. Should I need to buy the dongle and transfer my licenses to the key? At this moment I have only one computer and register my Ilok plugins to machine directly...

You don’t need a dongle.
Move all your licensies from the computer to your iLok account (upper left side in your iLok Manager). From there whenever you want (new computer, dongle, iCloud).

[Alexander_D]

Btw. Question about Ilok. Should I need to buy the dongle and transfer my licenses to the key? At this moment I have only one computer and register my Ilok plugins to machine directly...

You don’t need a dongle.
Move all your licensies from the computer to your iLok account (upper left side in your iLok Manager). From there whenever you want (new computer, dongle, iCloud).

Thanks. Maybe my question was not correct. I am already have my licenses on my Ilok manager and already used them. That activated on my machine. And works good. Just Air from Slate Digital works with Ilok cloud. My question was why many prefer dongle? I still don't buy the dongle and working about one year without it...
I was sold one my computer and simple deactivate my plugins in Ilok manager before. Seems, that all was good there...

[sprnva]

If it's a studio computer that won't be moving I'd recommend the dongle. It's more reliable than computer or cloud activation. There was a time when Windows updates were causing iLok to think the computer hardware had changed and was wiping machine activations. Not sure if that is still the case but it's very likely a dongle will last longer than your current system.

I started with machine activation for the few freebie iLok plugins I picked up when starting out. Then I got the dongle and haven't looked back.