iLOK warning

[jdnz]

Does iZotope and Nomad require it or just offer it as an alternative though?
I know I still own some of their plugins, but haven't had them installed for quite awhile. I'm not nearly as anti towards a company that simply offers it as I am towards companies that require it.

izotope offers their own activation system as the default now - but still allows you to choose ilok instead if that suits you better ( a best of both worlds solution )

[ghettosynth]

There something I don't get with the ilok usb
How it work, if you want to use your muliple licence it the same time ?
Do you need 2 or 3 iLok usb ?

You don't, but you can. I would only ever install a computer based license as a temporary measure. iLok dongles are cheap insurance.

[ghettosynth]

Over many years (and many computers) I've had to work with a number of USB license dongles (not just iLok) for some very expensive software (personal and business), and have yet to have a dongle break (the USB software can occasionally need to be dealt with, but the dongles themselves have continued to work). I treat the dongles carefully as one should with valuables. In the meantime, I've dealt with many, many computer issues that otherwise messed with other types of licenses. YMMV

Yes, this is the what many see as an advantage of ilok over any type of computer authorization where the authorization/license itself is stored on the computer.

[MrJubbly]

Does iZotope and Nomad require it or just offer it as an alternative though?
I know I still own some of their plugins, but haven't had them installed for quite awhile. I'm not nearly as anti towards a company that simply offers it as I am towards companies that require it.

To my knowledge, a few of the developers on the official iLok publishers list, do offer alternative authentication methods, sans-iLok. And have done for several years, such as those you mentioned. Albeit, who knows whether that will continue indefinitely?

On the whole though, that linked list has been fairly rock solid over the years and has helped me massively in deciding upon which plugins to purchase or not. Especially, for some developers, who seem less up-front about the requirements for their plugins on their own Product Pages. A quick search through that confirmed iLok Publishers list often saves time, rather than resorting to scouring through the various FAQ / System Requirement pages on each developers website to try and locate that information.

[whyterabbyt]

Does iZotope and Nomad require it or just offer it as an alternative though?

With izotope, it was always optional, except for (some of) the Exponential Audio stuff they acquired, they never adapted them to their own system. I think most of those EA ones are now deprecated though.

[BBFG#]

Does iZotope and Nomad require it or just offer it as an alternative though?

With izotope, it was always optional, except for (some of) the Exponential Audio stuff they acquired, they never adapted them to their own system. I think most of those EA ones are now deprecated though.

This has been my understanding as well. I think that list would be better if it specified which ones were optional and which ones require it. I don't trust any company that requires it. I've stopped using iZotope because of its association with NI, but have been watchful about the iLok as well. I've also stopped upgrading Mixbus after the JUCE/PACE acquisition. After a few dealings with support from different companies I began recognizing a conformed circular response. And it's very much a trust thing for me.

[rj0]

Over many years (and many computers) I've had to work with a number of USB license dongles (not just iLok) for some very expensive software (personal and business), and have yet to have a dongle break (the USB software can occasionally need to be dealt with, but the dongles themselves have continued to work). I treat the dongles carefully as one should with valuables. In the meantime, I've dealt with many, many computer issues that otherwise messed with other types of licenses. YMMV

Yes, this is the what many see as an advantage of ilok over any type of computer authorization where the authorization/license itself is stored on the computer.

Had another experience today at work. $25K license (non-iLok, one of those where you buy crazy expensive software (and associated hardware), and they send you a custom USB license dongle). Computer died. Moved ancient dongle to a new computer and support had us up and operational within a half hour.

[MrJubbly]

Over many years (and many computers) I've had to work with a number of USB license dongles (not just iLok) for some very expensive software (personal and business), and have yet to have a dongle break (the USB software can occasionally need to be dealt with, but the dongles themselves have continued to work). I treat the dongles carefully as one should with valuables. In the meantime, I've dealt with many, many computer issues that otherwise messed with other types of licenses. YMMV

Yes, this is the what many see as an advantage of ilok over any type of computer authorization where the authorization/license itself is stored on the computer.

Had another experience today at work. $25K license (non-iLok, one of those where you buy crazy expensive software (and associated hardware), and they send you a custom USB license dongle). Computer died. Moved ancient dongle to a new computer and support had us up and operational within a half hour.

For $25k, I should hope they got you back up and running ASAP!

Now imagine, if there were no dongle requirement and you just needed to enter a simple serial number to authorise? That half-an-hour could have perhaps been reduced even further, down to only a half-a-minute.

Especially, if customers are already required to purchase expensive hardware to run the software in the first place, is an additional dongle really then a necessity for the licence authorisation, in that situation? Surely, the price point alone of purchasing the additional required hardware is protection enough? Or maybe I'm missing something?

I do think that certain DRM methods are overkill and overly burdensome upon the paying customer. In the above example, isn't that somewhat akin to purchasing an expensive sports car, only to have its onboard software have to connect back to Ferrari HQ every time you want to take the vehicle out for a drive? Or having to manually call their service centre whenever you change the tyres, to authorise their use?

If there weren't already hundreds of examples of working alternative protection methods available from other, more-user-friendly software developers, for direct comparison, perhaps I could even tolerate the likes of iLok (and other such methods of protection). But there are alternatives. And they make their customers' lives so much easier by comparison. By providing always reliable and easily accessible software and protection. So, I just can't condone these other (imho, "unnecessary") dongle or cloud-based impositions upon the paying customer.

[Lerian]

I do think that certain DRM methods are overkill and overly burdensome upon the paying customer. In the above example, isn't that somewhat akin to purchasing an expensive sports car, only to have its onboard software have to connect back to Ferrari HQ every time you want to take the vehicle out for a drive? Or having to manually call their service centre whenever you change the tyres, to authorise their use?

Don't forget that ilok and other dongle schemes, regardless of being in cloud or usb, artificially slows down the software being run through them by a lot. Also takes way more resources than necessary - sometimes even 30-40% more. The non-ilok cubase was running 2 times faster than the ilok version. And ignorant people would say - why don't you buy a better computer then? But its not even about that, its about the principle - why you need to waste my time and resources after I already paid for your way overpriced product? Yes, overpriced, because the whole software industry became a huge scam lately. Also many hardware manufacturers that sells you a raspberry pi attached to a midi controller and a vst for $3000 when Behringer just released a $250 modern analog synth. We currently live in 2024, not 1994. But that's for another thread.

So yeah, everyone should at least question these practices instead of playing stockholm syndrome. The problem is that not many people know about these issues, and they are not to be condemned. The studio guys just take it as it comes, because they are not super technical and think this is normal, the same way they think that PT is an "industry standard".

[whyterabbyt]

In the above example, isn't that somewhat akin to purchasing an expensive sports car, only to have its onboard software have to connect back to Ferrari HQ every time you want to take the vehicle out for a drive?

Or, given the nature of a dongle, maybe its more akin to having to insert some sort of key into a lock on your car before you can drive it.

[revvy]

In the above example, isn't that somewhat akin to purchasing an expensive sports car, only to have its onboard software have to connect back to Ferrari HQ every time you want to take the vehicle out for a drive?

Or, given the nature of a dongle, maybe its more akin to having to insert some sort of key into a lock on your car before you can drive it.

Keys for cars? Modern vehicles connecting via software?

Why is it only legitimate drivers who get punished? If you simply hot wire the car and smash the car's computer connection, the car performs much more smoothly and goes faster. Yet some drivers support this madness?

It's Stockholm Syndrome if you ask me. I know about these things as I drive a car.

Did you just ask me? It's Stockholm Syndrome.

Stockholm Syndrome.

Syndrome...

[Lerian]

indeed, the truth was never the popular choice. BS on the other hand.. heavily praised by the cheering crowd.

-

Some people makes me wanna build a single knob plugin, call it secret sauce, then sell it for $1000. "It must be good, if its inconvenient" seems to work wonders.

[rj0]

Over many years (and many computers) I've had to work with a number of USB license dongles (not just iLok) for some very expensive software (personal and business), and have yet to have a dongle break (the USB software can occasionally need to be dealt with, but the dongles themselves have continued to work). I treat the dongles carefully as one should with valuables. In the meantime, I've dealt with many, many computer issues that otherwise messed with other types of licenses. YMMV

Yes, this is the what many see as an advantage of ilok over any type of computer authorization where the authorization/license itself is stored on the computer.

Had another experience today at work. $25K license (non-iLok, one of those where you buy crazy expensive software (and associated hardware), and they send you a custom USB license dongle). Computer died. Moved ancient dongle to a new computer and support had us up and operational within a half hour.

For $25k, I should hope they got you back up and running ASAP!

Now imagine, if there were no dongle requirement and you just needed to enter a simple serial number to authorise? That half-an-hour could have perhaps been reduced even further, down to only a half-a-minute.

...

The half hour was to install the main application on a new computer, same as you would have to do with any change of computers.

The license transfer literally took the few seconds to move the dongle, and the license doesn't care what hardware/computer it's plugged into.

We didn't have to worry about hardware changes, or use on a different computer, or an old challenge/response where the license server (or web server) was replaced, or an activation key generated from an old process, or possibly for the original hardware, or the number of activations, or have to look through years old emails trying to find a license key (email probably long lost), or new activation software that doesn't support that OS version, or... .

I have personal software that I went through multiple emails over many days trying to recover 'standard' licenses. There were times that I even gave up on such and relegated the software to the dust bin and moved on.

[rj0]

Especially, if customers are already required to purchase expensive hardware to run the software in the first place, is an additional dongle really then a necessity for the licence authorisation, in that situation? Surely, the price point alone of purchasing the additional required hardware is protection enough? Or maybe I'm missing something?

This is industrial level software/hardware, the kind where a company ceases production until the system is back up.

[DCrown]

iLok works great for many years