Thoughts on Ilok?

[koalaboy]

I had 2 iLok dongles from 2004. Both got lost and the emails associated with them are not accessable now - I am not even sure of the emails now. What are the chances of getting licences now. I haven't used them for ten years or so.

Not sure what you mean here. iLok user ID is different from e-mail. You can login to your account and change e-mail there.

and if you can't log in?

Do you have any receipts of licenses bought ?

Otherwise it's going to be tough to expect *any* company to, through customer service, believe that a userID is yours. You need to be able to prove it somehow.

But get in touch with ilok customer service and work with them. They're the ones holding the keys.

[SojournerMike]

I never got the Ilok hate, I've had mine for around 10 years and it's never had an issue or functioned not as expected. I don't quite get why it would be make or break, there's a lot worse licensing systems around. I get the initial cost of having to get one, but once that's done you're sorted.

[Touch The Universe]

It's hard to hate something that works. When it breaks then you'll understand. Run

[koalaboy]

It's hard to hate something that works. When it breaks then you'll understand. Run

Are you saying that their ZDT coverage is a lie ? Just wondering, or do you mean if you don't take ZDT ?

[mtelesha]

I never got the Ilok hate, I've had mine for around 10 years and it's never had an issue or functioned not as expected. I don't quite get why it would be make or break, there's a lot worse licensing systems around. I get the initial cost of having to get one, but once that's done you're sorted.

I had issues with iLok many years ago. The first few years was hellish I believe. Those iLok dongles and me rememebring how Waves and Steinberg both use to require a hardware dongle in the serial port makes me hate all of these things.

That being said it has been rock solid for me for many years now.

[SojournerMike]

I never got the Ilok hate, I've had mine for around 10 years and it's never had an issue or functioned not as expected. I don't quite get why it would be make or break, there's a lot worse licensing systems around. I get the initial cost of having to get one, but once that's done you're sorted.

I had issues with iLok many years ago. The first few years was hellish I believe. Those iLok dongles and me rememebring how Waves and Steinberg both use to require a hardware dongle in the serial port makes me hate all of these things.

That being said it has been rock solid for me for many years now.

Don't get me wrong, the Steinberg dongle was genuinely the worst, and I'm so glad they moved away from that. I always pay for the ZDT coverage simply for sanity's sake, but luckily I haven't had to use it yet. I get when people have actual grievances from experience, but it just irks me a bit when someone will willfully avoid a fantastic product simply because of Ilok, even if there's local machine authorization. I 100% understand people who have been burned not wanting to be burned again, but it's similar to hating Kontakt just because it's Kontakt...sometimes you're limiting yourself massively simply out of spite.

[VladK]

Don't get me wrong, the Steinberg dongle was genuinely the worst

I used Steinberg eLicenser dongle for VSL until they switched to iLok, and have not seen any functional disadvantages compared to iLok dongle.

[SojournerMike]

Don't get me wrong, the Steinberg dongle was genuinely the worst

I used Steinberg eLicenser dongle for VSL until they switched to iLok, and have not seen any functional disadvantages compared to iLok dongle.

Yeah, it was a strong statement perhaps, but the biggest issue for me personally was the singular usage of it vs. number of USB slots available. With the Ilok you're using one USB and covering hundreds of plugins, whereas with Steinberg it was one slot (on a fairly flimsy plastic dongle) for the DAW alone. Granted it was an important part of the process, but it severely limited things if you had multiple other USB devices you required that all functioned less reliably if you used a hub instead.

Don't get me wrong, I overstated that, but I think it functions much better now without taking up a physical slot. Also, if you lost it or broke it, there was no virtual license system so you were completely at a loss...whereas most Ilok products let you have a local or cloud activation in the worst case at least.

[Touch The Universe]

It's hard to hate something that works. When it breaks then you'll understand. Run

Are you saying that their ZDT coverage is a lie ? Just wondering, or do you mean if you don't take ZDT ?

I believe ZDT is optional, yeah, so maybe if you pay that, you would be good. I'm not saying that is a lie, apologies. I just got burned twice and lost all respect due its greed - why is that even an add on? Don't even want to hear the answer. I have run away and don't plan on going anywhere near these things.

[VladK]

Don't get me wrong, the Steinberg dongle was genuinely the worst

I used Steinberg eLicenser dongle for VSL until they switched to iLok, and have not seen any functional disadvantages compared to iLok dongle.

Yeah, it was a strong statement perhaps, but the biggest issue for me personally was the singular usage of it vs. number of USB slots available. With the Ilok you're using one USB and covering hundreds of plugins, whereas with Steinberg it was one slot (on a fairly flimsy plastic dongle) for the DAW alone. Granted it was an important part of the process, but it severely limited things if you had multiple other USB devices you required that all functioned less reliably if you used a hub instead.

Don't get me wrong, I overstated that, but I think it functions much better now without taking up a physical slot. Also, if you lost it or broke it, there was no virtual license system so you were completely at a loss...whereas most Ilok products let you have a local or cloud activation in the worst case at least.

Got your frustration.
But if you had a lot of Steinberg or VSL products on eLicenser dongle, and a single license on iLok, you would also need two USB ports.
BTW, eLicenser had a bi-annual service similar to annual iLok ZDT, don't remember details though, but remember paying for it once.

[mtelesha]

Linux Support! If iLok had NATIVE Linux support that would be a major bonus for me.

Waves and Steinberg originally both had a dongle that pluged into your printer serial port. So you had three things plugged into your printer port (Pre-USB) if you had a printer.