@vibrato said:

I understand the Law behind this. Yes, it makes sense - what if Mixer is stolen - But it makes sense only technically on paper.

There is a huge difference between a dongle and a mixer in size - and a mixer is not easily stolen - A dongle can either easily be stolen or destroyed.

My only take on this is - If there are alternate means of addressing this problem - I would love for VSL to think about them (I am sure they are).

I seriously need to take extreme care of my dongles now! 

Hopefully something can solve this problem. 

Best,

Tanuj. 

i just remembered this post from nick batzdorf ... $ 350 for $ 30.000 worth

hth, christian

This still seems extreme to me.  This whole process needs to be re-evaluated.  Even to have insurance on such a thing means the agonizing pain of going to them and having to spend months (yes, it would take months to prove out a case of this kind of significance in cost) of paper work and processing time and praying that they even find validity in paying you for your loss (minus depreciation which they will find a way to depreciate what they are going to pay you).  What are you going to do during that time?  Your productions will halt, your musical process will be completely crippled until it is all resolved.  For an honest person like myself, that is to much work for something I rightfully paid the rights to use.  The truth is perhaps VSL would never give me any hardship should it get lost etc but the idea in itself is terrifying to know that they can just say, I am sorry for your loss, please re-purchase everything all over again.  It is cheaper, less risky and more secure for me to just stick to my original slave gigastudio setup (as it is much harder to lose an entire computer or someone to just pick it up without me noticing them walking out with a huge computer then it is a 1oz dongle that can fit in any orphasis of the body without detection).

Knowing all of what I know now about this syncrosoft and usb key protection, I would have been in triple bypass open heart surgery had I know the treatment this dongle was receiving over the past from my friends and fiance.  There have been times that I was on the road and forgot the dongle (because I secured it and then forgot it all together) and was on the customer site, or demo site and sat there looking like an unprepared bafoon waiting for my fiance to bring it to me.  She told me many times she would just toss it in her pocket, or toss it in a cup or purse bottom and be on her way.  The times of them being funny and pulling it out and hiding it on me or tossing it around in humor.  Sure things can be said about "well what kind of friends do you have etc" but people have real lives.  Children, teenagers etc.  Some people even actually have a sense of humor left these days and like to laugh and have fun and would consider distracting you or hiding this little thing funny.  I myself being victim to this kind of stuff always thought it funny and quite relieving to have some stress relieved by such behavior.  Yet as you can see, no such care was taken to it because the definitive value of that thing was never and is never mentioned in hard writing.  No one points this out during your purchase or pre-purchase.  The amount of ways this thing could be stolen or lost is countless.

Just the other day, I was at a demo and had 3 people standing around me and was on the phone with a conference call of 2 individuals.  In all the excitement the customer spun his chair around to show me something and SNAP, completely busted my 2GB USB memory stick (not my vienna key thank you god) in half.  All we could do was say DOH and keep on moving.  I have a replacement on the way but this very thing could have happened to my vienna key and the demo would have been done right then.

I don't know.  Please don't let what I say here be your decision in what you do with your own decisions but for me, I have no desire to purchase anything else knowing this.  The stress this creates alone eats away creativity and that for me is unacceptable.

@julian said:

Each night I removed the dongle and took it with me. So I to would welcome some respite from the worry of dongle loss! Julian

@PaulR said:

[quote=julian] Each night I removed the dongle and took it with me. So I to would welcome some respite from the worry of dongle loss! Julian

You're a funny guy Paul. 

Gotta love that British humor

@cgernaey said:

There is so much stupid unnecessary focus on this dongle for someone like myself who moves around with it daily that it's ridiculous.

cm, would you please tell me which insurance company insures software in Finland. Thanks. You're a pal!

Can't the licenses just be terminated in case of the loss of a dongle? 

@sasha said:

Can't the licenses just be terminated in case of the loss of a dongle? 

the next generation of eLicensers will be WGTS-capable (Worldwide Geo locating and Terminating System) -  a mesh of more than 60 satellites will be able to locate dongles with a precision of down to 1 inch and terminate licenses using EFHR (Extremely Focused Hard Radiation). they will be slighly more expensive though ....

@PaulR said:

[quote=julian] Each night I removed the dongle and took it with me. So I to would welcome some respite from the worry of dongle loss! Julian

You're a funny guy Paul. 

Gotta love that British humor

Erm.... Paul is Viennese [:#]

(That's Vienna, Austria btw)

And I'm also talking crap.... wrong Paul.....

DOH!

*gets coat and leaves building*

 To add something to this discussion, what if one had documentary proof in the form of a police report stating that one's studio had been broken into and various things - - including one's Vienna Key - -  had been stolen? Filing a false police report is a serious crime - - so it seems unlikely (at least to me) that anyone would go the the trouble of faking a break-in and then jeopaordize their freedom by filing a false report with the police. On the other hand, it also seems unlikely that the average burglar would know what a Vienna Key is - - more likely that it would be stolen simply because it was plugged into a computer that was the burglars intended object. 

As some have pointed out, convincing an insurance company to issue a policy for an inexpensive USB dongle for many thousands of dollars because said dongle contains expensive software licences may not be easy. Listing potential sources  for such insurance in various countries would be helpful.

Hehe, only and 1/8th strudel then :D

@stevesong said:

As some have pointed out, convincing an insurance company to issue a policy for an inexpensive USB dongle for many thousands of dollars because said dongle contains expensive software licences may not be easy. Listing potential sources  for such insurance in various countries would be helpful.

I have never listed a dongle on my company insurance - I am however required to list anything of value. Thus, as pertained to in the EULA of my various sample libraries and plugins, not to mention my DAW software (which being Nuendo is also held on a Syncrosoft key) are all denoted as covered in the insurance. Therefore if my Syncrosoft or iLok dongles were stolen or damaged, the insurance company would replace those products that it held - the fact that it holds only the "licence" for a product is immaterial.

Likewise, anyone running a Windows OS on a PC bought from a shop or common OEM supplier would find the licence key to their OS on a sticker attached to the computer - you don't own the software, you are licenced to use it, just like a sample library. If someone then makes off with that computer, even if you have the original disc, the lack of that licence sticker and its denoted code means you need to replace it.... there's really very little material difference between this and a sample library, plugin or other dongled software.

@stevesong said:

As some have pointed out, convincing an insurance company to issue a policy for an inexpensive USB dongle for many thousands of dollars because said dongle contains expensive software licences may not be easy. Listing potential sources  for such insurance in various countries would be helpful.

I have never listed a dongle on my company insurance - I am however required to list anything of value. Thus, as pertained to in the EULA of my various sample libraries and plugins, not to mention my DAW software (which being Nuendo is also held on a Syncrosoft key) are all denoted as covered in the insurance. Therefore if my Syncrosoft or iLok dongles were stolen or damaged, the insurance company would replace those products that it held - the fact that it holds only the "licence" for a product is immaterial.

Mind if I ask who's your insurance company?  Because this doesn't sound like the sort of thing that Allstate or even Loyd's Of London would cover.  Or maybe I'm wrong.

Also, do you mind if I ask how much this insurance costs you? Does your insurance company have any competitors so that we could shop around?

Not sure my company is going to help you much Jasen, as I'm in the UK.... I have been through several insurers in the last fifteen years, and not one has yet had any issue with it whatsoever. Perhaps it's a problem that's specific to the US market, but I'd find that unlikely.

Remember, you're not insuring the dongle, you're insuring the product licence held within.

Customer - "Hello Mr Insurer, I'd like to insure my copy of Nuendo for £1,500 and my VSL Libraries for £12,000 please"

Insurer - "Hello, that'll be £500"

Customer - "Thankyou"

Edited to add - Hiscox / Hencilla Canworth / Doodson / Palladium etc....

iLok offers replacement insurance, but not Syncrosoft. I don't think my insurance plan covers software.

I've broken a dongle before while moving a computer, so I'm also nervous. I'm considering adding an internal USB port to my PC and using a Zip tie to fasten the dongles inside.