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.