Although i would not accuse VSL of being unethical  -- as they have, for me, in the last 5 years provided nothing but EXCEPTIONAL customer service to me  -- i DO think this whole "key/license" issue needs to be addressed in some manner.

If you care to refer to MY story  -- my EXTREMELY close call regarding the theft of my computer  ---  i did have a near miss with a catasrtophic nightmare and the near-loss of nearly $10,000 of my licenses.

Read HERE, if you care to:
http://community.vsl.co.at/forums/p/25480/185041.aspx#185041 

I would be delighted to see, somewhere in the future, some sort of time-based  re-authorization. Many people have decried this as to how "annoying" it would be to every 90 days have to re-log and re-authorize your key's licenses... But the time-cost of THAT is minimal compared to the immense loss if a key were to be stolen or lost.

Regardless, i am, to this day, content with VSL's customer service  ... maybe only because i escaped utter tragedy by the skin of my teeth. Still, i think it would be in the common interest of ALL VSL users for VSL to at least provide SOME sort of 2nd option regarding keeping our purchases secure.

@mplaster said:

 Many people have decried this as to how "annoying" it would be to every 90 days have to re-log and re-authorize your key's licenses... But the time-cost of THAT is minimal compared to the immense loss if a key were to be stolen or lost.

it is quite simple to check if your USB key has not be reported lost, stolen ... and disable to it, if is the case

It is up to VSL and Steinberg to do it (the eLC is Steinberg)

The oher solution is to be able to do a backup of your key, like French law is allowing

I am also very surprised that nobody form VSL is participating to the thread

What is that backup solution that French law allows for? Do you have a backup that in case you lose your key you can re-install your licences on a new key as if nothing happened?

I don't think that VSL does enough to make their policies obvious. I don't know if it is intentional or not. If it is, then that is a problem. However, there is enough information about this on the web that one should be performing a bit of research before spending thousands of dollars here. 

With that said, I do not agree with the lost key policies, but I also do not believe that people should be given freedom from responsibility. If your key was stolen, and there was a police report, that is one thing. If you lost it, it isn't VSL's fault. *You* lost it. 

I think a fair policy would be:

1. First time the key is lost, you pay for a new key, the cost of generating a new license (I'm assuming that Steinberg charges VSL per key generated), and reasonable "idiot" fee for having lost it. This fee should never exceed 25% of the original cost, at most. 

2. After that, you get one more shot. You pay for everything again, in full. Anything beyond a second time, no more VSL for you. 

The French law allows, but if VSL does not allow, they will be condamned by the French gov

@Cyril said:

The French law allows, but if VSL does not allow, they will be condamned by the French gov

Condamned Cyril !!!!!!  

And ex communicated too!!

@Cyril said:

The French law allows, but if VSL does not allow, they will be condamned by the French gov

Condamned Cyril !!!!!!  

And ex communicated too!!

LOL

@delavagus said:

I have been engaged in a long and fruitless discussion with VSL concerning their policies regarding USB Licensing Keys, specifically their policies concerned with the loss of said keys

What VSL fails to mention is that the center of gavity for this whole policy is really Steinberg who owns the e-licenser control center - the software that ran the download of the original license. From Steinberg's website,

"Since January 2005, Steinberg is a wholly owned subsidiary of Yamaha Corporation, the world's leading manufacturer of audio hardware"[6]

Hi VSL

Did you talk to you lawyer ?

Do you have an update on this ?

Do I have to get a juridical insurance ?

Best

Cyril

Vienna super package is never going travelling again..

@JSAntares said:

Vienna super package is never going travelling again..

if you have an unwanted visitor you are .....

@JSAntares said:

Vienna super package is never going travelling again..

if you have an unwanted visitor you are .....

 ... claiming on the insurance that any intelligent person would have taken out. [;)]

DG

I don't care what solution (if any) will be acceptable to the company in the end. I can tell you what is not going to be acceptable to me: I will not log-in every 2 months to keep a hardware that I've paid for working, and the day VSL allows for any piracy (by allowing copying, whatever), I will be buying their products exclusively in the black market thereon. I keep telling you that VSL is not just insuring themselves against theft, but our investment in their products at the same time!

@Errikos said:

I can tell you what is not going to be acceptable to me: I will not log-in every 2 months to keep a hardware that I've paid for working,

this is ridiculous !

you connect your PC/MAC to do software update

If the checking is done in background there is no inconveignence

@Errikos said:

 I will not log-in every 2 months to keep a hardware that I've paid for working,

So, worst case scenario!

Your license stick gets lost doesn´t matter how, but its gone so you have to buy all your license for the half-price again.
I think you´re a bigger player here in using the staff VSL offers so roundabout 5000,-€ up.
I don´t know if you can pay this out of your petty cash, but I think most users here including me don´t have that money in stock and would be pleased to use it in a different way if they have

And fate is sometimes unfair. What if, it happends again to you a short time later?!
Sure doubtful but not impossible.
That´s all because you´re to lazy to let the hardware check it in a period of time!?

I for myself bought a laptop this spring, a fast/expensive one for using it outside with VSL.
But I´ve stopped it, because of the really bad feeling I have, if I good this little tiny stick with me. How fast can it be lost in any way.
So, one big point for using VSL is gone.

I, for myself would like to buy more staff from VSL, quality is without no doubt, but I´m really thinking about to stop buying anymore, because of the risk that gets bigger with any product I buy more.

regards

Torsten

@Errikos said:

I keep telling you that VSL is not just insuring themselves against theft, but our investment in their products at the same time!

First, you're right in that I have spent quite a bit of money here. Don't you think I know that something could happen to my licences one day? Do you really think it is due to laziness that I'm against logging-in periodically to verify my stick? No. It is the principle of the thing. Since I have paid outright for the use of my software and hardware, I refuse to have my legitimacy confirmed every 2-3 months unless I'm upgrading. Don't you see where this could lead in the future? It could get to the point where you'd have to be permanently online, and connected to a company at all times in order for you to be allowed to work with software (licences too) and hardware that you have purchased outright. Don't think for a minute that if you agree to the Principle of an idea, it cannot be extended to its entelechy; read Aristotle.

Regarding your second post, it is your thought-process that is ridiculous if you can't see that the money you have spent here is well invested if-and-only-if nobody else can use the same products as you, unless he also has undergone the same expenditure to acquire them.

@Errikos said:

I can tell you what is not going to be acceptable to me: I will not log-in every 2 months to keep a hardware that I've paid for working,

this is ridiculous !

you connect your PC/MAC to do software update

If the checking is done in background there is no inconveignence

Then let it check me if and when I connect to do software update.