In any case VSL is a great library developer and I can only say that I can only recommend it over any other library. Honestly if I knew how great VSL is I would never have purchased other orchestral libraries.
-
"If the warranty period is already over, it might be necessary to purchase replacement licenses for EUR 20.00 per license (Minimum fee EUR 30.00.)"
Keep in mind that each instrument from each of the non SE collections require their own license. For example if you bought Orchestral Strings 1 standard and extended, that would be a total of four licenses. This could get very expensive if your dongles for the cube get stolen or stop working.
-
So for orchestral strings that would be 80 dollars. How many licenses does each of the full collections hold anyways? I wish there was some full information about this somewhere since I always want to be prepared for everything. What actually confused me is why they say minimum 20.00 dollars. Does the price vary for each type of replacement license mschmitt_25212 (software & library)? or does it increase depending on the individual and how much his income with VSL products is?
-
It's my understanding that (outside of the SE collections) each instrument in a collection has it's own license and the extended version of that instrument is an additional license.
I don't know what the replacement cost would be when it comes to MIR and other software.
I really wish VSL would come up with a very clear and reasonable way to replace our licenses if our dongle is broken, lost, or stolen. And have a clear explanation of it.
From the posts I've seen here and on other forums over the past few years, it seems that VSL's replacement policy has been very arbitrary with some people only having to pay an amount per license, while others were charged 50% of the retail price of their products. (I maybe mistaken, but it seems like in the past 1 -2 years someone posted here that his dongle stoped working, but because it was past the two year warranty period VSL was going to charge him 50% for new licenses.)
Because of all of the confusion of VSL's replacement policy, I've actually held off on buying any additional libraries or expensive software, even though I can afford the cube, VE Pro, and MIR. I'm not going to shell out that kind of money and then end up being charged hundreds to thousands of dollars if their anti-piracy system fails, breaks, gets lost or is stollen.
-
Ufff, each time I read a post about the eLicenser, I end up with a very uneasy feeling. Maybe I'm wrong, or maybe it is my ignorance about the matter but, is there not a better way to protect against piracy? I'm sure that people who is able to develop so smart and high quality products as VSL does, is able to find a better anti-piracy system. Call me paranoid but I find it relatively easy to get your dongle damaged, or lost or stolen, and paying again for something you've already paid when there are more user-friendly alternatives in the market...
-
See losing the dongle like losing your credit card and IDs. You just have to take care not to lose it. Just keep it safe and you are fine.
-
@Rolf_Music said:
See losing the dongle like losing your credit card and IDs. You just have to take care not to lose it. Just keep it safe and you are fine.No it's not. If I lose my credit card, my lost one is deactivated and my credit card companys sends me a new one for free, because they value my business. To get a lost ID repcaled is inexpensive, and IDs don't cost $2,000 or more to begin with.
-
@Rolf_Music said:
See losing the dongle like losing your credit card and IDs. You just have to take care not to lose it. Just keep it safe and you are fine.No it's not. If I lose my credit card, my lost one is deactivated and my credit card companys sends me a new one for free, because they value my business. To get a lost ID repcaled is inexpensive, and IDs don't cost $2,000 or more to begin with.
That's it. And things in life are never as easy as "keep it secret, keep it safe!"
-
Dear all,
Generally it is important to distinguish between a lost ViennaKey and a broken ViennaKey.
Additionally to the official information in our Terms of License (§5 and §6), here's a summary of how we handle the unfortunate case a ViennaKey (or any other eLicenser USB key) is reported as lost or broken:
If a ViennaKey breaks within the warranty period (two years) without extraneous cause, the user gets a new ViennaKey and the new license(s) free of charge. That's why we recommend to purchase a new key every two years. The two year warranty starts with the date of purchase of the ViennaKey, so please store your invoice at a safe place.
In case the warranty period has expired, or if the user damages a ViennaKey, he will of course have to pay for the new ViennaKey and a handling fee for the new license(s) (EUR 20 per contained license). This fee is necessary as we ourselves also have to pay fees to eLicenser for every replacement license we issue.
Broken eLicenser USB keys other than ViennaKeys will have to be returned to the respective issuing company, in regards to warranty claims for the key. As for the licenses however, we don't distinguish if VSL licenses are on a broken/lost ViennaKey or another eLicenser USB key.
In case of a lost license, we meet our users halfway in this situation by replacing the license for 50% of the full price in case they're not insured.
If a lot of licenses are on a broken or lost key, we'll find a solution on an individual basis with the user.
The quickest and easiest temporary solution if you find yourself in an unfortunate situation like this is to buy a new ViennaKey (or other eLicenser USB key). We can then send you a demo license which enables you to bridge at least some time until the order of the replacement license is processed. Of course it's not a bad idea to have a spare key in your studio, to ensure that you have no downtime at all in the event of a lost or broken key.
While we totally understand that both scenarios are a cause for concern, we do our best to help customers that find themselves in this unfortunate situation in every way we can, while at the same time protecting our (and your!) investment in our products. We HAVE to make sure that there are no possibilities for fraud when users report to have lost or damaged their key.
Many ideas for improvement have been discussed in previous threads, and we are considering all technically and legally possible improvements together with the provider of this protection system, eLicenser (owned by Steinberg). The description above explains our current position.
Best,
Stefan
-
Hi Stefan,
Thanks for your reply. I have a few questions for you that I hope you can answer.
In case of a lost license, we meet our users halfway in this situation by replacing the license for 50% of the full price in case they're not insured.
If a lot of licenses are on a broken or lost key, we'll find a solution on an individual basis with the user
Does this apply if your computers and ViennaKeys are stolen and we can supply you with a police report proving that they were stolen. (I use a few of the SE libraries as well as V Suite live on a MacBook Pro, what's kept me from buying the full cube is that I'd have to pay over 2,500 Euros if my ViennaKeys were stolen or lost.)
If licenses are destroyed in a home fire does that count as user damage or lost licenses?
If the user has insurance would you charge retail price to replace the licenses if they were lost?
I know you have to have some copy protection to protect your products from theft, so you can continue to make money and also be able to continue to develope even better products. Also, I don't want other people to use for free the same software I've spent thousands of dollars on. I just wish you would implement some kind of optional dial in copy protection, so that if someone either lost or had their VKeys stolen they would stop working after a given time and we could get new licenses from you without having to pay 50% of the cost of products we allready bought.
Thanks in advance for answering these questions. I know I'm not the only one that has them.
Michael