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I don't care if there is an additional Internet solution for people that opt for it, Cloud, Hurricane or otherwise... So long as I can be completely independent from it.
Jasen, why do you want to buy a new key every two years to keep it in warranty? Surely if the old one breaks down you ship it to VSL (or ILIO in your case) and you pay the price of a new key, right? It would be unfair and preposterous for VSL to ask for money for licences again simply for a hardware malfunction...
@Errikos said:
Jasen, why do you want to buy a new key every two years to keep it in warranty? Surely if the old one breaks down you ship it to VSL (or ILIO in your case) and you pay the price of a new key, right? It would be unfair and preposterous for VSL to ask for money for licences again simply for a hardware malfunction...
It doesn't matter how unfair and preposterous you find it. Jason is just telling you how it is.
DG
Is it possible to somehow check how old a dongle is?
Go to your User Area + Product Registration + Vienna Key Registration.
If your key was registered 1 second over two years ago then stop reading this, buy another key, register it and transfer the licenses from your old key (OK now stop reading this).
Erik,
I hear you too, man. I guess, for whatever reason, VSL can't maintain the liability for a key over two years. And yes I don't particularily like that aspect of it all but it is what it is. In fact, it kind of makes me feel like a one-legged man in a ass kicking contest but if I want to play the game I have to play by their rules.
Now is VSL the one who holds the waranty on the key or is elicensor? Maybe we're all barking up the wrong tree here[:P]
Is it possible to somehow check how old a dongle is?
Go to your User Area + Product Registration + Vienna Key Registration.
If your key was registered 1 second over two years ago then stop reading this, buy another key, register it and transfer the licenses from your old key (OK now stop reading this).
Now is VSL the one who holds the waranty on the key or is elicensor? Maybe we're all barking up the wrong tree here
Thanks for the answer. This seems a bit unsure though, the date there shows when I registered my key to Vienna, not necessarily when I started using the key (as a product) itself. Does the warranty valid from the date I registered, or the date I purchased the key? Or rather, is VSL looking up the date in my user area when deciding the warranty? It would be cool to know this exactly and change my key every 2 years accordingly.
I am not so sure if VSL holds the warranty by the way... But that's just a guess.
@Paul said:
Hi Oguz,
Your registered key is 10 years old (I have checked on the server).
Best,
Paul
Hi, thank you very much for checking. I shall replace it today. 😊
Just ordered a new one at Thomann. Don't forget to register the key at Steinberg!
Thinking of attaching some kind of a label on it saying "Dear finder/thief, please return to this address and receive a finders fee of $50,– so you can buy your own USB stick". I hope it helps just in case. [:P]
What is exactely the 2 years solution? Is there a garantie in case the key breaks for 2 years?Are there insurance companies who insure your programms in case.If yes, do you know some? I only find on the internet how to insure programms I wrote myself, or even how to order an emulator instead of insuring my licenses.In the worst scenario, That I have to pay 50% again of all my software+licenses, do I have to pay at once, or - as I don't have this amount of money lying arround - does vsl hope I won't buy instead another programm that appears on the market until I have economised that money?
@Juda said:
What is exactely the 2 years solution? Is there a garantie in case the key breaks for 2 years?Are there insurance companies who insure your programms in case.If yes, do you know some? I only find on the internet how to insure programms I wrote myself, or even how to order an emulator instead of insuring my licenses.In the worst scenario, That I have to pay 50% again of all my software+licenses, do I have to pay at once, or - as I don't have this amount of money lying arround - does vsl hope I won't buy instead another programm that appears on the market until I have economised that money?
Fortunately, I've never had to deal with this but the way I understand it if your key FAILS, not breaks necessarily, and it is within the two year waranty then VSL will replace the licenses. So if you load up your samples but an error message comes back saying something to the effect of "cannot find any licenses on the Vienna key" send the key into Vienna and they'll take a look at it.
It depends on your location.
In the US, I don't know of any company that will insure this particular type of software. However, my homeowner's insurance will cover me in the event of theft, fire, or natural disaster as long as the software does not leave my house.
You know, it's a shame it's like this. I really love VSL and their products but this is becoming a bigger problem for me now. I now have a separate studio (it used to be at home) in a differtent city, which means I have to travel (by train) with a dongle in my bag worth thousands of euro's. I live in a big city and there's always the risk of getting mugged.
I even started considering replacing some libraries with other brand libraries because of this... VSL is still the best IMHO but many are closing in. But the thought of learning to use and love yet another library... I'd rather not.
Yes, it's total bullshit. I respect the need to prevent piracy, however if the situation is as serious as "lose this tiny piece of plastic, and you lose your ability to use this multi-thousand dollar product forever" there should be a better system. Period.
As much as I love the VSL sounds, I'm already very nervous about how much money I've sunk in that tiny piece of plastic, and I'm reluctant to spend another dollar at this point. That's not how it should be.
Figure it out, VSL.
Maybe they could take a look how UAD handles the piracy issue.
Their PCI/Firewire/Thunderbolt "dongle" has real DSP functionality, and without it you cannot run the software, because it requires the physical hardware for code execution.
To my information they are one of the few companies which don´t have been hacked and business is doing well.
That said, a small device offering some extra memory for samples, a DSP for some convolution reverb or hard wired MIR code, whatever, without which the user cannot play the samples at all, may be a solution.
Even simpler : If the fear is that pirates may hack into user accounts and ask for a new faked license - why not ship the physical DVD/key boxes with a secret password on paper in it, which can´t be found online in a database.
If a legal customer then asks for a backup due to a broken/stolen key, he has to phone VSL and tell them the secret phrase.
Even simpler : If the fear is that pirates may hack into user accounts and ask for a new faked license - why not ship the physical DVD/key boxes with a secret password on paper in it, which can´t be found online in a database.
If a legal customer then asks for a backup due to a broken/stolen key, he has to phone VSL and tell them the secret phrase.
I don't know about other users but the last several products I've bought from VSL have been downloaded. No Boxes. No keys. Not sure how this would work especially if I'm calling VSL from the Arizona, USA.
Kleinholgi,
Im not trying to start an argument with you it's just that this is a complicated issue that has haunted the forum for a long time. It's one of those things where you look at it and say, "oh well why don't they just do this or that and there you go problem solved." Unfortunately, it's not that easy.
Yes, it would be another dongle, but it would not only perform as a pure copy protection.
The difference is, that in case your UAD PCI card burns down after guarantee, it is stolen or got some water damage etc., it is of course the users problem and he has to buy another PCI card ( a Solo core currently is ~$299), but the plug ins ( possibly worth also thousands of $) are still in the user account and can be transfered to a new card /plug in group.
The drawback of it of course is, that the entrance barrier is higher for entry level users, who don´t want to spend a few $100 just to be able to get going. But if there´s real functionality in the "dongle", why not (instead of e.g. buying a SSD for $200 or a CPU upgrade).
But apart from that I also cannot understand, why VSL has that kind of hardcore policy regarding the USB stick. I don´t think it is the usual way companies deal with that problem. Most of them that I know are more user friendly in that point - even those which have much much less advanced copy protection, like simple serial numbers etc (Voxengo, D16, Soniccouture, audiorealism etc.etc.).
Regarding the non-physical download scheme you´re right. That might be problematic. On the other hand, if users here ask for the cost of insurance, why not offering the physical box / recall code on demand for the fee of the shipping costs or so. Fedex could then drop you the christmas insurance kit right on your door, a few days after you downloaded the files.
In the end I also don´t know if we are talking about highly unlikely incidents. I would be very interested to know about the typical failure rate of these Elicense USB sticks after say 7 years in the field
Of course stolen keys would still be a problem, but nothing in life is risk free.
O.K, just read some old postings on this topic.
As it is, the best advice seems to be to:
1.) Buy a new Vienna Key every few years
2.) Concentrate on buying bigger collections, not single instruments, because in the case of a faulty (not stolen) key out of guarantee they might charge a service fee for recalling for each license.
3.) Relax, because there are user reports, describing VSL as handling these situations with care and looking into it individually with a good solution for both parties.
sounds at least better, even for a Mac-user who has to get a sonnet.So if - like me- somebody has already many licenses over the years purchased, the danger of losing a few thousand euro is quite higher than paying an insurance or different hardware.
I remember when Logic still had a dongle, but in the end they realized to earn much more if they take the risk of being cracked, as this is also a kind of advertising to professionels.I too, got so to buy logic after trying it instead of protools or cubase, and vsl is more flexible than holywood strings&Co.Its like an car insurance calculates money spend in lost trials or money spend in a recall.Earning money is about calculating.The soundengineers of vsl are amazing, the programmer too, and over all the musicians behing the samples and the performance samples.The accountents are surely since generations from austria.
But, as the key is the physical prove of the software, though its plastic, its worth a lot - money is also paper, so like a jewel it should be possible to insure it instead to pay an emulator.
@liquidvienna said:
This is the very reason I won't spend a lot on vienna software. I own about 500 american dollars worth and thats it. The system isn't user friendly at all, I bought the essential package and because the stupid server is down i can't use it? can you imagine buying a car or a guitar and taking it home and saying yeah its useless because the server is down. If I lose my car keys they don't come take the car away and say its not yours. You pay a small fee for the new key. There has to be a better way or an insurance option. like say hmmmm iLOK.. 30 bucks and you get zero down time.
I´m not happy with the Vienna Key situation as well.
But as I said in my earlier posting: Just relax.
The dongle situation is one thing - server problems are something different.
I´m 100% sure, that these poblems can be solved. I´m absolutely sure that you will be able to use your libraries. If it doesn´t work, mail or phone the customer support and they will help you out. Their Customer support is excellent, that infornation is everywhere here in the forum.
Back to the Key situation : Just search some older postings on that topic and read some comments of Vienna officials. Between the lines you can guess, that usually they are also very friendly when it comes to the worst case scenario we are talking about here, especially malfunctioning keys.
Stolen keys is a different thing - I also have no solution for that.
As long as you have a key - just change it every 2 years and everything shall be A - O.K. [;)]
People before us took much greater risks, so don´t worry too much....
Yeah, I think I got me a stick.
