Where did you read this ?
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Where did you read this ?
Where did you read this ?
https://www.steinberg.net/nc/en/support/knowledgebase_new/show_details/kb_show/usb-elicensersteinberg-key-details-tips-and-troubleshooting.htm
Surely one can't can't register VSL software licences with Steinberg....?
Not sure if the VSL activation codes show up in > steinberg.net >My products>Register elicencer
The reason iam not sure is because my steinberg key broke so and i just threw it in the bin ! ): and keep reading below but by the time i located the serial number of the broken key and registered it none of my vsl activation codes showed up , so i am thinking you need to do all of this whilst you have your working key in your possesion for it to sync maybee? and then show your activation codes in your my steinberg account ? Can someone PLEASE PLEASE advise us if when you register your usb dongle at my steinberg whether the activation codes get added just below the registered key in ( steinberg.net>my products>registered elicencers ?
(Before anyone says anything i had no idea of the value procedure of steinberg keys and ABSOLUTELY BELIEVED that my codes could just be used again on a new key or at worst my activation codes could be canceled and re issued ) Yes VERY VERY WRONG .
So on my PC i have gone to C:Drive >ProgramData>elicencer>Logs>POS_Used_eLicencer_Serialnumbers.log
Thankfully this file contans the broken steinberg key serial number , so along this journey i have found (my steinberg account) at steinberg.net and registered the broken usb serial number > then i have immediatley in steinberg.net reported the serial number as broken , now it says Broken eLicenser: 1380533 --------- Deactivated on: 05/09/2015 05:04 (i have decided not to show the last digits in this post )
also there is a little picture of a broken usb dongle (how fancy ! sorry ok back to it
so now i have sent a email to my steinberg support explaining the above and including my activation codes for my VSL Products as well as the serial number for the broken key , still no reply yet but it is the weekend ,
where to now 1) i can prove that i have canceled the serial number of a usb licencer .
2) i now need either the help of steinberg to confirm that my vsl activation codes were indeed on that DEACTIVATED KEY or some logs which are on my computer toeither send to vsl or to steinberg which hopefully is a smoking gun and then links the activation codes to the deactivated ? Broken Key .
e.g C:Drive >ProgramData>elicencer>Logs
a) eLC_Installation (date).log > there are several of these
b) eLCC_Actions.log
c) POS_Used_elicencer_Serialnumbers.log
d) POSSeLActionsLog.txt
Look at the end of the day this is happening for a reason and if this works then there might be some additional security for the People like me and you that invests there money into software who have secure procedures that dont cover us entirely , and thus leaving us to have to re purchase the software as well as a new key , to me thats not good enough protection against unforeen circumstances > lost , stolen , broken .
Though i will say that the Support team at VSL have been very helpfull ,THANKYOU.
However i believe there must be some evidence on my pc linking the serial number of the broken key to the activation codes and i can prove the serial number has been deactivated but today is fathers day in AU so Happy fathers day to all you DADS out there so today i can search for that proof , if anyone can help with this and manually connect there usb serial to there activation codes inside your pc .logs or wherever please advise me so i can sort this out faster .
Kind Regards
Hello taccess,
My brother Stefan (our sales manager) has already contacted you with all the details about replacement licenses a few days ago.
In general, eLicenser (and Steinberg and VSL) do NOT have access to the licenses on your key. If a key is deactivated, this means that no licenses can be moved anymore, that´s all.
The listed licenses on the Steinberg/VSL homepages simpy display your registered products, these are not connected to the licenses on your key.
The whole point of a hardware key is to have the license stored on it. COPY protection also means that a license can only be used once. If you could use it multiple times, there is no reason to use a hardware key.
I know this is not an easy situation, and we wish you would have contacted us right after your key broke, so we could have given you the instructions to send us the broken key right away.
Best,
Paul
Hello again,
These terms are all described in our terms of license, which you agree upon by installing our software. We cannot force you to read those, but we strongly suggest to do so.
You can check the terms of license again, please scroll down on our website.
Best,
Paul
My sugestion is that VSL revew it's protection policy. They have to speak to Steinberg so a license can be canceled on a dongle at the demand of it's owner and re-issue at no cost on a new dongle.
It is not to us, it's clients, that has to pay for the protection.
VSL should listen to these posts and consider upgrading their customer support.I bought a new e-licencer
yesterday and spent the whole day tryin to activate my vepro software on my newly built 3rd computer.I
have 3 licences but only ever used 2 previously.When I tried to activate the new dongle,the message said
that I can only use an activation code once.If I only ever owned 2 dongles,then there should be one
activation code left to me,but none of my codes work on the new dongle.There is no one to phone or email
about this.This is the worst software protection I have ever experienced.I hate dongles and will never use them again,but in fairness I have to give Propellerhead credit for the support they have given me in using their dongle on different computers.If they can do it,why cant VSL? should not have even needed to buy a 3rd dongle since it is claimed that the host computer doesnt need one.Well that never worked for me.For Paul to say that we should read the licence agreement is arrogant.No one ever reads those.You should be able to trust the quality software companies that we give our support and money.I am probably lucky that I have VSL working on 2 computers
,but I am still angry at the VSL attitude and very nervous about future investment in their products .I will not be buying their very expensive sound libraries as was my plan.I will work Kontact libraries and maybe Samplitude
Yellow Tools.I stopped supporting Avid products years ago simply because of customer service and I spend a lot on audio.
I really hope that this issue has been sorted out, now. I have, after 6 years, lost my USB ELicencer on international travel. I have e-mailed support, and hope that Vienna will be able to sort this, just as Cubase is able to sort this out. I have registered my product through MyVSL, so there is no doubt about my legitimacy as a customer, or the specifics of the product, or the licence.
Thank you very much for you help.
Chris W
My sugestion is that VSL revew it's protection policy. They have to speak to Steinberg so a license can be canceled on a dongle at the demand of it's owner and re-issue at no cost on a new dongle.
It is not to us, it's clients, that has to pay for the protection.
(Added) This turned out to be longer than I expected and went a bit off topic to cover the broader aspect of DRM but Im going to leave it all because there is some negativity regarding Vienna's choice to use an elicenser and how the elicenser terms and conditions and the way it works that I was sensing as I read through the thread. Having been an enthusiast crypto nerd, I follow this stuff pretty closely, admittedly, I havent had time to look at the elicenser technology.
(Original Post) Such is the nature of DRM. With such stringent copy protection and the product being managed and controlled by Steinberg (I assume Vienna merely licenses the technology), compounded by Vienna's complicated bundling of their products, Im surprised the entire thing works.
Unfortunately, DRM is a necessity these days with sound fonts, or at least, companies seem to think so. One merely has to search Vienna soundfonts on any torrent tracker to obtain old Kontakt versions of their soundfonts and the same is the case for many other high end soundfonts and sound production software. I downloaded a few this way just to see how the technology worked before legally purchasing soundfonts (I no longer have any soundfonts installed I did not purchase and I plan to keep it that way) and a few DAWS.
There is a push and pull from users versus companies that want to protect their investments.
What you'll find however that is rather interesting is, if you search around, you will not find any current version Vienna products on any torrent site since converting to the elicenser tech. You will not find any working version of Cubase higher than version 5.1 (2008) since Steinberg moved to the elivenser tech at Cubase 5 (as it turns out, the original first version of the elicenser had a flaw that allowed Cubase 5 to be cracked, I cant remember if it was a simple case of the encryption keys escaping or a bug, I have the white paper on it somewhere).
Other companies have chosen a different DRM path, Audible (Amazon) and Microsoft have decided to use your device as the hardware key - ie. when installed, the software looks at all of your hardware and creates a unique id number for that machine and the software is tied to that id. Audible (Amazon) allows a person to call and deactivate a device (which is a must because Audible can be used on both desktops, laptops, tablets, and phones, the latter changed yearly in most places around the world). Microsoft allows a small portion of your hardware to change before they consider it a 'new device' to require reactivation.
In VSL's case, a few possible ramifications have to be considered if one is going to allow licenses to just be moved at will by a customer without having the functioning elicenser. How do you prevent abuse? What possibilities exist for people to possibly abuse any system Vienna puts into place?
I am not intimately familar with how the elicenser works, I imagine some sort of standard public / private key infrastructure with online checking and ids tied to the elicenser hardware, but I dont know, havent researched it, I just know I have it, its plugged in to the 10 port USB hub I have and it takes several minutes for the software to detect it and do whatever it does to it every time I launch the software because it (the software and the entire process) is clunky and convoluted, as DRM usually is.
I am not a fan of DRM, but I understand why it is used, in some cases, why it is almost necessary. In the case of the elicenser, it has proven successful in the sense that if you want any current software/soundfonts from Steinberg or Vienna, you have to purchase them legitimately. On the opposite side however, you can see that copy protection on Bluray and DVD was and continues to be a waiste of time and money. Both were cracked within several hours of the technology being put out in the publics hands (primarily because the encryption keys must be stored on the players, that makes the encryption key easy to obtain - with the elicenser technology, that is where the online component comes in, encrypt the traffic so it cannot be read and transfer the keys over the internet - the user never has access to, nor can the user ever see the encryption keys).
The question is, has Vienna seen an increase in sales enough to justify the cost of licensing of the elicenser technology? Thats a question only they can answer. I wonder how many people never bought a Vienna product because they realized they had to buy a licenser?
We already know that DRM in no case that I can think of, benefits its users. It consumes CPU cycles, increases startup times, can cost more money for hardware (as in the elicenser), and is hugely inconvenient (moving licenses around, using software on another machine when youve mistakenly left it running on a machine at another location, etc.). At no time can I recall the price of a product being cheaper to make up for these inconveniences.
Its a push and pull between users and coorporations. I dont know which is right, but as a consumer, Ill tell you which Id prefer. But if I were a coorporation, I might be looking at the other side. The question is, does anyone really win? Do companies see improved bottom lines if they use DRM? Do users see any benefits?
My suspicion is 'no' to all three of those questions, but one of those questions, I cant actually answer definitively. Vienna and Steinberg can and they must think its worth doing or they wouldnt be continuing to use it. I can say this much, the technology has been effective at preventing use of their products without purchasing them first, and that is a pretty big success given the number of uber nerds there are today who are willing to crack a product because they can.