@jasensmith said:

Yeah exactly!

Read this before buying and, while you're at it, read the other umteen thousand threads on this same topic before buying as well😮

I am scared too ; I have more than 10 000 € of VSL licenses !

I dont understand why VSL is not putting pressure on Steinberg so we can handle our licenses.

VSL is loosing clients.

There is a vey simple way to do it.

You store the License an the dongle number on your computer and on Steinberg site.

So if you lose you dongle you disable the license and the dongle you lost and you move your license to a new dongle. VSL has just to add a routine in VE and VI to check once a month if the dongle is still valid

The other solution is that VSL uses the App Store as protection

I read somewhere that Steinberg and VSL are working on a close integration from Vienna Instruments in Dorico. I hope that this is true. Perhaps this would be also a chance for a better solution for the dongle problem.

In the past a worked often in the train with Vienna Instruments, but in the meantime, I no longer dare to do that.

I read somewhere in this forum that the situation can be a bit compromised.

- If your Vienna Key is broken under the warranty, you can get replacement free of charge

- If your Vienna Key is broken without the warranty, you need to pay around 40 Euros (can't remember the exact figure) for each license you have, but not for the product price.

- If your Vienna Key is lost, you might get a small discount on your owned products. But yeah, you'll have to buy it again.

Vienna Key warranty lasts for 2 years, so you'll need to buy and transfer your licenses to the new one before it goes off. 

The way they compared Vienna Key with jewelry is ironically right. It is as valuable as jewelry for many people here. Even I disagree with this inconvenience but I believe that it is the reason why you could never find VSL softwares being cracked.

I can only hope that you'll get over this horrible situation soon and that it will never happen to anyone again, including myself.

I'd like to purchase all the VSL's super package and really have a plan near before long, but now I'm so scared by reading this forum...

I really love VSL's all the libraries and softwares, but IMO, the most important thing is that composers and arrangers have the satety in mind when they're making music. Accidents can happen anytime. I haven't recognized this issue well, but in this policy, If I buy much more VSL's licenses, probably I'll always feel anxiety.

...just desperately hoping that this would be improved between VSL and Steinberg. I began to be confident that VSL's libraries are my lifelong companion OTL.

@Simon Hanna said:

I was told by VSL to get insurance. I tried and no company would insure a USB or licences.

So yeah.. crap situation

Insurances are insuring hardware, not vapor ware.

I have tried many insurances in France, England, Switzerland, Germany, even companies that VSL indicate me !!!!!

The answer is the same, we can insure the dongle for 25 euro, but not the licenses it's contains

I have propose that VSL negociate a contract with an Insurance company ! they dont care a damm ! the answer is : This is not our job. 

I was thinking to buy Dimension String for XMAS ! 

Is there a way to backup the licenses on another eLicenser?

@Michael Machado said:

Is there a way to backup the licenses on another eLicenser?

NO

I have ongoing concerns about the "fragility" of my VSL licenses.

Having spent many thousands of pounds/dollars/euros over the years I feel it would be timely for VSL to investigate a solution that addressed the high percentage of their users so (rightly) concerned about losing the licenses they have purchased.

Hello,

 I was so afraid about this problem that I put andscattered  all my licences ( a lot: all vsl, steinberg, ....) in eleven  elecenser USB key!!

but the problem is the time of scanning the licences when we have a lot of usb key:

1'45" to open  vienna ensemble pro 6

than 45" to insert a vienna instrument in VIP pro

more than 50sec to open dorico etc...

but put like 20.000 euro in one ubs key? I need some feedback of you to take the risk

Best regards

Dup

To the original poster....this was quite an eye opener. I have both VSL and Eastwest libraries. Last summer my Ilok stopped working. I had to contact PACE to get a new key and have my licenses reactivated. It took a couple of weeks but I was not out of all the money that I put into Eastwest. I also have invested a few thousand dollars into VSL. This seems to be a huge concern and more customers should be aware. I simply cannot believe that a company that can produce such high quality sounds and the software to run it can't come up with a solution. I know for myself, if my key is lost, I cannot afford to replace my products. I will have to return to Eastwest and VSL will end up losing another costumer for good. How should we as customers go about complaining? Who should we collectively complain to other than voicing our dissatisfaction in this forum?

@Acclarion said:

Is it corporate greed, arrogance, indifference, or some other reason that compels a company to essentially "stick it" to their customers?

Have they broken their contract with you? The contract you agreed to at the time of purchase? If you've changed your mind since then, aren't you free to sell your license to someone else? Greed would be if VSL forced you to buy their products against your will; so this doesn't look like greed to me. Please learn not to sign contracts you dislike; this should solve your feeling that companies are "sticking it to you". When you buy a product, you don't get a slave you can order around; you only get what was in the agreement.

VSL could add value to their products by adding insurance against lost/stolen keys.

@Acclarion said:

Is it corporate greed, arrogance, indifference, or some other reason that compels a company to essentially "stick it" to their customers?

Have they broken their contract with you? The contract you agreed to at the time of purchase? If you've changed your mind since then, aren't you free to sell your license to someone else? Greed would be if VSL forced you to buy their products against your will; so this doesn't look like greed to me. Please learn not to sign contracts you dislike; this should solve your feeling that companies are "sticking it to you". When you buy a product, you don't get a slave you can order around; you only get what was in the agreement.

VSL could add value to their products by adding insurance against lost/stolen keys.

VSL could offer insurance as an option. The cost of the insurance could be passed on to customers: Customers who want the insurance pay for the insurance; customers who don't want to pay for the insurance don't get the insurance.

@MMKA said:

I asked my assurance company in the Netherlands. When I use the e-licensers just in home, they are covered by the home insurance, because software is covered by that insurance.

Double check this and have it in writing ! words are flying 😉

Can you give us the Name of the company because so far I have contact many companies, and no one will insure the contents of the dongle, they will insure only cost of the replacement of the dongle !!!! 25 € 

I was reading the Dorico Licensing, there are very good new, Steinberg is improving the Licensing,

Will we profit of this with VSL protection ? this is anoter question 

Thank you to everybody who has given us feedback about Dorico's licensing scheme.

We want to give our customers the most flexible licensing solution possible based on the current capabilities of our eLicenser technology, which is used by all Steinberg products. As such, the scheme used by Dorico 1.0 will be as follows:

When you buy the boxed version of Dorico, you will receive in your package an Activation Code that allows you to activate Dorico using the Soft-eLicenser. Using this Activation Code will lock Dorico to a single computer. You will also receive a hardware USB-eLicenser key in your package, to which you can optionally move your Dorico license.

When you buy the download version of Dorico, you will receive an Activation Code that allows you to activate Dorico using the Soft-eLicenser. If you would like to transfer your copy of Dorico to a USB-eLicenser and you do not already have one, you will be able to buy one from the Steinberg online shop or your reseller, and then transfer your license to your USB-eLicenser. We plan to set the price of the download version of Dorico lower than the boxed version, so that if you choose to buy the download version but later decide to move your license to a USB-eLicenser, the intention is that, barring significant pricing differences in different territories, you should not pay more overall than if you had initially bought the boxed version.

Once you have moved your Dorico license from the Soft-eLicenser to the USB-eLicenser, Dorico will only run if the USB-eLicenser is plugged into a USB port on that computer.

If you choose to transfer your Dorico license from the Soft-eLicenser to the USB-eLicenser, at present you cannot subsequently transfer your license back to the Soft-eLicenser. However, our eLicenser team is investigating the feasibility of allowing a license to be moved from the USB-eLicenser back to a Soft-eLicenser, which would make it possible to move your Dorico license from one computer to another, and then run it on that computer without requiring the USB-eLicenser any longer. This capability may not be ready by the time of Dorico's initial public release, so we will provide further information about this at a later date.

Steinberg is always reviewing its licensing technologies in the light of changing customer and business needs, and looking to the future we plan to introduce new capabilities to our eLicenser system that will address the needs of customers to run the software on their computers without the use of the USB-eLicenser while still protecting both their and Steinberg's investment in our software.

This whole issue with licensing really needs attention and improvement.

When I first realised that the keys "expire" after 2 years, I started buying 2 new keys every 2 years, just in case. (My licenses span 2 keys)

I now have a drawer full of perfectly functioning keys that will probably never be used again. 

Despite this 2-yearly purchase of new keys, I will still have to pay more money to get my licences back if a key fails. If a key gets lost, I will have to re-purchase the libraries at huge expense.

What I don't understand is this:
eLicenser controls the licensing procedure and they appear to have a record of all licence details. (Correct me if I'm wrong please). If they have a secure database, why is it not possible to report a key stolen or lost or broken? Then the reported key could be listed as non-functional which would allow the legal user to simply retrieve his/her licences.

Of course, there would have to be a method to prevent the stolen or lost key from being used somewhere else. A suggestion would be for a regular check of each key by the eLicenser software. If the check showed that the key was reported stolen or lost, the licences on the key would be disabled or deleted. If the check was not performed regularly, then the key would stop working. Of course this would be a minor irritation for legal users, but nothing compared to the nightmare of having to buy 1000's of Euros worth of software again.

These are just random thoughts on the matter - hopefully our friends at VSL will consider these suggestions and either take it up with Steinberg or perhaps even create their own hardware protection system.