This is great news! The only thing preventing me from being a VSL customer was not be willing to use a dongle and wanting iLok cloud support, just like all my other applications. The second this is ready, I'm in. Can't happen fast enough -- this has been a very longtime coming, thanks VSL.

Hi vePro7user64,

Thanks for your sharing your thoughts and concerns!
You are not forced to change to another system, but iLok will be the protection system for all future developments and products.
Existing setups will keep on working with eLicenser setups just like they are working now, there will simply be no more software updates.
At some point in the future, license transactions (downloading or moving licenses) will not be possible anymore. This depends on how long the eLicenser Server will be available.  

When you're ready for iLok: You can add as many iLok keys as you like to your account, and you can also add one iLok cloud activation, if you like

Best, 
Paul

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the additional info.. Good to know..

We have calmed down a lot since we last posted here. Mainly because we learned that Steinberg is also killing its dongle.. We guess it would follow that the elicenser server will eventually go away as well.

So we understand the move, we just don't like to update anything on this end unless it's critical or broke, and some upgrades as we are sure you know, are expensive, but buying a few more iLoks won't break us..

(DISCOUNT) think about it;)

But we get it, the Future is coming..

Cheers!

Paul, 

Am I understanding you correctly to say, that for each VSL product we own there will be:

- 1 physical iLok license (for a primary computer)

- and also 1 Cloud license (which may be usable on a secondary computer)?

If so, this is really fantastic! As moving my i-Lok from 1 PC (at home) to my 2nd PC (at work) is just not very feasible on any regular basis. (Most of my other iLok-based software have 2 or 3 licenses, so this isn't a problem). 

Craig

"When you're ready for iLok: You can add as many iLok keys as you like to your account, and you can also add one iLok cloud activation, if you like"

Best, 
Paul

Hello Craig, 

There will be one iLok license for each VSL eLicenser license, and you can decide whether you'd like to store it on an iLok key or in the iLok cloud (and move it around as you like). 

Best, 
Paul

Paul:

I'd just like to re-iterate how useful it would be to have a third option to have iLok locally on each computer therefore not requiring a dongle OR an internet connection.

@beatpete said:

Paul:

I'd just like to re-iterate how useful it would be to have a third option to have iLok locally on each computer therefore not requiring a dongle OR an internet connection.

+1 MILLION

@beatpete said:

Paul:

I'd just like to re-iterate how useful it would be to have a third option to have iLok locally on each computer therefore not requiring a dongle OR an internet connection.

I currently use iLok with VI Lab's piano software and it doesn't require a constant internet connection or dongle. You need an internet connection to initially download the license and then after that the software runs on the computer even if it's not connected to the internet. 

I'm sure iLok will work the same way with VSL software. 

God Bless,

David

@David B. said:

I currently use iLok with VI Lab's piano software and it doesn't require a constant internet connection or dongle. You need an internet connection to initially download the license and then after that the software runs on the computer even if it's not connected to the internet. 

I'm sure iLok will work the same way with VSL software. 

You will need an iLok USB-key or an internet connection when using iLok Cloud. Machine activation will not be available for our products.

Best, Ben

I'm thinking maybe VSL should outline this whole thing and associated costs to the customer in a detailed email and send it to everyone who is currently a VSL customer. It's giving me the willies.

What happens if I leave the eLicencer plugged in as it also contains my Cubase licence?

Do I delete all the VSL licences in the eLicencer before or after the iLok is inserted?

So what, we have to buy another 20+Euro dongle, wait 2 Covid weeks (4 weeks) for it to arrive, request from VSL all our licences, wait for them to be delivered, copy paste the activation codes into the iLok manager all this while thousands of people are simultaneously doing the same. I hope you guys are hiring a 100 more staff and servers to deal with the immense amount of traffic. Not stoked.

Hi JBuck,

No need to worry, we are already working on all points you mentioned, and make the migration as comfortable as possible.
Your Cubase license will be fine, and there will be no need deleting licenses from the eLicenser.

Best, Ben

"You will need an iLok USB-key or an internet connection when using iLok Cloud. Machine activation will not be available for our products."

Thanks for that crucial info, Ben. It makes a huge difference for me. (And it's my fault for not taking the trouble to look up and learn about iLok's Cloud facility.)

While doing serious work with Logic + VEP + VSL instruments I disconnect from Internet. That's because I don't want Internet jibber-jabber triggering any new and possibly hefty processes in my system while I need every last ounce of my CPU power to be focused on the work I'm doing; and I do like to be free of all distractions while working (not to mention concerns about commercial snoopers gathering usage and who knows what other data).

So now it's looking like I'll have to go for the iLok USB dongle key option, continue to have one of my USB ports tied up, and continue to worry about the disruption if that thing fails.

In short, no benefit for cases like mine; just an awful lot of work and the price of a new iLok dongle to switch over to the new scheme.

Ah well. C'est la bloody vie.

Whether the Ilok implementation has started ?

@Ben said:

You will need an iLok USB-key or an internet connection when using iLok Cloud. Machine activation will not be available for our products.

Best, Ben

That's not good. Is machine activation more susceptible to misuse?

So, without a constant internet connection a person is simply going from one dongle (eLicenser) to another (iLok). The dongle seems to be one of the reasons why people don't want to buy VSL products and you really haven't addressed that since a constant internet connection will seemingly be irritating to people. I'm not sure if it will be comparably irritating, but I'm sure it will be irritating to some none the less. 

It doesn't impact me because I'm not bothered by the dongle, but it makes it difficult to be an ambassador for your products because most people don't share my opinion when it comes to dongles.

Thanks for the clarification.

God Bless,

David 

I am still not stoked that I have to buy another dongle $$$. Not stoked at all. VSL should be selling these at a reduced price. They are not cheap. We the users are not benefitting from this move in the slightest. 46 euros is an expense that VSL should cover as it was not mentioned in any fine print anywhere that VSL reserves the right to change the entire licencing system at the expense and inconvenience of the customer with no actual benefit to the customer at all. Not stoked!.

Why no machine licencing. Why change at all? One dongle to another dongle is hardly progressing. I know I will get a reply saying "everything is going to be alright, don't worry we have it sorted". But do VSL have 46 euros they are willing to part with on my behalf and the rest of the VSL customers?. iLok are going to make an enormous amount of money out of this deal and we the users get shafted for 46 euros.

In the absence of detailed info on the topic, I'd tentatively guessed that this upcoming migration to a different licensing security system by both Steinberg and VSL was being driven entirely by Steinberg's new and rather secret strategy.

That is, until I found this little snippet in Steinberg's forum, dated May this year:

https://forums.steinberg.net/t/migration-from-elicenser-to-ilok/718648

So now it appears - please correct me if I'm wrong, VSL - that Steinberg and VSL are each going in their own direction on this matter.

And looking more broadly at opinions from user perspectives, I found this decent opinion-editorial by MusicTech sums it up nicely - for me at least:

https://www.musictech.net/features/opinion-analysis/steinberg-elicenser-whats-next/ 

So now I'm really puzzled by VSL's strategy of offering either iLok dongle or iLok Cloud but no machine activation. Much earlier in this thread, my take on VSL's move away from a dongle key was that it bodes well for VSL's future business. But now I'm not so sure about that - and I find it a bit depresssing. I'm certain I'm not alone in wanting VSL's customer base to keep expanding, since that can mean big benefits for both VSL and users. And I'd wager a substantial amount (indeed I'd probably bet the farm) that if we were able to poll a huge number of music tech users on their feelings about any dongle key, the majority would give it the thumbs down.

As for the idea of continuous Internet connection being required, I'm aware of the trend of ever more pushy and absurdly hyper-ambitious IT-centric corporations trying to "catheterise" the web into ever more punters (especially as we see happening in China). That's just another nasty, underhanded, slippery slope, and I don't believe they'll succeed in the long term. What may appear now as an unobtrusive and ever so helpful litle 'web catheter', might well eventually become more and more like 'enteral feeding' - somewhat like TV before Internet came to the rescue. But nowadays, fortunately, we've had Edward Snowden and others alerting us to the cynical, sociopathic, dark side of the web. Public resistance to the sly, underhand tricks will at some point become gigantic - perhaps even including colossal crowds with pitchforks and flaming torches turning up at various IT corporate HQs, lol. (Storming of the Bastille in 1789 was a weird historical glitch, out of the blue, right? Lolol.).

I don't see VSL as an IT-centric company at all; so why would they adopt the idea of the 'web catheter'? Who convinced them that that crock is a good idea and the way to go? Or is it perhaps just that there is no other viable off-the-shelf solution at present?

Being a user of Avid, Slate Drums, and UVI, I will prefer using the existing "zero downtime" service rather than paying for two different "protection" systems. Even though that I'll end up throwing out 4 eLicensers.

Though I do wish that there was an option for machine activation (like Adobe, DxO, CCC, Waves, etc.) -maybe there are piracy issues with this type of licensing. IDK...

Hello LPA, 

There is currently no way to use our products without a physical key, but that will change with the transition to iLok and the iLok cloud. 

Best, 
Paul