Given that eLicenser is gone anyway sooner or later, I think the change to iLok is a good move. Cloud will bring new customers who have for years asked that from different vendors.

However, there's one thing I don't see specified anywhere, not even in iLok site. Cloud requires constant internet connection and if it is lost, after few minutes there's supposed to be a nag about it. I'm wondering how often Cloud will check the connection? I'm interested in this because my net connection slows down and fails often, like every 30 minutes or more and can be down for a few minutes at any given time. Obviously this will be a problem if the connection is checked, say, every few seconds and I can't do anything in the meanwhile.

Does anybody have actual experience about this?

I'm Pretty sure that iLok will check the licence/connection every 3 or so minutes.

I really like VSL as a company BUT this whole machine licencing thing is sort of baffling to me. I understand that there is not going to be machine licencing. But I would like to know WHY there isn't going to be machine licencing. I personally, was under the impression that machine licencing was as secure as cloud/dongle licencing no?.

Hi JBuck, 

Machine licensing by no means offers the same level of security as the cloud and key. 

Best, 
Paul

iLok gives us expiring licences (TLC) that we must renew every 90 days. But they only offer this service if you are subscribed to ZDT for $30 USD a year.

They could give us TLC for free. It requires zero personnel and costs them nothing. Nice one iLok!

@JBuck said:

iLok gives us expiring licences (TLC) that we must renew every 90 days. But they only offer this service if you are subscribed to ZDT for $30 USD a year.

They could give us TLC for free. It requires zero personnel and costs them nothing. Nice one iLok!

That $30 US per year is the cheapest insurance you can ever buy for music related stuff. I wouldn't be without it. Or a second iLok. I have two iLoks and separate ZDT (zero downtime) on each one.

@Paul said:

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

Any idea when the transition will happen?

'Insurance' suggests that the licences will be replaced. This is not insurance. iLok requires that we submit an RMA request that will cost $49.95 USD plus shipping, outside of the 2 year warranty. Then they assess the broken iLok to determine whether the licences can be recovered and if not, we need to then contact VSL and tell them. If our iLok is lost/stolen then just skip straight to the last step. That's when VSL tell us that we need to pay 50% of the original price of the licences.

What we get for $30 USD is temporary 2 week licences while we freak out about having to pay VSL thousands of euros AGAIN. 

So the real insurance is the TLC which is just licences that expire every 90 days. which would still potentially leave us without the ability to use our products for 75 days. And why should that cost us $30 USD a year?.

@JBuck said:

'Insurance' suggests that the licences will be replaced. This is not insurance. iLok requires that we submit an RMA request that will cost $49.95 USD plus shipping, outside of the 2 year warranty. Then they assess the broken iLok to determine whether the licences can be recovered and if not, we need to then contact VSL and tell them. If our iLok is lost/stolen then just skip straight to the last step. That's when VSL tell us that we need to pay 50% of the original price of the licences.

What we get for $30 USD is temporary 2 week licences while we freak out about having to pay VSL thousands of euros AGAIN. 

So the real insurance is the TLC which is just licences that expire every 90 days. which would still potentially leave us without the ability to use our products for 75 days. And why should that cost us $30 USD a year?.

ZDT is just that - you can immediately get back to work while waiting for your RMA to be processed. To me that's worth the $30/year.

@Another User said:

So the real insurance is the TLC which is just licences that expire every 90 days. which would still potentially leave us without the ability to use our products for 75 days. And why should that cost us $30 USD a year?.

I'm not sure where you're getting the "unable to use products for 75 days" part?  As far as I can see, all one has to do is hit the "Refresh" button within a 90 day period.  Once refreshed, the 90 day period resets.  Kind of like an oil change.  Or am I missing something?

Paul, Ben, or any other VSL rep:

To prevent confusion and/or panic, can you please clarify the following:

1. According to the iLok website, having ZDT enabled allows us temporary licenses, regardless of whether or not the dongle is broken or lost/stolen.  So far, so good.  Having TLC enabled, according to their website, means that PACE is then authorized by the publisher of the licenses to replace the broken/lost/stolen licenses permanently, with no charge (other than the RMA fees and whatnot) to a spare or replacement iLok without needing to contact the publisher (in this case, you.)  Is this a correct assessment?  Or, to put it another way, if we have ZDT and TLC enabled, are we guaranteed to be able to permanently replace any and all VSL licenses in the event of breakage, loss, or theft?
2. Is there any foreseeable situation in which we, as JBuck put it, will have to pay 50% for our VSL replacement licenses?  If so, why?  And, how do we avoid that?

Looking forward to hearing from you,

- Sam

@Seventh Sam said:

I'm not sure where you're getting the "unable to use products for 75 days" part?

If you refresh your licences on the 1st of Nov, you lose your dongle on the 2nd Nov, ZDT licences are issued on 3rd Nov which last until the 17th Nov. For the 90 days to lapse until the licences on the lost/stolen dongle are void and thus can be activated on your new dongle, you will have to wait until at least 1st of February. 

Hello gentlemen,

It is all very clear on iLoks information pages, and there's nothing I can add to their description.
You can also check out the iLok support page with a lot of FAQs.

When using an iLok key, ZDT and TLC on an iLok 3 is the best combination to keep the licenses on your iLok safe and definitely worth the investment.
Moving your licenses to the cloud when you are traveling (or not working) is another option.
Using the cloud without the key is another option.

We have not published any numbers regarding the cost of replacement licenses on a lost/stolen iLok key yet.
With eLicenser, the cost was 50% of the full price of the replacement license.
It is easy to prevent these costs if you are a "mobile musician" and in danger of losing the key, with the Vienna Protection Plan that is still available at this point.

Best,
Paul

@Seventh Sam said:

I'm not sure where you're getting the "unable to use products for 75 days" part?

If you refresh your licences on the 1st of Nov, you lose your dongle on the 2nd Nov, ZDT licences are issued on 3rd Nov which last until the 17th Nov. For the 90 days to lapse until the licences on the lost/stolen dongle are void and thus can be activated on your new dongle, you will have to wait until at least 1st of February. 

Don't know where you get the idea that you have to wait for the 90 days to be up before being activated on the new dongle. The only thing the 90 days refers to is that to keep TLC coverage going you have to let the iLok site see your dongle every 90 days which can be done on any computer with the ILM s/w. Has nothing to do with licenses being voided.

[/quote]Don't know where you get the idea that you have to wait for the 90 days to be up before being activated on the new dongle. The only thing the 90 days refers to is that to keep TLC coverage going you have to let the iLok site see your dongle every 90 days which can be done on any computer with the ILM s/w. Has nothing to do with licenses being voided.[/quote]

Please show me where on their site it says

"In the case of loss or theft of your ZDT and LTC enabled dongle, we will immediately provide you with replacement licences which can be placed on a new iLok key or simply use the cloud. Have a nice day :)".

Please show me where on their site it says,

"In the case of loss or theft of your ZDT and LTC enabled dongle, we will immediately provide you with replacement licences which can be placed on a new iLok key or simply use the cloud. Have a nice day :)".

Hi,

Here you go.

Best,
Paul

@Paul said:

It is all very clear on iLoks information pages, and there's nothing I can add to their description. You can also check out the iLok support page with a lot of FAQs.

When using an iLok key, ZDT and TLC on an iLok 3 is the best combination to keep the licenses on your iLok safe and definitely worth the investment.

After poring through the iLok support pages with a (hopefully) fine-tooth comb, this checks out.  ZDT+TLC appears to be the functional equivalent of the Vienna Protection Plan in terms of assurance of free replacement licenses in the case of breakage, theft, or loss.  

Thanks, Paul.  Panic averted.

@JBuck said:

Please show me where on their site it says,

"In the case of loss or theft of your ZDT and LTC enabled dongle, we will immediately provide you with replacement licences which can be placed on a new iLok key or simply use the cloud. Have a nice day :)".

This is pretty unequivocal

@musicman691 said:

Don't know where you get the idea that you have to wait for the 90 days to be up before being activated on the new dongle. The only thing the 90 days refers to is that to keep TLC coverage going you have to let the iLok site see your dongle every 90 days which can be done on any computer with the ILM s/w. Has nothing to do with licenses being voided.

This was my take-away as well.  Everything on their website indicates that a new dongle requires brand new ZDT+TLC, which - by definition - necessitates a new 90-day refresh period be instantiated.  It doesn't make any sense that a new dongle would be subject to an old, voided dongle's 90 day cycle.

@musicman691 said:

Don't know where you get the idea that you have to wait for the 90 days to be up before being activated on the new dongle. The only thing the 90 days refers to is that to keep TLC coverage going you have to let the iLok site see your dongle every 90 days which can be done on any computer with the ILM s/w. Has nothing to do with licenses being voided.

This was my take-away as well.  Everything on their website indicates that a new dongle requires brand new ZDT+TLC, which - by definition - necessitates a new 90-day refresh period be instantiated.  It doesn't make any sense that a new dongle would be subject to an old, voided dongle's 90 day cycle.

There's nothing on the iLok site that a new dongle requires brand new ZDT/TLC. ZDT/TLC is completely optional for one's ilok. The new iLok is NOT subject to any old 90 day cycle. You may be confused in that each iLok has to have it's own ZDT (if you want it to). You don't have to have ZDT on a new/replacement iLok. An old iLok's ZDT does not carry over to a new iLok. Each iLok is a separate entity.

For Instance I have two iLoks. Each has their own ZDT setup. I don't have to have ZDT on the second iLok but I choose to be safe and have both covered. That way if I have an iLok that seems to be flaky I can move the licenses over to the other one with no problem.

I've been dealing with iLoks for almost a decade now and know what's what.

@musicman691 said:

There's nothing on the iLok site that a new dongle requires brand new ZDT/TLC. ZDT/TLC is completely optional for one's ilok. The new iLok is NOT subject to any old 90 day cycle. You may be confused in that each iLok has to have it's own ZDT (if you want it to). You don't have to have ZDT on a new/replacement iLok. An old iLok's ZDT does not carry over to a new iLok. Each iLok is a separate entity.

Right, we're on the same page.  I was hasty with my wording.  What I meant was that if you want ZDT/TLC on a different iLok, it requires a new ZDT and/or TLC, thus necessitating a new 90 day refresh cycle that has nothing to do with an old iLok's 90 day refresh cycle.  I do appreciate the clarification (and I'm sure others reading along this thread do as well); it's re-assuring and helpful.