Hello Nicholas, 

Sorry to hear that you didn´t receive my many reply emails (I was writing to you several times in may 2016....). 

Did you check your SPAM folder? Could you use a different email address (I was contacting you on your registered email address)?

Best,
Paul

Hello Nicholas, 

As this is a specific request, it makes more sense to handle this request via , maybe you can simply contact me from another email address. 

Best, 
Paul

Hi Nick, 

Just another check whether you have received my reply....

Best, 
Paul

I completely understand your frustration and I think that the whole dongle-thing could be implemented in a different way - more satisfying/with more security for the customer and with the same effect for the companies (and this counts for all companies using dongles with their products). I want to stress that I haven't run into problems myself so far, though. (Horror stories concerning iLok among other things caused me to turn away from EastWest and to eventually land here, actually.)

Without knowing the exact situation of yours and without judging whether VSL is treating you right in this case, I feel like pointing out (and I'm not happy about it) that losing the licenser (containing a license) is quite a different case to losing the files only (hardcrash) while still owning the license or having the licenser damaged etc.

Not judging. And I'm outta here! Peace.

PS.: Mods, feel free to delete this, if it stirs any fights - this would definitely not have been my intention.

Originally Posted by: SigiZ58

I own elicenser and Cubase Pro. And I am happy, that Steinberg will replace my licenses, when the dongle gets lost, stolen or broken. They register the dongle key and the software license. So when you lose the key, there will be only cancelled the elicencer and you get a new activation code for your software that you can register to a new dongle.

If you purchase a new dongle every two years and transfer your licenses to the new dongle then malfunctions should be covered.  Just send the bad dongle in and ask for some demo licenses to keep you going until they can get things sorted out.  Only malfunctions will be covered, not lost or stolen, and you better believe that they are going to scrutinize that bad dongle to be sure that it didn't malfunction due to negligence on your part i.e. you used it to scrape ice off your car windshield on a cold morning, chew toy for the puppies, etc.

All the veteran forumites know that this is a real sore subject around here (search the forum for more details).  So the best way to keep yourself covered is to buy a new dongle every two years and transfer the licenses then think about getting some insurance (again, search the forum for more details) depending on how much you have invested in this.  Nuff said!

Originally Posted by: SigiZ58

Originally Posted by: jasensmith

If you purchase a new dongle every two years and transfer your licenses to the new dongle then malfunctions should be covered.  Just send the bad dongle in and ask for some demo licenses to keep you going until they can get things sorted out.  Only malfunctions will be covered, not lost or stolen, and you better believe that they are going to scrutinize that bad dongle to be sure that it didn't malfunction due to negligence on your part i.e. you used it to scrape ice off your car windshield on a cold morning, chew toy for the puppies, etc.

All the veteran forumites know that this is a real sore subject around here (search the forum for more details).  So the best way to keep yourself covered is to buy a new dongle every two years and transfer the licenses then think about getting some insurance (again, search the forum for more details) depending on how much you have invested in this.  Nuff said!

Hi,

 do not know, where you live, but in Europe here (Germany, Switzerland) such insurances do not exist. Not for software licenses. But I would not do that, in any case. 

 Of course I have always several spare e-licensers :-) I am a bit on the careful side, even I never had any problems until now -knock-knock-knock-,

Independent from that, Steinberg in Europe replaces licenses on broken, stolen or lost e-licencers.

Have a look here if you do not believe.:

http://www.steinberg.net/de/support/steinbergzerodowntime.html

Requirement is only that you have to register your elicensere there. And of course, this should not happen too frequently. But it is simple.  First you get temporary licenses, then they blacklist the broken/stolen/lost elicenser, finally you get new activation keys for your licenses and voila.

Have a nice day.

I have read through and it looks like Steinberg will only replace their own licences, not other companies'.

"Replacements for licenses from other companies that were also stored on the defective/lost/stolen USB-eLicenser are provided directly from the corresponding manufacturer."

Which I interpret as meaning you would still have to pay 50% of all the licences you owned already.

The whole thing stinks to be honest and if this happened/happens to me, I will leave VSL behind and opt for EW composer cloud, Orchestral Tools or Spitfire.

That is coming from someone who owns about 90% of VSL's products.

Most of the other prominent sample devs don't hinge composers' livelyhoods on a tiny piece of plastic. Maybe VSL should wake up to 2016.

So I went shopping around for insurance options for my eLicencer and VSL software. So far I have been turned away from 2 insurance companies.

Seriously.

I am another user who lost his dongle. I want to say that ALL the other companies I use were sympathetic and I have my licences restored. I also wrote in and then was  told I was to be charged 50% to cover 'costs', I do not think this is acceptable that such an innovative company should behave this way. When I objected Vienna simply dropped communication with me.  For some reason, when changing motherbards I have East West licences disappear too. They performed a few checks on me and replaced without a grumble. On another occassion Native Instruments licence for part of Kontakt disappeared - one phone call sorted this out. Spectrasonics licences also disappeared during a rebuild - they were also restored.

I want Vienna to know that your products are very good but also very expensive (overpriced  IMO) you leave a very nasty taste in your customers mouth when you behave in this way. Although I do like the quality of your products, would it not be better to spend my money on HollyWood or any other library of which there are now many, if I had the money to spend on 'restoring' my licence?

I just bought a lot of orchestral packages and my main reason for not buying VSL was because opf their customer service on this matter. Many professionals work in environments where a dongle can be stolen or fo missing. Other substaintial companies don't use them - Spectrasonics, Native Instruments, Spitfire and more. 

This way if I lost my dongle again, it would not be a show stopper. Basically this is a shameful way to act VSL. There ARE solutions other companies use them. 

Meanwhile I cannot use my product that I  legitimately paid for

Sadly I expect to be ignored on this view no way to treat your legitimate customers

Z

Originally Posted by: jasensmith

So the best way to keep yourself covered is to buy a new dongle every two years and transfer the licenses then think about getting some insurance (again, search the forum for more details) depending on how much you have invested in this.  Nuff said!

Okay, I guess not

As Mr. Hula said, VSL has to pay for those licenses too.  I don't know how much they have to pay but evidently they have to pay enough to charge you 50%.  Yes! it sucks.  But it sucks for everybody.  If you loose your key why should VSL have to pay for all those licenses and if they pay for yours then they have to pay for everybody else too.

Why the other players in this game like Eastwest have more generous terms with these licensing companies I don't know that either. 

Could VSL do more to warn their customers about the consequences of losing a Vienna key?  Maybe so.  I think at least a bright red warning sticker on the box that the key comes in might help.  Admittedly I didn't realize how important that key was until somebody asked about it on the forum one day but I had never dealt with dongles before.

As for insurance, I think the question the insurance companies would ask is are you a professional composer who needs these software products as part of your livelyhood or are you just a hobbyist, a weekend warrior?  If you're a hobbyist then you're a greater risk and I imagine you would have a hard time finding insurance.  But if you run a studio and you need this software to operate your business you might have better luck because you're more likely to take care of it.

As for me, I have a small business and works out of my home so my licenses are semi-insured through my homeowners insurance.  As long as it doesn't leave my home or my studio I'm covered.  If my home is burglarized or the key is lost due to a disaster (fire, flood, etc.) I'm covered.  It went throught the washer and dryer because I left it in my pants pocket, I'm screwed.  I lost it while on vacation, I'm screwed.