It seems to me that the whole point of this move is to get away from hardware licensers. I use Cubase and it will soon be rid of it's elicenser which is great for me as I have a new Macbook Air M1. If I have to have a dongle I might as well use the elicenser(s) I already have!

If user does not have ilok usb device, would you provide for those who own VEP6 with old eLicenser for free?

I have not yet tested it on my notebook, but to my knowledge you have a certan grace-time until you need to reconnect to the internet. You will get a warning as soon as the connection is lost, and this should give you enough time to save everything and fix your connection.

Right, so the cloud is not very useful then... Especially on WiFi.

Very interesting, thank you Paul. I suppose the only remaining question is how often does iLok need to connect to the cloud once you've open a project? Assuming I'm away from Wi-Fi on my laptop, I can always use my phone to tether a quick connection, but will I require it continuously during the work session and if so, how will this affect latency and similar issues?

All the best!

Activating TLC (Theft/Loss Coverage) on an iLok means to my understanding that all licenses on the iLok become temporary for 90 days from the last time the driver can contact the server while the iLok is connected. So if an iLok is stolen or abused it will only function for 90 days, after which the licences expire until they are re-activated by connecting to the server. This reassurance for the vendors allows Pace to issue new permanent licences to you, in addition to the short lived temporary licenses you get from ZDT (Zero Downtime) alone.

Originally Posted by: synchronizer

Originally Posted by: Tralen

Originally Posted by: synchronizer

What if you reformat your computer's harddrive or an OS update breaks something? Can a license on the cloud be recovered? There's no way to deregister a computer that's been "deleted" as far as I know, or is there?

As I understand, the reasoning behind opting for the cloud is exactly to avoid this situation. If the license is saved on the cloud, it doesn't need to be recovered.

I see.

Also, how easy is it to move between computers? It's useful to be able to run things on one computer at a time without having to transfer things manually.

I don't know if iLok works this way, but for other software that I use with cloud licenses, I just have to login with my email/password on the other machine (assuming the program is already installed, of course).

Originally Posted by: beatpete

It's a shame there's no machine licensing. Steinberg just announced it's upcoming licensing, basically you get a three moth license before you have to connect to the internet again, also it looks like they're offering a one year license as well. This is for TWO computers.

With VSL, I'll either have to be online 24/7 or still carry a bloody dongle around...I don't mind on my desktop but with my new Mac M1 it would be so nice to be dongle free!

I agree, Steinbergs upcoming licensing system seems superior to the ilok from a customer point of view. Still, ilok is pretty flexible compared to the e-licenser, and I assume ilok offers greater protection against piracy. My DAW is always connected to the internet, so I will probably opt for the cloud solution to get rid of all my dogles once and for all. I hate dongles marginally less than I love VSL's software and sample libraries. :)

It's a shame there's no machine licensing. Steinberg just announced it's upcoming licensing, basically you get a three moth license before you have to connect to the internet again, also it looks like they're offering a one year license as well. This is for TWO computers.

With VSL, I'll either have to be online 24/7 or still carry a bloody dongle around...I don't mind on my desktop but with my new Mac M1 it would be so nice to be dongle free!

Hello,

As Benzon said, the strings sound very nice but I also would be happy to know the migration date in order to dive into VSL for the first time. I'm actually considering the posibility of buying a VSL library without getting the Vienna Key at all and just let the product sleep on my computer until the ILok migration finally happens. But my second problem regarding the migration is related to USB Hubs.

Could someone help me choose a USB Hub thats friendly with ILok dongles?

I'm using a MacBook Pro (mid2012) with only two sockets (one for the audio interface and the other for the hub) and I read that a proper hub for these dongles would have to be a powered one. The thing is that I don't know which one will work and I'm aware that theres a lot of compatibility issues. I can't afford to buy the wrong one or having to go through a buy/return process because it would be very stressful and time consuming.

Of course the Cloud option can be useful but I still need the dongle for a stable workflow.

For years I've been irked and bewildered that VSL requires the physical dongle. But I figured, well, that's they way they set it up at some point long ago... and it's simply never gonna be a big enough priority to go back and change it. Restructuring the licensing handling would take too much work. Oh well, too bad for us users.

But now VSL is taking the time to restructure the licensing handling... and they're still choosing to stick with the physical dongle. Oooof.

Originally Posted by: musicman691

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.

Originally Posted by: Seventh Sam

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. 

'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?.

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

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!

Hi everybody, 

We'll keep you up to date right here, and of course you will also be informed via newsletter as soon as we are entering the transition phase!

@LAJ: "Lizenzdaten-Wildwuchs" is one of those german words that makes people afraid of our language .

Best,
Paul 

Hi Jack,

Yes, it's true: https://www.vsl.co.at/community/posts/t57384-Moving-from-eLicenser-to-iLok#post302591

Best, Ben