Dongles. My thoughts. What are yours?

[m127]

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[Lee Flier]

Yeah, I hear you - it irks me that people who pay for software are punished by the inconvenience of using a dongle, while people who want to steal software get dongle free cracks anyway, so it doesn't inconvenience THEM any.

 

Dongles also can break or get lost, particularly if you move them around between computers a fair bit.

 

So I'm with you - I don't buy anything that requires a dongle.

[Alndln2]

The only "dongled" software I own is the Line 6 Toneport. The box is not only a dongle, but has outputs so I can use outboard gear to beef up or change the overall sound, so it's a little more useful than a standard dongle. The only reason I have this is because a friend offered it to me in exchange for servicing his PC DAW. Otherwise I don't pay for dongled software. I do have to say though, that challenge and response can be just as fragile if a company goes out of buisness in some cases. I prefer serial only if I can help it.

[ggm1960]

There's enough great software available that I've bought without having to dingle with a dangling dongle that I see no need to mess with one of those and I always make sure the software I buy doesn't require one.

 

Besides if I was stupid enough to want to give away software I paid $500+ for I'm certainly too stupid to be using that software to begin with.

 

As Alndln2 says, the Toneport (KB37 in my case) can be considered somewhat of a dongle, however, it's a pretty good piece of hardware in it's own right although it would be nice if I could use that fantastic GearBox tuner without having the KB37 attached (I don't take that unit to gigs).

[nerol1st]

I'll agree with you on some of your points. Dongles should be free (although I feel sw companies would just sneak it into the cost of the software). The ilok is also VERY poorly constructed and hogs a couple of use ports because of it's design.

 

But I like cubase so I'm stuck having there cheap dongle (that has broken once, luckly it was just the case).

 

I also like the plug ins I bought so I do have an ilok as well and although I think it's slightly better built than the cubase one it is a little unsettling having over $700 of sw licenses on a cheap piece of plastic.

 

Lets see, I also have a tonport UX2 and mbox 2. I suppose you could consider those dongles per say.

 

I'm not anti dongle though, I like being able to transport plugs without the headache of having to authorize them on other machines (especially when I am a guest at another studio). I would rather copy my plug in folder and take everything with me without that issue.

 

 

What I would love to see is the companies that make these things not cheap out so bad, I would like to see a solid metal enclosure so even if god forbid I accidentally break it, it's still intact enough to prove I own the license. I wouldn't care if this was in the form of a box with a breakout usb cable or whatever, just as long as it doesn't feel like a piece of {censored} or look like a cheapo flash drive key.

 

The current policy with dongle software (basically only referring to Stienberg) is horrendous, that being that if your hardware license craps out your out of luck. I will state publicly (and have before) that if they make (doubt it) a dongle emulator for OSX that runs Cubase 5, my dongle will go into a fire safe and that will become the new method of running software.

[Alndln2]

I like being able to transport plugs without the headache of having to authorize them on other machines.

A good and valid point. A handful of companies as of late offer the choice of either dongle or challenge & response depending on the users needs. I'd like to see more of that as one shoe doesn't fit all.

[nerol1st]

Yes I agree. When I saw the option of putting my melodyne licience on my ilok I went ahead and did it.

[amplayer]

I hate dongles for the reasons mentioned by many above.

I do, however, have a couple of them. I wish the manufacturers didn't require them, and I'm annoyed when they do. Some software is worth having even if I have to deal with the dongle though.

On a sour note, I noticed the new propellerheads Record requires a dongle. Since that software isn't that compelling to me, I may actually not buy it because of the dongle.

[ggm1960]

I noticed the new propellerheads Record requires a dongle. Since that software isn't that compelling to me, I may actually not buy it because of the dongle.

 

 

I hadn't looked at it enough to know that, however, now that I do I can stop looking.

That's another thing, magazines need to post that information right up front. Sometimes they do but other times not. If I can know this right from the start I can know whether or not to waste my time reading a review.

[UstadKhanAli]

I have iLok for Waves because I wanted to be able to open my old sessions that used Waves. Other than that, I don't have anything that requires a dongle.

[amplayer]

I voted "I don't care ...". However, I DO CARE. It's just that there is some software that I use that requires it, and so I buy it even though the dongle ticks me off. Like Ken, for me, Waves is one such culprit. I also have EastWest Play libraries that require it as well.

[UstadKhanAli]

I voted "I don't care ...". However, I DO CARE. It's just that there is some software that I use that requires it, and so I buy it even though the dongle ticks me off. Like Ken, for me, Waves is one such culprit. I also have EastWest Play libraries that require it as well.

 

That's right...I'd really rather not have it, and try to avoid it, but at the same time, I really wanted to continue using Waves and be able to open previous sessions that used Waves...which is ALL of them!!

[Kerouac]

I voted "I don't care ...". However, I DO CARE. It's just that there is some software that I use that requires it, and so I buy it even though the dongle ticks me off. Like Ken, for me, Waves is one such culprit. I also have EastWest Play libraries that require it as well.

 

I have the old EastWest, Kontakt Compatible libraries. The combination of PLAY and having to use a dongle ensures that I won't purchase any further products from them.

[Phil O'Keefe]

I've got an iLok and Cubase dongle, as well as a Mbox 2 Mini and a HD2 Accel system; both of which could be considered as "dongles" since the software won't run without them connected. Oh, and I have an old Logic PC dongle too, although I have not used that in ages.

 

Dongles are, as many of you already mentioned, a PITB.

 

My main DAW is running on a PC. My laptop is a Mac. I have not even checked into it yet, but my suspicion is that I can't just take my PC's iLok and plug it into my Mac when I want to use my plugins "on the go". Again, I don't know, but I suspect I'll have to buy another iLok, and possibly additional licenses if I want to use those on the Mac.

 

USB ports really are an issue - especially for laptop users. My Mbox Mini isn't supposed to be connected to a USB hub - even a "powered" hub, so it has to use one of my two USB sockets on my Mac. If a dongle requires its own hub, then that's it - there's no place left to connect my Oxygen 8 V2, my mouse or my iPhone - all of which I normally connect via a hub.

 

I can understand why software companies go with dongles. I generally prefer them over challenge / response; if for no other reason that if the company that uses challenge / response goes under, you're out of luck if you ever need to re-authorize the software... but I still am not happy with some of the hassles involved with dongles.

[Geoff Grace]

As I am fond of saying, copy protected software is booby trapped software.

 

Dongles are just another way to booby trap software. From a customer standpoint, they are better and worse than other booby traps. For example when a dongle breaks, it's usually harder to get back up and running than when challenge/response fails. On the other hand, if you have to reformat your drive, then your dongle controlled software will be good to go right away after restoring your drive; but the challenge/response booby trap is usually triggered by a reformat, wasting even more time before you can access to your software.

 

I don't mind functioning hardware that doubles as a dongle -- like a Digidesign interface or an Apple computer -- but I dislike flimsy, little pieces of plastic that add no functionality and can be easily lost, stolen, or broken.

 

Best,

 

Geoff

[nerol1st]

Phil.

 

The glorious thing about dongles is the lecenece is read the same by both mac and pc somehow. As long as you have the drivers installed on windows for the ilok it will work for whatever plugs it's attached to.

 

So no, you do not need another ilok with other licenses. As long as the plug ins the ilok is associated with are both mac and pc, you only need to take your ilok with you.