Looks like Steinberg are finally to phase out dongles...

[Mixedup]

Here's the good news

[Luke W]

"It’s too early to announce details on the schedule or the new environment, but one thing is for sure: the future will be dongle-free."

It's going to be a subscription based licence isn't it...

[The Korff]

Not according to their statement from January:

[Kwackman]

Probably makes sense as they've had two bad episodes with their dongles recently.

[Luke W]

Not according to their statement from January:

That's reassuring, it seems that fewer and fewer companies are staying away from it these days. Not a Steinberg user currently but I'm interested to see what they go for.

[Eddy Deegan]

I would probably have bought Cubase a year or so ago but after seeing the problems other people were having with the dongles and the fact you couldn't even evaluate it without one, not to mention that I hate dongles anyway, I steered well clear.

I'm now happily using Studio One and have invested enough time, money and energy into it that I'm sticking with it (unless that ends up going to a subscription model only!) but it's good to see Steinberg dumping the dongle.

It makes you wonder just how much hassle it's caused their support in recent years. I read a couple of horror stories about license server outages causing all sorts of mayhem as well.

[The Elf]

I've had no major problems with Steinberg's dongles, though it's long been necessary to let the dongle software do a 'Maintenance' sweep on it following each major software update to avoid an error message on first start up. That catches many people out every time.

On the release of C11 it took ages for the licenser software to apply the update. I was fairly lucky and managed to sort it out in a few hours (and could keep running while I waited) - some people were stuck for a long time without access to their software. It got quite heated, so it's not surprising they'd be looking to an alternative future.

I gain a USB port - hoorah!

It's a pity iLok isn't the one about to disappear - that's the one for which I always have to grit my teeth. It's a pain every single time it's involved and installations never go smoothly. That's a grave I will throw a party on.

Hmmm... so I wonder what Steinberg's new solution will make of me having two dongles? 50% discount?...

[Luke W]

It's a pity iLok isn't the one about to disappear - that's the one where for which I always have to grit my teeth. It's a pain every single time it's involved and installations never go smoothly. That's a grave I will throw a party on.

I think I must be about the only person left on the planet who hasn't been messed around by iLok at some stage, I've always expected it and been ready to start moaning and it seems to go smoothly every time.

You know what's going to happen now I've said that...

[The Elf]

You know what's going to happen now I've said that...

[Drew Stephenson]

I was going to agree with you until I saw the Elf's post...

But I've always existed in the dongle-free realm of ilok.

[Eddy Deegan]

I was going to agree with you until I saw the Elf's post...

But I've always existed in the dongle-free realm of ilok.

Yeah, I have the dongle free version of iLok as the protection for my Eastwest Symphonic Choirs. Never had any issues at all with it, it just works.

I'm not a massive fan of iLok based on some very annoying earlier experiences with the dongle format, and I bought the plugin 13 years ago before I knew better, when it had a hardware dongle requirement.

That said, since rediscovering and reinstalling it a year or so ago and converting to the electronic version of iLok I've not even known that iLok is there which is a good thing.

[Agharta]

I have found the ilok cloud to be reliable.
If you swap out your CPU, do deactivate all your licences before you do so because your machine will be given a new system ID afterwards.
So those activations won’t be accessible any more and you can’t deactivate them yourself unless you reinstall the old CPU which gives you access to the old system ID.
Otherwise you will have to contact each vendor individually to ask if they will delete those activations as ilok can’t help you.

[The Elf]

Err... yeah. Simple innit?!

[Drew Stephenson]

Actually it is, as long as you do it in the right order. It's only complicated if you don't follow the instructions...

[The Elf]

How about: "Unplug dongle from old computer. Plug dongle into new computer".

Now those are simple instructions!

[Drew Stephenson]

And yet this whole thread is a celebration of the demise of dongles?

[muzines]

How about: "Unplug dongle from old computer. Plug dongle into new computer".

Now those are simple instructions!

Not so much on a computer that doesn't have USB A ports anymore...

I started writing out *actual* instructions, but with the various flavours of thunderbolt, USB 3 variants, USB C, and how to get a USB A dongle plugged in via those, and what you'd need to do it, I gave up.

I've been dongle free since '03' (actually, about 2008, by why let reality get in the way of a pithy rhyme! )

I have lost a few iLok HD activations when a strong Brownian Motion producer (say, a nice hot cup of tea), decided to prematurely send my computer irrecoverably to hard drive heaven, but companies generally provide more than 1 activation for software which helps avoid losing it completely, so I could still activate those licenses on a new computer...

[The Elf]

And yet this whole thread is a celebration of the demise of dongles?

I didn't say it was my choice. I'm not celebrating. I prefer a hardware dongle over machine authorisation every time - just not the iLok one, which is a PITA (there's absolutely no way I would trust machine auth for iLok!).

But I will get a USB port back - and that's good at least.

I hope a hardware dongle will continue to be an option, otherwise it's going to be problematical for me in some of the places where I work and take Dongle #2 along with me.

[The Elf]

How about: "Unplug dongle from old computer. Plug dongle into new computer".

Now those are simple instructions!

Not so much on a computer that doesn't have USB A ports anymore...

That would be a VERY silly computer!

[muzines]

That would be a VERY silly computer!

Welcome to life over here on the cutting edge of modern computing...

[The Elf]

That would be a VERY silly computer!

Welcome to life over here on the cutting edge of modern computing...

[OneWorld]

I must be the odd one out. I don't mind the dongle at all. I used to have problems with updates of existing software eg Cubase 6 to 7 to 10 and beyond but a quick email to Steinberg and they came back with "Delete the *.cel file" and things have been up and running in a jif. And secondly I have another install of Cubase on a laptop which I use as a transportable DAW, so I swap the dongle from one machine to the next. I have 5 licenses on the same dongle, which is another convenience - as long as I don't lose the thing!!!!!

[The Elf]

I must be the odd one out. I don't mind the dongle at all.

No you're not, as I mentioned above. I'm OK with the dongle - it makes things very easy for me. Un-plug from one machine, plug into the other. It doesn't get any simpler.

But if there's a positive to this we will at least get a USB port back.