ilok - someone elses security system you pay for

[delphypop]

well it had to happen sooner or later than my ilok key that came with my hd3 rig would crap out, hell it's a piece of cheap plastic made in china. the usb plug is soldered weakly onto a circuit board with minimal support so if you're plugging and unplugging is going to get stressed sooner or later as it did with mine, the pins connecting the usb socket to the board came loose making an intemitent power problem.
ok, call the local digi agents, ring ring, "not our problem, u have to contact ilok via their website".
er, ok, I'll give it a go, visit the site, wiggle the ilok to get it going and hit syncronize to copy register what keys I have, simple, no? ok download software, try again, no? you have not installed necessary software, yes I did, I did it right then, ok, try restart, nope, re install, try again? nope? ok read FAQ try and figure out why not, way down the list, firewall may inhibit syncronise, oh, ok, well in this modern age of internet protection that would have been a good thing to have on the front page, firewall off, try again, you don't have a key plugged in, yes I do and its working cos I started up my rig and it loads all keyed software.
hmm, ok contact ilok help, oh, wai, $25 american to converse with ilok per online help problem.

now hang on a second here, I paid my money up front for this very expensive professional software, I accept the minor inconvenience of the ilok copy protection, but now I'm supposed to pay for the protection of someone else's property.
cool, maybe digi and ilok want to chip in for the security and alarm monitoring on my studio premises for my rig, if we're all sharing costs and responsibilities on this thing.

Digi, I can see you're need to protect your software from piracy, but the ilok system leaves a lot to be desired, and the protection of that software from piracy should not be the responsibility or at the expense of the customer. The scary fact that thousands of dollars of software is reliant on one small key, and the loss or damage of this key can shut you down for weeks and in extreme cases mean the lose of those thousands of dollars worth of software is mind boggling.

I don't know why I couldn't get my key to be synronised by the ilok site but it shouldn't cost me 25 bucks to figure it out, just so I could help digi out in the protection of their software.

I cracked open my key and re soldered the joints which has solved my problem for now, but its inevitable, that key is going to fail, and I'm going to have to pay for digis desire to protect their software that I paid for.

There's got to be a better solution than this.

[Touchwood Studios]

I think this issue has been dealt with over and over, It may not be perfect but its way better than Challange response or floppy key s disks. If your that worried about iloks "breakablitiy" and your worried about your "thousands of dollars" in software then shell out a lousy 25 bucks for zero downtime. if someting happens to it your up in no time at all. I had a problem with my Waves ilok not working on a Sunday morning and I had it up and running in under an hour.
It portable I can take it with me on an airpalne. If you can come up with a better solution then I would like to hear about it. But for me its an improvement over the past.

[PMoshay]

Dude, i just bought a new G5............I WISH ALL MY PLUG INS WERE ILOK!..........So does my laptop!
i have to spend hours getting re-auths for my challenges, what a waste of time!

If you do have a better way, lets hear it!
So far for me, iLok is great. I just wish every plug in company would subscribe to it.....

[NuBus]

Yes lets lead all Plugins like mindless cattle into the slaughter house!!!

[delphypop]

my beef is with me having to pay for their chosen system of anti piracy and copy protection. why am I paying $25 per question to ilok. why are my valuable software authorisations (and hence ownership) on a cheap made in china plastic key which will breakdown. Ilok is great until it breaks down, goes missing or is stolen, then its an "all your eggs in one basket" liability.
I don't have a better system, but then I'm not the one designing software for professional markets.
I would rather digi operated their own ilok thing and we had more direct connection with the people authorising our keys.
I think digi should administer a system for its keys and third party software that runs on its progarms, and should accept the costs for administering it, deal with issues and keep it all happy instead of shopping it out to some third party who uses anti piracy as a way to make money of the people that are actually paying for the software. I bought this stuff, why am I paying for its copy protection, and why is that copy protection getting in the way of me using this software.

[Rail Jon Rogut]

This has been discussed here to death -- do a search and read every opinion about it.. some agree with you and others don't... but you'll also find that

a) almost no one has been billed for product support for the iLok
b) you're supposed to insure your iLok as you would any asset

Rail

[delphypop]

If your that worried about iloks "breakablitiy" and your worried about your "thousands of dollars" in software then shell out a lousy 25 bucks for zero downtime.

one of my points was why am I paying for someone elses security. its not scurity for my rig, its security for their software, software I have already paid for.
with challenge response at least so long as I didn't lose the password my property was intact.floppy keys are of course completely obsolete, since most macs won't run floppy drives let alone come with them.
it was cool when floppy drives came as standard with comps but they don't now so rather than put the cost and responsiblity onto the buy another solution is needed.
I'm reading through the threads but still nothing has been done, and I'm commenting now, because now its my problem.
if you don't ask, you don't get.

also I have made some suggestions for possible alternatives.

[pomoone]

In theory what you are saying makes no sense. If you buy a pro tools rig is Digi responsible for it when it is at your studio? Ilok gives you the ability to transfer from one Ilok to another. If you knew the Ilok was going out on you then transfer the assets to another Ilok. If you have purchased a plug in then you would have to already authed and DL'ed the Ilok software. I am sure you double check your mic locker to make sure what you placed in there is still there, same with software assets. There is no better way to protect your assets then Ilok at this time. The cost is less then if you where to have your assets protected with an insurance company. Ilok is a third party. Digi only makes a small portion of the plug ins available to you. I don’t see how they should be responsible for other company’s assets.

[delphypop]

In theory what you are saying makes no sense. If you buy a pro tools rig is Digi responsible for it when it is at your studio?

I'm comparing the act of software piracy protection, (which is the responsiblity of the software creator and benefits the software creator only, yet with ilok it costs us the software user) to the protection of my property, which is my responsiblity, in a humourous way.
I don't for a second expect digi to contibute to the security of my poperty, so why am I expected to pay for the upkeep of the protection of their property, or third party software people etc. Not that I dislike digi, hey I love em for the fun their product gives me, just that I'm questioning the trend in their and others software protection.

Ilok gives you the ability to transfer from one Ilok to another. If you knew the Ilok was going out on you then transfer the assets to another Ilok.

I intend to, because I have to, but as mentioned in my post I could not syncronise my keys with the site and to find out why not I have to give my credit card details to be chaged $25 for online help. charming. also I'm up for $80 for a new key. sweet, the costs for the protection from piracy for the software creators just keep piling up.

If you have purchased a plug in then you would have to already authed and DL'ed the Ilok software.

nope, I purchased an HD3 rig and got simm card authorisation chips for virus, reverb one, samplecell and a few others. I've never had to visit the ilok site.

I am sure you double check your mic locker to make sure what you placed in there is still there, same with software assets. There is no better way to protect your assets then Ilok at this time. The cost is less then if you where to have your assets protected with an insurance company.

sigh, you're missing the point. Ilok doesn't protect MY assets. it protects software authors assets.
it offers no protection to me, it merely stops the programs from being freely pirated. I'm cool with that, I just don't thik I should have to pay for the privilage.

Ilok is a third party. Digi only makes a small portion of the plug ins available to you. I don’t see how they should be responsible for other company’s assets.

This is true, not all plugins using ilok are made by digi, I know this, but the third party they have farmed out the responsiblity for the administration of their piracy protection to used in combination with their platform (protools) is imposing costs to the buyers of the software, and the system keeps the cost ongoing. the key is going to fault and wear, there's no avoiding it, and each time it does your up for more costs. and when the web authorisation doesn't function as it should and you have to contact ilok, you're up for more expenses.
maybe question response authorising was a pain to install but atleast it didn't cost you to run it and keep it.

[Lee Blaske]

I think this issue has been dealt with over and over, It may not be perfect but its way better than Challange response

IMO, the challenge/response systems implemented by companies like Native Instruments and Spectrasonics are VASTLY better than the iLok. They work slick as a whistle. With those systems, you won't be stranded without use of your plug-ins if the iLok hardware fails. You don't have to fret about someone stealing your iLok if you're working outside of your home studio, and you don't have to jack up your annual insurance rates by needing to insure that little piece of plastic.

Lee Blaske