Clarification on Protools licenses that come with Carbon

[nst7]

I am getting ready to buy a Carbon, and I am still somewhat confused on the whole Protools license situation surrounding it, even after reading the updated (March 23) FAQ, possibly because it's changed over time.

So if I buy a new Carbon now, I know it comes with an Ultimate perpetual license. But I thought somewhere along the way it also came with an option for either regular Studio Protools, or an option to renew an existing perpetual license (1 year of support, etc.).

I believe that it originally came with just the regular license and/or renewal option. Then they added Ultimate as a special. Then they decided to include Ultimate permanently.

So now, do you ONLY get the Ultimate license, and that's it? Or is there still ALSO a separate serial number that can be used for renewals, or a second license, or a subscription, etc.?


So that's the first thing I'm wondering.


Secondly, I'd to be clear on the limitations of the Ultimate license that it comes with. I know it can't be sold, but is it for all intensive purposes just like a regular Ultimate license, so I can keep using it down the road with other interfaces (Avid or otherwise), even if I were to get rid of the Carbon hardware down the line?


Tying in with that, the FAQ mentions that the Ultimate license is deposited in your Avid account upon registering the Carbon. Is it a serial number? I assume that the license still needs to get on your Ilok somehow. How does that happen? Or is it some weird thing where the Carbon acts as a dongle, like back in the 002/003 days?

And finally, tying in with that, assuming it is Ilok based, how would it be differentiated between my existing Ultimate license that is also in my Ilok account? I would probably want to sell my existing Ultimate license, and I guess I would need to know how that is differentiated from the Carbon Ultimate license, so I don't accidentally attempt to sell the wrong one (which can not be sold).

Thanks guys!