Why the iLok hate?

[dblock]

My computers haven't outlived my iloks. I've had ilok since 2005. Got ilok2 when it came out. It sits in my usb port.Never had problems with them. I never let an ilok stand between me and a plugin I really want because I have to plug it in. My whole studio is plugged in.

[e@rs]

My ilok broke a few days ago

Now, it has to be sent to USA, estimated shipping is 50 dollars (one way), transferring my licenses to a new (free) ilok costs 49 dollars.

And I can only pay with credit card, which I don´t have

Ouch! You got many licenses on the broken f***er?

[TheKid]

The math is pretty simple for me:
iLok USB dongle broken/stolen = you pay.
Drive with iLok software is broken/stolen = you pay.

And you have to hope and beg for new licenses at each and every publisher you bought stuff from. And always remember: you pay for the dongle and you pay for the dev who implements iLok. And for Zero Downtime you also pay anually. That's a no go for me. PACE/iLok is not necessary. Or why do companies like NI, IK Multimedia, Fabfilter, u-he, LennarDigital et al still exist although their stuff is cracked? I'm not here to defend piracy, not at all. iLok isn't copy protection, it protects the developers from new customers.

My recipe for success: start making good products with a good support (and non-instrusive copy protection). Make your business THAT good so people have a bad conscience to use your stuff for free. It seems to work with Steve Duda of Xfer Records, Urs from u-he, Tony from Klanghelm, Andy of Cytomic, Sean from Valhalla DSP and the rest I forgot. They live and breath their products. And a lot of people out there want these guys to succeed and want new innovative products. And many, many people buy their stuff for exactly that reason and don't use cracked software.

[bite_me]

Ouch! You got many licenses on the broken f***er?

My Soundtoys5 bundle, Ravenscroft Piano and UVI stuff...

[Halonmusic]

I hate iLok because i hate everything

[chk071]

That's the spirit.

[e@rs]

Ouch! You got many licenses on the broken f***er?

My Soundtoys5 bundle, Ravenscroft Piano and UVI stuff...

Could have been worse, but it still sucks as it is. I feel your pain.

Pace should've paid for all that was needed to replace it, not the user.

[fmr]

Pace should've paid for all that was needed to replace it, not the user.

I went through all this before. And what's worse, my key was still under the 2-year warranty. That's what I meant when I wrote that Pace doesn't honor their guarantees. They replaced the licenses for free in my account when they received the broken key, but not only did I have to pay to send the key to them, I was asked to pay for the shipment of the replacement key (which would be more than the price of a new key). Of course, I refused and simply bought a new one.

[e@rs]

Pace should've paid for all that was needed to replace it, not the user.

I went through all this before. And what's worse, my key was still under the 2-year warranty. That's what I meant when I wrote that Pace doesn't honor their guarantees. They replaced the licenses for free in my account when they received the broken key, but not only did I have to pay to send the key to them, I was asked to pay for the shipment of the replacement key (which would be more than the price of a new key).

Of course, I refused and simply bought a new one.

[M.O.R.K.]

I have to say thanks, this thread has been really interesting and surprisingly almost flame free . I didn‘t know that issues with broken keys were handled that poorly by the support. Now it‘s too late for me, I‘m bought in to deep, but I get it know why lots of people want to stay away. Thanks again, „mystery“ solved!

Cheers
Mork

[original flipper]

Hi

I will not voice my opinion on iLOK but I can see that professionals like them for mobility reasons - although it isn't exactly difficult to have your serial/keyfile software on a dongle and install it on any other computer either.

The crux of the matter is there is some nice software out there that utilises such protection and you either accept that (and purchase it) or you don't.

[chk071]

And if everyone would be like you, we wouldn't even have to hold shitty political discussions over copy protections anymore. Pointless political discussions, which won't change a thing anyway, opposed to just keeping your wallet in the pocket.

[JunSev]

The user always has the freedom to express themselves, without expression there never will be change, the companies never will understand the frustration and the desolation when we can't trust this disgusting sort of copy protection scheme, and the user never ever will have keys and product, will be dependent of companies and that is a bad example.

Those are things that simply can't be left out and we have to talk about, for better improvement in software companies and better alternatives to the user.

[audiojunkie]

Well there are many reasons why many of us complain about Ilok/Pace, although don't get me wrong, I don't hate any company, is just the fact that everything that Ilok represent is disgusting in everything at such point that I can't support anymore companies that implement that Copy protection scheme; so to respond from my part why I don't like Ilok:

● You actually don't have keys or license, the license is owned from Ilok and you're dependent of Ilok/Pace. This means that if the company from where you got certain softwares died (as many times has occurred) you have limited or really a big deal cause your PC or laptop could die, and yes "your" license is gone and forget about recovery, is lost. could you just imagine how many companies disappear? Ilok is not a secure way to keep safe "your" licenses. even if the official company help you recover the liscence, still you are dependent of the promise of the company like: you only have the software if I'm still alive (is never guaranteed really, it can dissappear anytime).

● If you want additional protection because they messed up things, pay an additional fee constantly. so this is other way to secure your "liscences", in case your pc or laptop is stolen or died or whatever. I don't know how to call this really, because accident happens always, but the fact that I'm bound to pay additional fee for protection to "my liscences" is a bad practice. your liscences are limited and nothing will guarantee that in the next 5, 10 or 20 years your pc never will fail (imagine updates, accidents...). where for instance when you have your key from the company you could save it in case of problems like that in a external hard drive or your devices as long as you're the only owner.

So you can see why the way of how a copy protection schemes could affect the decision of many people including myself. What we really want to feel is that we are paying for our products and those products are not dependent of a system like this, that we can keep those key safe and we are not dependent of Ilok/Pace. we really have the product in this way, no with Ilok.

To put it succinctly, read my tag line.

[e@rs]

To put it succinctly, read my tag line.

C/R, dongles & other intrusive copy protection equals less-control & more-hassle for consumers. Company gone-can’t authorize. Limit to # of auths. Instability-ie PACE. Forced internet auths. THE HONEST ARE HASSLED, NOT THE PIRATES.

My impression as well. That's why when a new software appears, my first interest is what's its copy protection. And then act accordingly: demo or avoid no matter how incredible people say it is.