Goodbye to the eLicenser dongle (coming soon to a theatre near you)

[mhschmieder]

Apparently Steinberg is dropping the eLicenser dongle in favour of some other authorization scheme.

This has also resulted in Vienna Symphonic Library switching to the iLok, but they'll be supporting iLok Cloud as well as the iLok dongle.

A lot of people will be affected by this. The iLok holds more licenses, is faster and more reliable, less likely to break, and has better license protection.

Not only that, but once this switch is fully consolidated, we can free up a valuable USB slot for stuff that is connected to a USB hub (dongles don't like hubs).

[HCMarkus]

Just gotta' say, my dongles seem very happy attached to a gigantic 12 port hub... the hub (which stays powered on at all times) is problematic for other gear (it would crash my Cyberpower UPS), but the dongles are content.

Anybody need one of those Vienna dongles? I bought Ensemble Pro and the required dongle but never ended up using it, as DP's ability to host VIs improved substantially once pre-rendering was implemented.

[mhschmieder]

Someone said elsewhere that Steinberg is also moving to iLok; there was speculation earlier that they were switching to a different type of authentication. That statement has now been challenged, but it may be an issue of semantics, if Steinberg is allowing iLok Cloud so that a dongle isn't an absolute requirement (the original statement was that Steinberg is dropping dongles).

I ordered an iLok V3 from Sweetwater tonight, as my iLok V2 is full now, and I have a gazillion VSL licenses.

As with HC above, I can part with extra eLicensers and iLoks (V1 and V2) for anyone who needs them as a stop-gap. As I'm not charging anything for them, I hope it is not against forum policy to make this freebie offer for forum members.

Some people held off on VSL due to the eLicenser, but they promise that license transfer will be free and easy once the iLok system is set up for their libraries. So some people are looking for free dongles for now, so they can grab a few VSL libs knowing that they will soon be able to consolidate them to their existing iLok dongles.

So many vendors have left eLicenser over the years, that Steinberg and VSL were about the only ones left that still used it. This added to the reluctance of some people to consider products from vendors who use a dongle that takes up a precious USB slot but may not carry many licenses.

[nk_e]

Apparently Steinberg is dropping the eLicenser dongle in favour of some other authorization scheme.

This has also resulted in Vienna Symphonic Library switching to the iLok, but they'll be supporting iLok Cloud as well as the iLok dongle.

A lot of people will be affected by this. The iLok holds more licenses, is faster and more reliable, less likely to break, and has better license protection.

Not only that, but once this switch is fully consolidated, we can free up a valuable USB slot for stuff that is connected to a USB hub (dongles don't like hubs).

Hi.

Where did you see that they are moving to ilok? I think that would be great, as I have no issue with ilok. But the very last line of their announcement says flatly

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.

I know there is the ilok cloud, but the definitive nature of the statement will set them up for a raft of complaints from people about “bait and switch”. Seems like they would have softened the “will be” to “can be” or some such.

[mikehalloran]

They’ve been promising to replace eLicenser for three years, now. It will happen when it does, I suppose.

What’s next — deliver a working Download Assistant? They don’t bother responding to my support requests anymore, instead emailing me direct download links,

[bayswater]

Just gotta' say, my dongles seem very happy attached to a gigantic 12 port hub... the hub (which stays powered on at all times) is problematic for other gear (it would crash my Cyberpower UPS), but the dongles are content.

Same here. I've always had all the dongles on a cheap 7 port powered USB2 hub, and for a couple of years, that hub has been connected to the Mac via another 10 port powered USB 3 hub.

[mhschmieder]

I have edited my response to be less definitive and to offer an explanation for what might have been a matter of semantics.

I'm not sure if it's cool to link to other forums here, but the statement was made on a composer's forum and in turn that statement was sourced from a forum I've never heard of called The Front Page The Sound Board. And there, I read the source statement that wasn't even directly from Steinberg and which has semantic ambiguity.

So let's say we don't yet know for certain what Steinberg is replacing eLicenser with, but VSL is definitely moving to iLok and will support iLok Cloud.

There are pluses and minuses to moving any of our existing dongle-based iLok licenses to iLok Cloud from our dongles; some of mine automatically install in both forms so maybe that's the norm? I don't know; it changes now and then and some vendors don't allow conversion of license types.

[mikehalloran]

This is the official announcement — or non-announcement depending on how you look at it.

https://forums.steinberg.net/t/license- ... ead/701407

Dear customers,

For many of you this is the announcement you have been waiting for a long time. While we put our heart and soul into developing ground-breaking products in your best interests, we haven’t accomplished our promise to provide you with the user experience you deserve in every part of Steinberg’s technologies in recent time.

We have been listening to your feedback for years, but significant changes need time, and we had to carefully lay out our vision for the future. But now the time has come to put our approach to license management at the center of our attention.

We have decided to adopt a new license management technology that everyone will benefit from to prepare for coming requirements.

An authorization system shouldn’t get in your way, but support you in the onboarding process.
Anti-piracy protection technology shouldn’t restrict you as the customer, but secure your investment.
A license management shouldn’t stop you from using your products, but enable you to be creative, whenever and wherever you are.

At this point in time, all we can tell you is that everyone at Steinberg is strongly committed to providing you as soon as possible with a solution that offers more flexibility, more reliability and, of course, a seamless migration.

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.

The Steinberg Team

So, dongle-free? Ok.

Haven't accomplished our promise…

Yea, no kidding…