How did this happen?

[Jeff]

I remember swearing off hardware dongles back in the mid-1990's, when
they seemed to become obsolete, and I assumed the idea had died a
rightful death. Now that I'm revisiting an interest in some plugins, I
see the idea is still alive and kicking, and a lot of big-name plugs
employ Pace's iLok system.

I recently suffered through IK's tedious online registration system (no
hardware), but it's hard for me to believe a better idea than an extra
piece of hardware junk sticking out and using up a port hasn't come
around in this day and age. Am I supposed to have one of these things
sticking out of my iPhone in the near future just to run software on it??

I think the most amazing part to me now is the customer is expected to
happily foot the bill (paying Pace for an iLok) to protect the plug
companies from piracy. I remember back in the day at least the company
provided the craptastic dongle.

Ok if you read this far, thanks for listening to my mini-rant; I feel
better.

Jeff

[Mike Rivers]

On 12/9/2010 10:43 PM, Jeff wrote:

> I recently suffered through IK's tedious online registration system (no
> hardware), but it's hard for me to believe a better idea than an extra
> piece of hardware junk sticking out and using up a port hasn't come
> around in this day and age. Am I supposed to have one of these things
> sticking out of my iPhone in the near future just to run software on it??

The solution is called "honesty" and there isn't enough of
it. If everyone paid for the software that they use, and
installed it in accordance with the software license, there
would be no reason to require a lock. But you can't change
human nature.

As I understand the iApps, there's only one way to get them
loaded on to your phone, and that's to download them from a
single place. Either it's free or you have to pay before you
download. My understanding is that if I have an app on my
phone there's no way for me to give it to you so you can
install it on your phone. If this isn't correct, please tell
me. But even if it's correct, I'm sure that crackers will
come up with a way to do it sooner than later.



--
"Today's production equipment is IT based and cannot be
operated without a passing knowledge of computing, although
it seems that it can be operated without a passing knowledge
of audio." - John Watkinson

http://mikeriversaudio.wordpress.com - useful and
interesting audio stuff

[Jeff]

In article >,
Mike Rivers > wrote:

> On 12/9/2010 10:43 PM, Jeff wrote:
>
> > I recently suffered through IK's tedious online registration system (no
> > hardware), but it's hard for me to believe a better idea than an extra
> > piece of hardware junk sticking out and using up a port hasn't come
> > around in this day and age. Am I supposed to have one of these things
> > sticking out of my iPhone in the near future just to run software on it??
>
> The solution is called "honesty" and there isn't enough of
> it. If everyone paid for the software that they use, and
> installed it in accordance with the software license, there
> would be no reason to require a lock. But you can't change
> human nature.
>
> As I understand the iApps, there's only one way to get them
> loaded on to your phone, and that's to download them from a
> single place. Either it's free or you have to pay before you
> download. My understanding is that if I have an app on my
> phone there's no way for me to give it to you so you can
> install it on your phone. If this isn't correct, please tell
> me. But even if it's correct, I'm sure that crackers will
> come up with a way to do it sooner than later.

Right, I guess the iApps system kind of actually figured something out
re. this problem. I still much prefer the tedious online registration
system a la IK than purchasing a physical piece of hardware though; in
this day and age we're moving everything to "the cloud" just for some
perspective on how archaic and abusive the iLok system seems to me.

Oh well, just got my iLok in the mail, ha. Maybe I can do without my
midi interface for awhile....

Jeff

[Sean Conolly]

"Jeff" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> Right, I guess the iApps system kind of actually figured something out
> re. this problem. I still much prefer the tedious online registration
> system a la IK than purchasing a physical piece of hardware though; in
> this day and age we're moving everything to "the cloud" just for some
> perspective on how archaic and abusive the iLok system seems to me.

Ah yes, 'the Cloud'. It's wonderful until your ISP has a problem, and then
you're screwed till they get it fixed. Not something I would like to depend
on for my job.

Sean