When you buy music software, you're not paying for a physical object, but a licence that resides on a small plastic key. How can you protect your investment, and what happens if something goes wrong? Probably the most widely used dongle in the audio world, Pace's iLok can house over 100 separate licences from a variety of developers.With software piracy so rife in today's world, many developers feel they have no choice but to protect their products with a hardware device. This usually takes the form of a dongle or 'Smart Key', which plugs into a computer port and controls access to one or more software applications. Like most copy-protection measures, dongles can make life more difficult for legitimate users, and haven't eliminated the availability of 'cracks', but they certainly have advantages over alternative systems. Unlike challenge–and–response protection, for instance, dongles allow you to install software on multiple machines, or upgrade to a new computer fairly easily.
Dongles also survive intact through most computer hardware problems and failures, are immune to problems caused by by software updates, can be hot swapped between different rigs, and you can take them with you when travelling, so you can use your favourite plug-ins when working on location projects. They also allow you to demo protected commercial software for a specific time period or number of uses. However, the single most important fact about dongles, and one which many musicians overlook, is that the product licences they contain represent the entire value of those products.
Rolex pocket watch serial number database. Even if you've registered dongle–protected software on the developer's web site, if your dongle gets lost or stolen you'll often have to buy that software again. With that in mind, let's explore dongle management, transfer of licences, security and insurance, so that your investment is as safe as possible. Syncrosoft's dongles are very familiar to Steinberg customers, among others, but the newer, shorter version (shown here on the left) may prove more responsive in some applications than the pre-2004 version (on the right).
USB-eLicenser (Steinberg Key) Access to professional audio software by Steinberg. The USB-eLicenser — also referred to as Steinberg Key or dongle — is a copy protection unit required by most Steinberg software products. Instructions explaining how to register your Steinberg USB eLicenser.
The iLok USB smart key from California–based Pace Anti-Piracy () is probably the most widely used by audio software developers, among them Antares, Audioease, Bomb Factory, Celemony, Digidesign, DUY, EastWest, GRM Tools, Izotope, McDSP, MOTU, Muse Research, PSP Audioware, Serato, Sonnox Oxford, TC Electronic, Waves and Way Out Ware. One reason for its popularity is that the iLok was the first dongle to support multiple licences on the same device (it can hold 'over 100' cross-platform authorisations from multiple vendors). Many of the companies mentioned above use iLok as their exclusive protection method, although a few, such as PSP Audioware and Way Out Ware, provide challenge/response protection tied to a particular computer as an alternative, with iLok as an option for those who find dongles a more convenient and portable solution. Second in the popularity stakes are Syncrosoft, whose USB dongle will be well known to Steinberg customers who run products such as Cubase, Nuendo, Halion or Wavelab, as well as to owners of software from Arturia, Eliosound, Korg, Tascam, Virsyn and VSL, among others. Several other USB dongle formats exist (see box), but the vast majority of audio software developers seem to use either iLok or Syncrosoft dongles, so we'll concentrate on those two here.