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The risk of using Spitfire plugin on a commercial project

daviddln said:
This is why I love VSL so much. Yes, you need a dongle, but you can download your libraries as many times as you want and you don't need their permission to move the libraries to another ssd.
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Same with iLok. And actually, I use a USB drive for my Waves authorizations also. I have a 4 port USB hub that has my iLok, eLicenser, Waves USB drive, and codemeter on it. It takes one slot and can easily move from computer to computer.

The Waves drive died at one point. I emailed customer service and explained the problem. Since I'd had Waves for 10 years at that point and never asked for a reset, even though I didn't have a current WUP, they did it. They said normally, if you have a current WUP and you lose authorization, they will fix it.

I haven't had a problem with any of the other licensers, but I usually change them out every few years.
 
Do people lose or break their dongles often? I guess if you have a mobile setup, the risk is potentially higher, but for those of us with fixed studios (especially right now), I don't see it as a problem. I have been using eLicenser and iLok dongles for 15 years and not once have I ever had an issue with either of them. YMMV of course.
 
ALittleNightMusic said:
Do people lose or break their dongles often? I guess if you have a mobile setup, the risk is potentially higher, but for those of us with fixed studios (especially right now), I don't see it as a problem. I have been using eLicenser and iLok dongles for 15 years and not once have I ever had an issue with either of them. YMMV of course.
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Sure, but hardware will always fail, it's just a question of when. And when your VSL dongle fails, they'll charge you 50% of the cost of all your libraries to get them back, unless you paid them the "insurance" or, more accurately, protection money.
 
ALittleNightMusic said:
Do people lose or break their dongles often? I guess if you have a mobile setup, the risk is potentially higher, but for those of us with fixed studios (especially right now), I don't see it as a problem. I have been using eLicenser and iLok dongles for 15 years and not once have I ever had an issue with either of them. YMMV of course.
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same here....but I know that one day it’s going to happen. It’s actually crazy that we’re relying on a $.35 chip to carry us through to deadlines.
 
SupremeFist said:
Sure, but hardware will always fail, it's just a question of when. And when your VSL dongle fails, they'll charge you 50% of the cost of all your libraries to get them back, unless you paid them the "insurance" or, more accurately, protection money.
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Well 15 years is pretty good so far - and you can always transfer your licenses to a new dongle ($30) every let's say 5 years if you're worried about a hardware failure. If your computer fails and you have licenses tied to that, that can also be an issue for some developers. Of course, a cloud based solution where you can authorize or unauthorize devices from a self-serve interface is also great - Apple and iTunes has been doing that for years.
 
I wonder why Spitfire doesn't offer a level of support that would put a professional in @Sugar Free's position at the front of the line and include weekend access. The way to do this, without having to vet who is and isn't a pro, is to charge a reasonable annual fee. I have to believe that Spitfire has considered this. Maybe they think that there isn't enough of a market for it, or perhaps they think that offering a preferential level of support could become a flash point for their customer base as a whole.

Are any of the main sample companies doing this?
 
I personally don't like Spitfire's approach to this. Even if you make backups of backups, it sounds like you're still at the mercy of a live representative to authorize these resets, correct?

There's a reason why automation exists.

And even if there are "workarounds", it doesn't justify the amount of time wasted trying to figure out those workarounds, especially when you're on a strict deadline.

There really should be a more effecient system in place to prevent or better assist these types of situations.
 
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@Jeremy Spencer and @SupremeFist
The situation is not as worse as you both point out.
A broken dongle nowadays is handled completely different than a lost one.
See here: https://www.vsl.co.at/en/MyVSL/MyProtection_Plans

Without insurance:
When your dongle breaks (and you can send it back) you get a replacement license for 20€ per license.
When your dongle breaks within its 2 years guarantee, you get the licenses back for free.

Only a lost key is a real problem (you are going to be charged 50% of the licenses).

With insurance:
Basically everything is covered. And you get your licenses back quicker.

It is like owning a car.
Something breaks, it is going to be fixed for free during guarantee, repair costs when out of guarantee.
If it is stolen? You'd better have a good insurance on that car!
 
Mike Fox said:
I personally don't like Spitfire's approach to this. Even if you make backups of backups, it sounds like you're still at the mercy of a live representative to authorize these resets, correct?

There's a reason why automation exists.
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No, you can do a reset unilaterally unless you're about to exceed the number of unilateral resets allowed for the library in question.
 
Rory said:
No it isn't. I get transportation from a car. I get nothing from a dongle. Its sole purpose is to protect VSL's rights, and VSL not only wants me to pay to protect its rights, but also urges me to pay "protection" money (its word) every two years.
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I am not defending dongle policy here. But the fact you have to pay 50% license cost for a broken dongle is just plain wrong.
Best DRM is still like FabFilter. Simply a license file I put on any machine I use.
Not tied to hardware, not tied to any online server of the manufacturer (which you rely on in most of the non-dongle libraries, in the hope the service never becomes unavailable).
 
Manuel Stumpf said:
Best DRM is still like FabFilter. Simply a license file I put on any machine I use.
Not tied to hardware, not tied to any online server of the manufacturer (which you rely on in most of the non-dongle libraries, in the hope the service never becomes unavailable).
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Has Fab Filter been cracked? I don’t hangout in Hacker circles so I don’t have a clue but if so then it’s the worst DRM about. 😂
 
jononotbono said:
Has Fab Filter been cracked? I don’t hangout in Hacker circles so I don’t have a clue but if so then it’s the worst DRM about. 😂
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Yes. But the plugins phone home on the internet, and they have a blacklist of sorts for the license files that are known to have gotten out. They kindly add whitenoise to your mixes when you're using them, periodically. It's a nice middle finger for doing wrong.
 
jononotbono said:
Has Fab Filter been cracked? I don’t hangout in Hacker circles so I don’t have a clue but if so then it’s the worst DRM about. 😂
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Your license is provided as a file containing the encrypted license key.
And obviously that company is still alive and kicking. No matter if some people try to hack it or not.
 
Mike Fox said:
So how many of these "unilateral" resets are you granted?
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I'd be interested to know myself. Perhaps this info is in the Spitfire FAQ.

I did a reset yesterday.

I upgraded from BBC Core to BBC Pro and put Pro in a new directory. In retrospect, I should have downloaded it to the Core directory. In any event, I had two choices: move the Core files to the Pro directory or re-download Core to the Pro directory. I chose to re-download, which is what a reset is, because Core isn't a lot of data and I didn't want to deal with any directory structure/content issues on a move. A re-download/reset was just more idiot proof :)
 
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