Tony,
Feedback from one of the least likely to buy another I-Lok software. My choice only, and may not be coming from a balanced place after all. The thing may work well.
Bringing up my online I-Lok account is like reading the biography of a no win battle zone. Anyone who has been thru this would have moral cause to get upset. Plugins that either were blocked from ever being used or blocked from the second activation. Computers that are dead and gone retaining activations that cannot be transferred or erased. Multiple authorization dumps (especially Eventide). Flipped off by I-Lok support telling me to take my complaints to the vendor. Support tickets unresolved that degenerated into a blame game between I-Lok and the vendor. My feeling is that the programs should have been as easy to activate and use as it was to take the payment.
This said, I’m PTSD’d from the past, so don’t let whiners like me steer you away from something that is both becoming the coin of the realm and may even work now days.
My recorded failures were from last year and before. They still inhabit my profile and cause hard stops on any fixes. This year installed Xpandi with the online account and there were no problems with the initial authorization on two computers.
Couple thoughts then. I-Lok may have ironed out the problems that were causing grief to some of us based on a majority thumbs up opinion of current users. Says a lot. With the recent migration of bigger companies to I-Lok, it is a cautious sign that the system is solid enough that they don’t have to worry about losing customers.
So yeah, go for it. The experience will probably be a good one, the online I-Lok scheme being no different than any online authorization style, except for one black and white warning. No debate on this, no opinion, just reality to take into account.
IF you run into a catastrophic hardware failure on your computer, you WILL lose all of your I-Lok software. I-Lok support will flip you off and tell you to take your troubles to the software company and beg for another chance to activate. Realize that hardware changes to your computer render the computer as a different computer, unrecognized by I-Lok. It will be impossible for you to remove either the computer or any activations associated with the pre crash rig. I don’t know how deep the changes required to dump activations. Hard drive, stick of RAM?
Because of this, the system is fragile and front load with adequate grief ahead when your system has a hardware failure.
Take into account how much your time is worth. I-Lok online account is free, but you will pay thru the yin yang many times over if you have to replace a motherboard.
Agree with the advice here that the safest alternative if you have a stable indoor studio is to go with a physical dongle. Seems to be solid from reports. Costs a few bucks, but think of it as being insurance against greater problems around the corner. Best of luck. You will probably be okay.
John