I agree with you on Yellow Tools. I had very high hopes for the further development of Independence and rounding out their library. For now, I have no regrets that I bought it because what I did get sounds great and worth every penny.

Just so you know, we just released new version of our products and they now don't require an iLok key to be used ;)
You now have the choice to use one or not.

Looks like I'll be shopping for your products again.  Thank You for removing the iLok requirement.
 
Kind regards,
Rick

OK, just went to the site for the Kawai EX-Pro.  Copy protection says:
 
You can register your library to your computer or to an iLok key. All of our libraries are protected with the iLok system, and you can use our libraries with or without an iLok usb key. Both V1 and V2 iLok usb keys are working with our products. To authorize your library, you will need to download the iLok authorization manager from here: https://www.ilok.com/ilm.html and simply authorize your iLok key or your computer to use the library.
 
The way I read it you still need an ilok account and have to use the ilok auth manager.   I'll pass...  
 

I don't get all the NI hate.  I rarely have issues and when I do they are one of the few companies left that you can call for free support.

vintagevibe
I don't get all the NI hate.  I rarely have issues and when I do they are one of the few companies left that you can call for free support.

Ya. The only issue I can see is they overcharge for individual products. If you just want Kontakt, that's $400. For $500 you get Kontakt + a whole ton o' other stuff in Komplete. Seems like the individual prices are a bit of a ripoff, but whatever. I guess they want to push you to buy bundles, though I'd rather they priced individual products more in line.
 
Their code seems to be really solid. Their product works well, gets regular updates, doesn't seem to have many bugs, etc. In terms of support they aren't the fastest, but they seem to respond and take issues seriously. I sent them a ticket relating to Bandstand not appearing in the Kontakt libraries list. Took them a couple weeks but they responded, let me know why it was happening (when it didn't with other stuff), and said they'd see if it could be fixed, and told me of workarounds.
 
Oh, and they let you use their products to release free libraries. If you have the full version of Kontakt, you can release libraries for other full versions of Kontakt and pay no royalties. That's pretty nice, particularly for smaller shops. Of course if you want to use their player and DRM, they want royalties, but you have the choice. They don't say "All stuff sold must be in player format and pay us!" They let the company/individual choose.
 
I don't see a whole lot to dislike about them, personally.

Why would you pass on just creating an account? Basically it's just the same as the NI service center... except you can just drag and drop the licenses and it is just way easier to use (things changed at iLok, there is no more of the buggy website synchronization, it is now a simple app). We have to protect our libraries somehow.
I thought the problem was only the iLok dongle... But that's your call ;)

I think I must be the only person on the planet that is OK with dongles - for me they work really well and save me loads of time - I suppose this is mainly because I live in two countries and travel between the two.
Again I take on board you have to be VERY careful with them and if they go wrong you have some downtime - I have tried to mitigate this by having a number of different dongles (I am talking iLok and Elicenser here) and have spread my licenses over them meaning if one should go wrong I don't lose everything.
I've just upgraded my system in Cape Town and I was up and running in no time - saved me loads of time.

Oh, you'e not the only one, believe me ;) As developers, iLok is the best way to deal with licenses, having multiple computers, being able to test, change, reinstall, move licenses around. With an iLok you can go to a friends place install the software and just plug your iLok in and it works. But i understand that some people don't like to have something else to buy to run a software and that it can be sometimes too "usb crowded", especially on the recent macs that only have two usb plugs...

It appears you've made the physical dongle optional, but not the Pace driver, which is where most of the problems occur.
 
I am generally dubious of protection schemes that emulate the dongle without an actual USB device, such as that employed nowadays by Waves. When they did away with iLok I bought some Waves products, only to experience recurring issues with the new copy protection. Give me a license file, or the option of leaving fingerprints and a DNA sample in escrow. Just assure me that the software will work every time.