While it is true that the older iLok platform had some bugs and also that when they released the new version, it was buggy as well, it now is very stable, they fixed the early errors and it works flawlessly (even if i must say that it worked from the start for most people including us and 99% or our users). And the license does not emulate the dongle at all, this is just a new way of protecting softwares that iLok created and we decided to use it. Also if you want to know if it will work for you, just install their iLok manager (2 clicks and weights nothing) and you will see that it is some kind of a NI service center, but just way easier to use.
 
And your propositions are not posible, fingerprint and DNA are in no way a copy protection. You seem to be one of the people that buy stuff, but really a lot of people just don't if they can find it for free, even if they use it. If nobody was pirating, we would not even use copy protection, but it turns out people do pirate stuff and eventually everything gets pirated (believe me, we did not like that and it almost put us out of business) and iLok is the most secure one for now.

My position is the same as Bitflipper. I will not have the Pace system on any of my machines for any reason. There are too many other good/great libraries that do not use that system. I currently have an iLok account but I refuse to use or support it. Too many problems. I have asked them several times to cancel the account and they still have not done it as I just checked it a few moments ago.
 
I appreciate your position as a Software Dev/Sales and wish there was some way to put a permanent end to software piracy but I don't believe that system currently exists not even the iLoK system. I do not have pirated software on my machines and do Not support pirated software. If this New iLok manager works just like the NI Service Center then why are you not using the NI Service Center vs. the iLok system???
 
As you said in an earlier post it is my call if I choose to use the iLok manager just as it is Your call to use it for protection, I hope that is not just an expensive false sense of security for you. I support Your choice just as I support my own choice which is Not to use it.  Wishing you the best.
 
Kind regards,
Rick

We don't use NI service center because... well... it is provided by NI and requires to use Kontakt and their inefficient protection.
One of the most feared situation of sample libraries developers is to release a Kontakt powered library and see it the next day on top of the pirated library list...
Anyway, this is going nowhere ;) Sometimes we simply don't like a software for our own reasons, and they simply don't work on our system for some mystical computer reasons, this happened to us with some softwares that everybody says is working fine... so i understand ;)
 
I just revived this thread because i thought the iLok dongle was the problem ;)

Yeah, It's going nowhere but I did enjoy hearing your side of the story. I think it was a very nice gesture for you to try and eliminate the cost of the dongle but the dongle is only a small part of the iLoK issues for myself.
 
Again, wishing you the best.
 
Kind regards,
Rick

I am a software developer myself, so I have the utmost empathy for the pirate problem. But from a software engineering perspective I have a problem with products that are intentionally designed with a single point of fatal failure, and whose default mode is to not work at all unless some obscure, undocumented and fragile set of criteria are met. Turning off your network or replacing your computer's motherboard should not disable audio plugins!
 
Even the PR-challenged TSA is going to be offering me a way to avoid most of the annoying security BS at the airport. Instead of them simply assuming I'm a terrorist every frickin' time, they'll give me the opportunity to prove I'm not in advance, and thereafter treat me like the regular bloke I am who just wants to get to point B sometime today.
 
Why can't software vendors do something like that? I buy a couple of your products and the credit card charge clears, proving I am who I say I am and that I'm good for the money - shouldn't I be trusted after that? 

acousticsamples
We don't use NI service center because... well... it is provided by NI and requires to use Kontakt and their inefficient protection.
One of the most feared situation of sample libraries developers is to release a Kontakt powered library and see it the next day on top of the pirated library list...
 

Well just be careful you don't start walking down the road of caring more about piracy than you do about sales. Remember that piracy, in and of itself, doesn't matter, at all. What matters is sales, and more to the point profit. Piracy only matters if it is translating in to lower profit. If piracy doesn't affect sales, because the pirates aren't people who would buy, or increases sales (not that is likely, but just saying) then it isn't a problem.
 
More than that, if you use a DRM method that is disliked, like the iLok, you have to consider all the costs. There is the direct cost of licensing the technology. It is not trivial, as you well know. So it has to at a minimum increase revenue by enough to cover all those costs or it is losing you money. However there's also support costs. The more intense the DRM, the more users that will have problems and thus the more you spend on support. Harder to measure, but equally important. Then of course there's the lost sales. Some people will just not buy things with intense DRM, and we don't lack for good options of samples these days. So you need to consider that as well.
 
Now maybe you guys have run a good actuarial analysis of all this and determined you make more money. However to me, it sounds more like you've done what many devs did: Got mad that your stuff is on torrents and decided that piracy has to stop, without doing a cost/benefit analysis.
 
I mean let's look at NI: They have this very weak protection, yet they are the dominant force in sampling. They sell their stuff left right and center; they managed to sell out of their Komplete and Komplete Ultimate bundles and are a number of weeks backordered. Clearly, despite the ability to pirate their stuff, they still make sales.
 
Same deal with Cakewalk. Sonar has minimal protection. That is part of why I buy it. I appreciate not getting jerked around with DRM, I want to just use my software. I'm not as anti-DRM as many but I still appreciate things that don't have it, and it factors in to my purchasing decision.
 
So just make sure you consider everything, and keep your eye on what matters: Increasing profit. Decreasing piracy doesn't matter if it doesn't lead to more money.
 
I like to give an analogy of a retail store: Shrinkage (shoplifting) is a big problem for all stores. Unlike piracy, there is a direct cost for each item stolen. Well, a store could probably stop it completely if they wanted to. Hire armed guards that strip search all customers and employees going in and out. That would probably do it. It would also lead to there being zero customers, thus no revenue, and so be a losing proposition. All the steps stores do take against shrinkage are weighed against costs, both the direct cost to implement the measure and the cost of customer satisfaction. The balance they strike is imperfect with regards to stopping shrinkage, but best for making money.
 
NI may have weak DRM. They also have $750 of my money recently because they have good products, more than that if you count the license fees they got from 3rd parties I also bought. EastWest has much better DRM. They have gotten zero dollar of my money recently and will not be getting any because their software sucks.