Cubase Studio 5 Activation ARGH

[m1ddy]

Has anyone else installed this yet. We just bought 35 copies of the 'Education version' and well erm...

 

Each box has its own USB Steinberg Key that must be plugged in to the computer in order for the software to run. First you have to download a license to it and thats a pain in itself. What the hell were they thinking?? Yes, hardware copy protection is a nice idea for home use but in school???? Have they ever met the average 14 year old boy? I will give it a week until we have about 25 copies working rather than 35 due to students walking off with the usb keys. Am I missing something here? Is there another way I should be doing this?

 

ARGH. I even went to their webby to send them a snotty email but it won't even give me an address or let me fill out a form until I have created an account on their site and signed in.

 

Maybe this would have been better in the FFS section. GAH

[steve]

They are a real pain with this. We learnt the hard way - you can't buy replacement keys.

 

Fix them on the inside of the case.

[Symbiosis]

Yep, I agree the only way is to fix them inside with an internal USB port.

 

It's what we did with CB4 and it works a treat

[Wils86]

We numbered all our sticks 1 - 22, then we make the students sign for them to be used. If stick 12 was signed out by little johnny and he lost it. Then little Johnny's parents get sent the bill.

Funnily enough we haven't lost one in over a year

[Arthur]

...and yet the people who pirate this software don't have to deal with any of these problems. Why do Steinberg even bother? :mad:

[FN-GM]

how i overcome this problem in my last school was buying USB cards with an internal port. Use that internal port for the dongle. For the amount you spend on the cards you save from buying replacement dongles. Plus you get 4 extra external USB ports if you need them.

[dhicks]

We numbered all our sticks 1 - 22, then we make the students sign for them to be used.

 

Does this mean, though, that pupils are allowed to use Cubase at home as long as they have a valid license dongle? Could you lend out a dongle to a pupil overnight or over a weekend along with the install CDs to let them work at home on their own PC?

 

--

David Hicks

[Wils86]

Does this mean, though, that pupils are allowed to use Cubase at home as long as they have a valid license dongle? Could you lend out a dongle to a pupil overnight or over a weekend along with the install CDs to let them work at home on their own PC?

 

--

David Hicks

 

Never tried lending it to them over the weekend but could be a good idea for when they have coursework due in, I'll have to speak to the head of music about it. Cant see why it wouldn't work though.

 

We just have them sign for it so we know who to kill if it gets lost lol

[plexer]

Don't see why that won't work.

 

If you lose a dongle you have to buy another full copy of the software which is a nightmare.

 

We once had 2 versions of SX2 I think it was, upgraded to studio 4 but somehow we could only find one key from the SX2 versions and it's licence had been removed.

 

We had to then buy the full version of studio 4.

 

I cannot find the studio 4 upgrade disks as someone enquired about it.

 

Ben

[flyinghaggis]

Yep, I agree the only way is to fix them inside with an internal USB port.

 

It's what we did with CB4 and it works a treat

 

QFT +1 . just buy some PCI USB cards with an internal connector. That's what we did. We hate cubase and are planning to move away from it if possible primarily because of the pain that these @#**#@ hardware dongles cause.

 

It makes upgrades a nightmare aswell because we currently have 20 copies of the software running Cubase SX 2.0. We want to add another 10 PCs to our lab but can't just buy more copies of version 2.0 because there's no gaurauntue that the hardware dongles provided with the latest version will work with an older one We hit this problem everytime we add new PCs to the music department

[Jamo]

...and yet the people who pirate this software don't have to deal with any of these problems. Why do Steinberg even bother? :mad:

 

not that i know... but they havent pirated a cubase since cubase 3 due to those keys being so hard to crack!! internal USB is the way to go! I have cubase 4 on my PC at home. Just feel lucky that your school has music software ours has 4 iMacs with OS9 and one windows XP computer with 128mb RAM

[dhicks]

Don't see why that won't work.

 

Oh, I'm sure it's technically possible, but does anyone know if it's okay as far as licensing goes? I would rather think that would be the (one...) advantage of dongle-based security - as long as you have a good system for keeping track of who has what dongle you can let people use the software at home and get maximum use out of it.

 

--

David Hicks

[m1ddy]

The software will be running on Dell Optiplex 760's. It does has a usb connection on the motherboard, like a pin-out. Anyone know where I can get cables to turn this into an internal connection that you can actually plug a device into.

 

Bloody Steinberg

 

Cheers guys

[Jamo]

Newlink 5 Port USB 2.0 PCI Card with 4 External Ports and 1 Internal Port - Ebuyer

 

Thats a USB PCI card, would prob be less effort and you could connect 4 USB keyboards to complement the music prog and be like Rick Wakeman

[Arthur]

not that i know... but they haven't pirated a cubase since cubase 3 due to those keys being so hard to crack!!

I just had a quick search and it looks like you're right. It's a shame they have to treat their customers like criminals though. Surely all the money they've spent on copy protection would be better spent fixing bugs or improving their software? They've definitely lost my custom that's for sure.