Buy yourself an USB hub. Problem solved.
You also find annoying to carry car keys every time you want to drive your car?
Dongle is part of your Cubase. Live with it.
And what happens when the internet operator you’re using is having a routing problem and you’re unable to access Steinberg servers?
I meant is an alternative to the dongle, which means users could choose. And also, just as a check at startup (so you don’t get thrown out if you lose connection). So basically, you could log on if you forget your USB-dongle.
That I need keys to drive my car makes perfect sense. That I need a USB-key to use a friggin’ computer program does not make sense to me at all, and hence, it’s easy to forget to bring the “key”.
But each to our own… it wouldn’t be a problem if I was on a desktop computer, but with a laptop it’s just plain annoying.
It’s the price you pay for using professional software.
DG
Perhaps another thread is necessary entitled " When exactly can you pull your dongle out without fear of damage or humiliation?" 
This dongle business is for the birds. There is no reason to NEED it when you have the computer’s hardware, which could function the same ‘validating’ way. I am constantly on the go with my laptop, so now I have to worry about this extra thing all the time. I wish I would have researched this better, I would have never upgraded. To those who are arguing in favor of this…imagine if you had a dongle for every piece of software on your computer. ridiculous right?
Imagine if every bit of software on your computer cost £400
The Cubase licenser dongle is the most annoying piece of equipment I have ever purchased. I have spent over £250,000 on equipment over the years and in my opinion it is the most inconvenient piece of kit I have ever bought. It uses up half the sockets available on a Macbook and I would not recommend using it or purchasing it. Recording and using Cubase with only one USB socket is very limiting and makes it very difficult to work with. I purchased a four way USB Hub but it will not register a UR22 Steinberg Soundcard or a hard drive on a Macbook. I have simply stopped using Cubase. I feel Cubase 8 Pro was a complete waste of £400. I felt Cubase stifled my creativity and did the opposite of what I bought it for. I don’t agree with piracy but a friend has a pirated version and is much more useable. What a ridiculous design Cubase!! I have used Cubase off and on since 1990 and am finally looking at Logic.
Ehm, so now Steinberg is responsible for Apple’s policy of removing hardware ports on their equipment? It’s like complaining to AKG that their headphone is useless on the iPhone 7. Maybe a complaint Apple’s way would be more appropriate.
Well, the only other post this user has made is the same rant, also off topic for the thread (which I split to a new one). Like I said in my reply to her other post, the problem lies with the cheap USB hub she’s using.
£250,000 spent on gear, and buys a £2 hub. Hm…
I have the exact opposite perspective. I recently moved all of my software to a new computer. The software that uses dongles was the easiest to transfer. The others required me logging into a dozen websites to get new license codes, it was a total time-consuming pain.
Hi! First time “computer musician” here, long-time SaaS entreprenuer, bought Cubase Pro yesterday and actually feel cheated by the staff not telling me about this USB debacle. This is taking piracy protection too far. Classic example of punishing those of us paying for the sake of stopping a few (and I’m not sure it stops them anyway, hackers probably get around this easily). I just didn’t think this was still “a thing” in 2020, more like 1994.
As I can’t believe the attitudes of some people posting here I felt the need to post 
Commenting snide remarks to people being annoyed with the requirement to have this plugged in at all times makes me wanna quit Cubase before even having started using it for real if that’s what the Cubase community is like (having free Cakewalk setup work right out of the box and still struggling getting the proper Midi Out active in Cubase one day later doesn’t help either).
Really bad first user experience, and I need my USB on my computer for my midi cable. My computer is used both for work and private and I have no dedicated studio setup so I can see this getting really annoying fast, like yesterday. And no, using a USB hub and a constant carry-around hardware is not a prerequisite that should come with any software in the year 2020. E.g. Adobe’s software cost tons more money but I don’t see them requiring me to go through hoops and carry bricks with me to be a happy customer. As someone mentioned, if they absolutely “must” do some check, just do an Internet check for those of us constantly online, while at least only requiring this dongle if offline.
I’m serious when I say I’m inclined to already just consider the money thrown down the drain and use any of the other alternatives already residing on my SSD (Ableton Live Light, Cakewalk, Waveform 11 and other free options not dragging me down like this). I have nothing invested in Cubase knowledge-wise so will be money badly spent but… You live, you learn.
From the Steinberg Online shop (after selecting ‘Buy Cubase Pro’): “Important! USB-eLicenser required” right below the product. Then below the listed price: “USB-eLicenser required (Unit price: € 22,99*). If you already own one, you can delete it from the shopping cart.”
How many more warnings were you expecting? And whoever ‘the staff’ are that should have told you: Yes. Complain there.
I agree with an earlier post. I have just built a new machine and all my steinberg programs were a breeze due to having the dongle. The rest of the stuff was a pain re-authorising them all. It’s as plane as day when buying you need a dongle. Maybe I’m used to it as I’ve used Cubase since the Atari and always had a dongle.