I am a film composer. Over the last two months things have been busy. I am currently a Sibelius 7 user and have a studio desktop and laptop. I use either one at any time (not both). I was ready to learn Dorico and upgrade to it, but I have decided to put that on hold waiting to see how the licensing works out. I have never been a fan of dongles having 30+ years experience in technology, I have seen them all back to the serial ones. The last time I used dongles was when I upgraded years ago to Gigastudio 4. I tended to forget them or they broke or otherwise were damaged. If I go on the road and want to compose on a plane, I don’t want to have to deal with a dongle. I much prefer to pay a little extra (not twice) for a license that allows me to install on two machines without simultaneous use.
Even if I did the dongle approach, if someday there was a software-only solution for installation on one laptop and one desktop, there would also need to be a way to transfer back the license from the dongle (which there currently isn’t).
I get that vendors need to secure their revenue stream but they also need to understand that 99+% of us are honest and want to do the right thing. There needs to be a certain amount of trust from the vendor so that those of us business people can continue with our own current business models and ways of operation. I really don’t want to change my business to accommodate a vendors security requirements.
I am not totally happy with Sibelius and have been looking for an alternative for some time, but it “does the job”. I can get my films scored with it. For another product like Dorico to get used, Steinberg has to remember they are often addressing a market where we already have a solution and hence they are looking to ‘displace’ the solution with a significantly improved one.
I want to move away from Sibelius. I am willing to pay to do that - I am in business - this is not a hobby. However, I can not do so in a way that impacts my business. Dongles get lost, damaged, or forgotten. I will not chance being unable to score because of a dongle or licensing issue. I am pretty certain I am not unique in this situation or ‘want’.
So right now Dorico is a non-starter for me. I don’t know all the options for purchasing and licensing so I don’t know whether I can purchase two licenses at $295 each off the same Sibelius competitive upgrade. But even if I can, $590 seems a bit pricey and perhaps Steinberg can come up with a way to have a two machine non-simultaneous solution somewhere more than $295 but less than $590.
Although I don’t sympathize with Steinberg’s licensing/dongle policy, I don’t quite understand how a couple of hundred euros/dollars matter for a professional composer/business. You can crossgrade to dorico once for every full license of Sibelius, Finale and Notion. And you can crossgrade from Sib to Fin for 149…
I believe you can only buy one crossgrade from Sibelius. However, if you own another qualifying product (Finale or Notion) you can buy a second crossgrade from that too.
I own one copy of Sibelius which is installed on a single desktop and single laptop. My understanding was I could only get one cross-grade. I am not raking in the money as perhaps some composers in LA do I am working here in the Houston film community where many of the projects are shorts which don’t generate income. Again, I am not starting from scratch and need to invest a lot of money. Earlier this year I invested/upgraded my sample set to a full set of Cinesamples - that was my major investment for the year. I don’t mind paying $300 to $400 to purchase Dorico. Paying $710 (two crossgrades + upgrade sib to fin) or $840 (one crossgrade + one full) seems to me unnecessarily expensive just to get a second non-simultaneous copy. Even as a professional I watch my expenses and don’t see the need to spend extra money just because Steinberg has not yet worked out a way to license Dorico for those who work in the studio or travel on the road and need a way to work on either a desktop or laptop not simultaneously. Avid has this worked out with Sibelius.
I contacted support about that question and was allowed to buy a second Edu-Crossgrade with the same Sibelius license. Even the same verification document was accepted.
My situation is quite smiliar to joelirwin’s and I really hope that Steinberg works out a fair licensing model for this issue. Note that many vendors of audio software allow users to install und use their software on multiple computers (usually two or three) without a dongle, provided the license holder personally owns the computers. This included Apple (Logic), many VST plugin vendors. Simultaneous use IS allowed and should be. Also, dongles become even more inconvenient as USB ports disappear from modern laptops.
I belive working with a laptop AND a studio PC is quite widespread in our business. This should be appreciated by a software company that charges a considerable amount of money for a license of their product.
The noises from Steinberg do seem to be encouraging, so perhaps continued vocal support for a two-seat licence without hardware modification seems worthwhile.
From technical point of view, a solution might be, that the laptop acts as a license server utilizing the soft license. That is, if the laptop is running and connected to the home network, its license might de borrowed by the desktop computer.
My personal solution is, that my laptop is a mobile workstation and thus a desktop computer is not required, but a docking station only.
@Daniel and the Steinberg-Team: Keep on your great work and enjoy your holidays!
With all due respect, imho, this is a business decision first. Steinberg merely needs to offer a two license package for a slightly higher price (not twice as much). I have many pieces of software that have various approaches to managing the two license ‘issue’. The most restrictive is the approach used for software for the products of Pegasys (The Best Software Encoder | Pegasys Inc. TMPGEnc Video Software Homepage). They have each product registered to hardware I believe and when you start the product every fourth or fifth time or so, it will ‘renew the license’ from a server. That means of course that you need to have an internet connection. So when I use the product on a plane, I start it going at the airport and then put the laptop into hibernate mode.
As far as a single machine solution with a docking station. That is certainly a possibility for some but I am in both the music and the video business (I am also a wedding videographer). So while my laptop is a high end i7 with two 1 TB SSDs and 32 GB memory, my desktop is an even faster Xeon. The extra speed on my desktop saves me a few hours of rending each time.
I am only a beginner and am researching where best to start. Dorico looks interesting but although I am only just starting, I would also like to be able to run Dorico (or another package) on a desk top PC as well as on a lap top/tablet simply for convenience. I am travelling for several months of the year but prefer a desk top at home. Dorico may not be the system for me if it doesn’t let me do that.
