I prefer de dongle. I like to be free to use Nuendo anywhere.
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Steinberg has proved very capable of creating a robust copy protection system that has been effective for years. And time does not stand still; that scheme is overdue for advancement. As countless threads over the years have demonstrated, a dongle-free option would benefit many of us. I have confidence that whatever Steinberg comes up with in the future will be an enhancement of the current arrangement, not a deterioration, and I’m very much looking forward to it. Maybe it’ll even be better than iLok’s, which doesn’t suck…
Chewy
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But when? They annonced back in march 2021! So now we are in the last Q 2021! It can’t be that complicated or? And take another XX years after an announcement!!! We are talking about YAMAHA, they have enormous resources!
rikaar,
Yeah, they probably have resources, but it actually likely is complicated and difficult. If it wasn’t difficult then everyone would successfully protect their software using software authorizations and we wouldn’t be seeing any cracked software at all. And I recall someone from Steinberg here on the forum saying it would take some time.
There probably are enough people who want old bugs fixed or new features before the copyright/authorization gets changed.
Patience.
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Oh yes, it is. :-/
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I´m just in programming music! I can not say anything about programming
But honestly, then they had better not have announced it!
Just announce something when you can deliver in near future…
Bugs? Where are there bugs? 
Lots of users literally begged for that announcement for years, and SB responded by opening up and revealing that yes, they are working on it.
Damned if they do, damned if they don’t…
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exactly.
realy for years? I didn´t know that!
I really first heard about this in March 2021! Since then I’ve become scatterbrained with the stick have forgotten him 2x this year. Therefor NEVER.
A real Cubase supporter (me) story, happened last WE in the studio:
And they were like: “Haha you forgot your damn stick” and I was like: “HaHa but I have the LE version on my laptop, but I can’t open our current project :D, let’s create some new stuff”.
And they said to me: “You try to convince us of CUBASE and forget the stick today…”. I could have bitten myself in the ass 
Real story - but anyway! From the internal values it is great, that they have also understood.
There are Pros and Cons. Maybe they even make a hybrid model! Stick and soft protection. That if you forget the stick it also goes via software and vice versa.
Personally I prefer the dongle over having to be online every 30 days since I’m not always in places where internet is available, IMO the users should have the option to choose the dongle or online activation.
While I do trust Steinberg a lot more than InMusic I can’t ignore the mess that the BFD license management is at the moment. They went from a perfectly working license management system (Fxpansion & activate once on the specific computer) via “always online” to the 30-day activation after the migration to Inmusic - let’s just say that a lot of the loyal longtime BFD-users are disgruntled. In the almost 20 years I’ve used Fxpansion software there has been very few problems with it until the InMusic migration.
Almost all my non-Steinberg music software is activated via iLok, while I would prefer the really old “just a serial” method (I do see the need for better copy protection than that though) I prefer a dongle of some kind over scheduled online activation. Last time I reinstalled my DAW-PC having the iLok (& Steinberg dongle obviously) was very convenient compared to activating everything online like I did 5-6 years ago before I bought the iLok-dongle.
A thought: If Steinberg doesn’t want to keep the dongle-servers running, maybe we can have the option to activate via iLok instead?
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Am just thinking, if a Mobile Authenticator app on a smart phone could be a solution.
You rarely forget it at home. From time to time - as a matter of accident - it my drop into your closet or into a little creek while relaxing. But the master license still sits at Steinberg for resync with your new smart phone.
For offline use (no internet), USB, WLAN or Bluetooth could be used. Resynch with DAW once an hour or so.
Also does not need specialized hardware.
Not sure, just a thought.
LG, Juergi
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I just want to comment on one of the “dongle-less” systems out there: WIBU.
Antares, makes of Auto Tune, use it.
IT SUCKS. So anyone from Steinberg on here, please, DO NOT USE WIBU for the new Nuendo dongle-free licensing scheme.
I own two products from Antares, and when I update / install them, the licensing system messes up so the plug ins no longer see the licenses. EVERY TIME. That is the suck big time.
They have no fix. I have to contact their tech support each update or installation, so they can sort of show me how to make it work. That is not efficient, user friendly, nor good for the customer.
Looking forward to when Steinberg’s new licensing system comes to Cubase and Nuendo. It’s been way overdue…
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