RESOLVED: USA - still NOTHING?

Exactly :slight_smile:)

Frankly the whole idea of printing up boxes and pages with authorization numbers and printing CDs - and then putting them on an transatlantic airplane - is just crazy in this day in age. There aren’t even manuals in the boxes. Surely they could be partnering with some media company to handle printing and distribution in the US and someone in Asia… I’m sure that the Keyfax partnership in the US disolved in a less-than-ideal fashion, and perhaps Steinberg was a little spooked about a renewing any decentralized partnerships. I’m no happier nor less with Steinberg product distribution via KeyFax then than I am now.

I’ve licensed plenty of software from Izotope, ToonTrack, Melodyne, 1KMedia, Native Instruments and Ableton - and have been MUCH happier with electronic delivery of the initial product and with the upgrades. Steinberg’s obviously always been afraid of electronic delivery :unamused: - but the time to join the future came quite a while ago…

Just my .00002 spacebucks…

Maybe it is not known or poorly understood the reasons why things are as they are in relation to software distribution.

Firstly, you have an enduring partnership with Yamaha Corp. that is still going strong and means for most countries, that is the primary support channel.

Secondly, there are many European countries that are able to purchase directly from Asknet, this is out of Steinbergs’ control, from which countries users are able to purchase from directly.

Third, whatever distribution channel is available in the United States it is not necessarily at the click of Steinbergs’ finger, since even online music stores have to have some presence in the EU in order to be able to acquire stock for other countries including Britain for example, as well as the US and Canada.

This idea that a simple fix would allow immediate download and upgrading of any given software is pure conjecture and not based in fact.

It will come along with his birth certificate…means - never… :cry:

Electronic delivery of software worldwide has become a turnkey operation. And Steinberg does it today (as is evidenced by the email I received to confirm my purchase, which included information for people who ordered products with electronic fulfillment.) There is notthing to it. They have the tech today to deliver licenses electronically. And the distribution of bits is trivial. If you can’t do it yourself, there are dozens of companies that will manage it for you, including managing the origin servers and CDNs.

And let’s not forget that the license delivered to your eLicenser is the only thing that needs protecting (and this is already done electronically). There is nothing secure about a DVD. In fact, worldwide physical box distribution is probably an order of magnitude harder.

When you order an upgrade you don’t have to say which dongle it is intended for now do you.

Already steinberg have taken a step forward and still all people can do is complain.

Compared to the other 6 companies that I mentioned? Sure, I’ll complain - it might give Steiny some ideas. Trust me, we aren’t complaining just to annoy you.

Cheers, Dave

That those other 6 companies have to hoodwink their “fanbase” into an online purchase because you can’t turn back?

With Steinberg you get a no obligation 30 day trial, with the ability to upgrade it “online” but for existing products they need to be ordered.

Even if you buy the product outright you can still return it providing it’s unopened and in the original packaging.

This post hits the nail on it’s head. As a matter of fact, the first Cubase 6 shipment went to the… drumroll… US.
When the shipment is in transit there hardly anything Steinberg could do to speed it up. Customs, local distributor, local transportation, there are so many things that Steinberg can’t control that It’s nearly impossible to confirm a final delivery date.

Has anyone received C6 is the USA yet?

not here in chi-town

At least you have live phone support, Steiny yanked that from the U.S. last year. We’re stuck with e-snail-mail. Nope, as a rule of thumb, I never do business with a company that I can’t get live support from.

Nor here in chi-town. :slight_smile:

At the end of the webinar the presenter said Cubase 6 was in warehouses in the US. Wonder if he’s right. ??

yes i heard that :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

hmm I wonder as well… Just like they were shipping out the monday after NAMM…

Not in my experience, nor in my opinion. I tried out trial versions of every product I’ve purchased from IKMedia, Native Instruments, IzoTope, ToonTrack, Ableton and Melodyne. Frankly, I think you’re trying to diss me with your “hoodwink their “fanbase”” remark - but for the life of me I can’t figure out why.

Don’t get me wrong - I love most Steiny products, and I’ve been using them since 2002. But as far as distribution goes, NOTHING has changed in 8 years. EIGHT YEARS! Oh - right - I don’t have to provide my dongle number before they ship something to me - I supposed that is progress.
I’m simply saying that Steinberg’s distribution mechanism could be improved. While lots of contributors to this thread balk at that, the are coming off as apologists in my opinion. I’d wager that almost everyone working at Steinberg would AGREE with me that their distribution mechanism could be improved - in ways that reduce overhead, expedite delivery, improve the customer experience and maintain a high level of piracy protection.

He also mentioned the new Halion 4 sampler, anyone want to propose a bet?

DaveDave I hear what you are saying and I’m not apologizing for Steinberg competence or lack thereof, I am simply trying to point to the positives (and negatives) of the current situation and what may be entailed in order to change the current method.

What I think people tend to ignore is the fact that the software is tied to a physical “dongle” which means Steinberg can operate the distribution channels how they see fit.

Whether the mechanisms for distribution are seen as archaic is up to the interpretation of end user, and even Steinberg have acknowledged it can be improved.

How a system might be improved on is not really for forum participants to know but if I were to hazard a guess, I’d say that what you might have is generic boxes with codes and media (no manuals or dongles) and that depending on your current license, they’d either activate an upgrade or a new product.

In other words, when for example BlueRay media becomes more widely available, you can have content enough for two or more versions, in this case C5/C6 paradigm but the code would only activate what you have paid for which would require some sort of automation from the distribution end but of course this is all pure speculation.

Cheers

:unamused: Even Avid sells PT HD 9 upgrade as a direct download… ok, I’ll leave it alone.