Steinberg e-licenser to Steinberg licensing

Cubase
21

I may be completely wrong on this, but I got the impression that the licensing is a hosted by a third party company and the servers and infrastructure is old hat - every major update the servers would go down and the place was full of complaints.

Also, it’s in relation to the hardware, again it may be a third party that produces those dongles for Steinberg and the design is fixed. Needs noting that more machines are on USB C now and have reduced number of ports. Most users don’t want a dongle hanging out their machine either, so the new licensing was a response to that.

We can now install on multiple machines and have no fear of a dongle being lost or misplaced. And the licensing and all mechanisms of it is in-house. Unlike the situation you find yourself in today, the new licensing is much more flexible and only needs activating the once and can be remotely verified without any need for a dongle.

22

I would image it’s the licensing which is the problem vs what could be done on a database level.

It’s a legal agreement that involves third party IP not just Steinberg. There’s dongles out there which have no such registrations to an individual, so if they had one rule for one and another for others it would cause upset.

Also, The license exists on the dongle, so the only way it can be upgraded as per the legal terms is for the license to be removed from that dongle, upgraded to the new licensing, and then a NFR version returned back to the dongle.

That is the validation agreement they have in place for end users, and third parties who’s products exist within that system. I’d imagine that changing those license agreements retrospectively and getting agreements is likely impossible at this point.

Just think of the content and copyright holders involved outside of the core application. They would need to be informed that their IP is now going to be activated on a new online licensing system.

23

That would make sense, yes.

I still think the way Steinberg is handling this isn’t the only possible way and there could (or better: should) have been a more user friendly solution for people using an older version.

1 Like
24

The only thing they could do is to clone the eLicenser database on the final day so they have a master list of dongles and the licenses they contain.

Then, legacy users could contact them with proof of ownership and the dongle ID and that list is cross-referenced and the process is done manually.

But that’s resource intensive and there’s no way of proving ownership in many cases as the dongle ID’s aren’t part of retail sales receipts. And neither are the licenses either. They simply arrive in a box.

As the original licensing was designed to be offline, you could activate a license to a dongle without registering it. You’d immediately be alienating those customers, many of which likely to be working in a professional capacity who would use multiple dongles across machines.

If they set it up that way it initially, it would have been overwhelming and the list of complaints would likely kill their support teams ability to deal with users who had genuine problems.

25

Steinberg doesn’t want to rip anyone off, but they are a business and they can’t maintain the old licensing system indefinitely. It costs them money and resources, and the old system is antiquated, slow, prone to server timeouts during peak usage, and had many other issues and restrictions. It had to be replaced. It was inevitable.

No tech lasts forever, especially anything like copy protection that involves proprietary hardware based on already-old tech. It was a bad idea to begin with IMO, and now Steinberg finally replaced it. Thank goodness. Not to mention that for many years, there were many, many people (like me!) that complained about the dongle! They hated the dongle. Enough people complained, and they were right to hate it. It’s a terrible idea from a different era of computer business models. Steinberg finally listened.

And so Steinberg decided to build a whole new modern licensing system that allowed all the options that people were asking for – most importantly, the ability to get rid of the dongle. But it also improves the whole user experience, from easier demoing/trials of the software, accessibility, activation/authorization, multiple license management across computers (three active computers!), easy remote deactivation if you lose or reformat your computer, more unified support model and Steinberg experience, etc., etc., etc… and did I mention, no more dongle? Plus it lowers their own internal support costs, scales up more easily in the cloud, and allows them to grow and change in the future as their business continues to evolve, instead of being chained to ancient, slow tech.

They’ve been talking about phasing out the old system for YEARS and they’re giving everyone until “early 2025” to transition over. That’s a fair amount of time. But that won’t technically stop the dongle from working for months and years to come if you want to stay on the old software on an old computer. Just the support for it will be over in early 2025. Feel free to use it until 2026, 2027, 2028, as long as your dongle keeps working and your OS keeps working.

NO hardware can last forever though, so you just have to decide if you want to keep using your Steinberg software and update for the future. You have to make that kind of decision anyway as standards and platforms change over time. Windows 98 was deprecated, so you had to move to XP, then you had to eventually move to Windows 10, and so forth. And BTW Windows 10 is going to be EOL in October of 2025… and then you have to pay up to Microsoft for another year of support or upgrade to Windows 11… but wait, Windows 11 won’t support older computers… talk about blackmail right there! Same with MacOS over the years, same with everything on earth over time. Look at the history of DAWs and you’ll find this all over the place BTW. Ask anyone who used to run Logic on Windows what happened when Apple acquired eMagic and canceled the Windows version… talk about blackmail. I mean on the sad side of our industry, look at what happened to Finale just recently… talk about being screwed… it’s very sad. Or even just talking about general VST plugin standards… VST2 is now deprecated. So you have to decide when/if you want to modernize and move to VST3. And so forth.

Life moves on.

And don’t you think they’ll be offering some great deals for people to move over before they end support? What marketing department on earth of ANY company would be so stupid and idiotic to NOT offer some special deals for people to upgrade to the new system? OF COURSE they will offer you some great deal, otherwise their marketing department should all be fired. So OF COURSE there will be some great deals offered. In 2024 there were already great deals offered, and I predict there will be more great deals before the old system is phased out. I plan on upgrading an old extra license of HALion that’s sitting on an old dongle when the offer comes in, and transferring it to my son, who is also a musician. (I already have a separate Absolute license for myself :slight_smile: )

Steinberg does NOT want to blackmail anyone, but they simply cannot support old software forever. The system was limping along and it was time to modernize. No one is taking away anything from users who want to keep using old software and old computers… but they can’t expect companies to keep supporting old hardware and software forever.

My advice is to just wait it out and see what offers Steinberg will give you… I bet they will be pretty good in the months to come. And then snag an offer and move on in life. NOTHING lasts forever, especially in tech.

If that doesn’t work well for someone or the deal isn’t satisfactory, then they have many other options out there for good DAWs on the market if they want to move on from Steinberg. But most commercial DAWs have to deal with licensing/authorization issues at some point, except for a select few that have extremely generous licensing models and lax copy protection like Reaper, for example. Reaper is a rare exception… it will run on anything, including even Windows XP and a humble $75 Raspberry Pi card that fits in the palm of your hand! That’s insane, but that’s how Reaper’s primary developer, Justin Frankel, approaches things. He looks at the world differently than 99.99999% of people out there. So if that’s your bag, then go for it with Reaper (which in full disclosure, I also use along side Cubase and Nuendo.).

Steinberg knows all that, and they won’t want to lose you as a customer. So again, just wait for a special offer and see if it makes sense for you.

Lastly, just for a little more insight, here’s an interview with a Steinberg manager back in 2022 that mentions some of the issues related to their decisions:

Cheers and good luck with whatever you decide to do!

9 Likes
26

I wish I could be that optimistic.
I don’t remember in which thread, but there was a Steinberg employee making it very clear that there won’t be any more deals for Cubase in the next months.
I hope you’re right though.

27

The eLicenser service does not end on 31.December 2024 23:59, the Steinberg Statement says “early 2025” and that can be some more month. The statement you mention was meant for 2024 afaik.

1 Like
28

I don’t know if it should be our job as users to worry about the inconveniences involved when finding a better solution than the one in place right now :slight_smile:

29

That was valid since Cubase Elements started and there was sofware license aswell not only elicenser ones. And there is nothing new that was a already uncomfotable to use a Dongle.

30

The Soft eLicenser never worked with releases higher than Elements. If you have Artist or Pro you had to carry the dongle around and just one machine was working at the same time, because of this.

31

There may not be a Cubase 14 deal in the next short period of time (C14 just came out, let them make some money off that!), but OF COURSE there will be a good deal offered before the old licensing system support is done. OF COURSE! There is NO decent company on the face of the earth that would be so dumb to not offer old customers something at such a major milestone and change in their business. I will be absolutely SHOCKED if Steinberg doesn’t give people another chance to upgrade at a great price. It’s just basic Marketing 101.

For the short-term, let Steinberg make some money off C14 upgrades… it’s already very reasonably priced. Then give them a few months, and then their marketing department will launch another promo. The past is the best predictor of the future, and just look how many deals Steinberg offered this year alone.

2 Likes
32

It was quite different, as you had to create a virtual dongle (soft eLicenser) which was based on the machine ID. The only way to move to another machine was to remove that virtual dongle and recall your license to a new one.

If you were moving between a laptop and desktop it was just easier to get a dongle or second license.

The new licensing is far better, far more robust for end users, allows multiple installs, supports offline systems, is perpetual and not in anyway intrusive.

I’m sorry you feel left behind and blackmailed, but there’s justified reasons for how these steps were taken and infact, Steinberg liased with users and changed the new licensing to suit as wide a group as possible.

33

I really hope you’re right :slightly_smiling_face:

34

This is absurd. Even the license was designed to be offline, there a users that we have them registered on their own web “my steinberg”, so they don´t need to take care about all the lincenses on a box, just give a solution for a user. To me have the data on my Steinberg they have my email, and with this, was ok for support a posible danger of dongle and get a new dongle, after a ticket support, so they could do just the same here, even they don´t support C10 they could give a new license for the older version like C12, instead, or a discount upgrade offer or both.
I´m not asking they must support every dongle in the world, registered or not, I´m asking support me as user as they have my email, and my data about the sofware I have. The decision of using a dongle was by them, not mine, and they gived support to them, if they end the elicenser support because of their politics, logical is they should provide any type of support for me as user that have registered the sofware on their web. They decide to no support me anymore because of a decision that has no relation with me as user.
So invest money on a company that treats users registered in this way is like throw the money down the toilet.

35

I would think Steinberg will do one more sale before switching off the old licensing server, perhaps aimed at those on older versions only. Just be sure to check the Steinberg website every now and then and not to miss out. They also do a newsletter, so sign up to that just in case as they introduce deals every so often.
BUT as many have mentioned, they can’t carry on supporting an old technology forever, also they will not support very old Cubase versions (anything older than v12 of Cubase is no longer supported by them), that applies to any software company.

Also, from the FAQ regarding the dongle:

What happens if my USB-eLicenser gets broken or is lost after the eLicenser service is shut down?

Please contact support for an individual solution. Please note that we can only offer a solution for eLicensers registered in MySteinberg.

So they may offer you some help after all, but perhaps within 12 months of the server shutting down, not 10 years down the line, this isn’t specified. You need to be realistic, technology changes over time, you need to as well.

36

They are already supporting you by providing warnings many years in advance. If they’ve got your details then you should have got the notification on sales and termination notices of the eLicenser.

It’s your choice to not take them up on those offers and leave it last minute. And i’m willing to bet that even after the termination they will do their best to support you too.

You’ve got this whole blackmail train of thought going on, leading to silly presumptions, and it’s unable to make you see sense.

37

It’s working. So you got what you payed for. Nowhere has Steinberg ever said they would support all their software indefinitely. That would be crazy.

You’ve had a bunch of opportunities to upgrade at a rebate and if you’ve missed them all it’s hardly Steinberg’s fault but yours.

Cubase is professional software. If you can’t afford to upgrade once in six years it’s simply to expensive for you. You should pick a DAW you can afford to keep decently upgraded.

1 Like
38

of course I know it. I refer to that just because “software” licensing is not a novelty itself, they provide support to a change in computer if you were registered correctly, so it´s a matter of intention, no only hardware sofware limits. They could provide support to a registered sofware on their web as have been done. The only difference is that they bet most users will update, not because they need the update or consider don´t need the new features, but instead update because keep support.
When the dongle era for Pro and Artist, and soft license for Elements, it was their decision for security and avoid piracy, I suppose.
Now they change to a online lincense with 3 computers? I don´t consider even serius, three guys can buy a license at 1/3 price.
Seems for me random politics, but that ramdom always ends on money from my budget to their budget. I remember I paid 600 for the first Cubase SX.

39

Even taking this outrageous statement seriously, That’d still yield more revenue than the guy that chooses to not pay a penny for 6 years.

They’d be dead in the water if we were all like you. And you talk of support and blackmail.

Ridiculous when it’s you who’ve opted to not support the company across half a decade, and are now attempting blackmail that you’ll swap to another DAW unless they pander to your personal needs, and sod anyone else.

3 Likes
40

My first Cubase was Vst32 bought on a physical store around 24 years maybe?
Aflter all this years I learned that was much more smart to invest on hardware than on software, still invested on Artist 6 and updated to cubase 10.
I also have mics like U87, preamps like neve clones and Geat River that is a really investment, so the story about you must drain your money because of “technology” is relative. I bought a reel to reel Tascam TSR-8 from 80 decade that sounds as good as a Mytek ADC 192 I have, and after 40 years still is a impressive sound machine.
No the mantra like windows 7, than 10, than you are out of date. is yes, FRAUD, specially regarding windows that in the end, have 99.99% the same features 15 years ago.

So I understand each one has its business. Same aplies for laptops, Ram, DDR and so on, never end story.
So I will keep calm. In the end, the best music from 60 decade, 70 and 80 was recorded on tape without the brainwashing of the last laptop, or last version of… so good luck with windows, 20, Cubase 35, they may be replaced by music made entirely by AI.

Good luck.