copy protection - a handicap

[danglin]

I have been an Arturia customer for years, and have purchased Storm, MiniMg, CS80, ARP 2600, Mg Modular I and II, and now Prophet V. I am an honest customer. Now I cannot even run the plugins that I need to run together because of your pathetic USB dongle that won't let me run even the standalone without the dongle involved. I have my only USB ports occupied with other mandatory peripherals. Using a hub has created problems with my setup. In addition, the Arturia site won't let me even register Prophet V, saying that I have provided the wrong license number, copied directly from the card provided.  
I use Ableton Live and Tracktion. I have experienced crashes on load/plugin initialization with error dialogs in Tracktion related to the dongle protection. You have destroyed a nice idea (Prophet V) with a pathetic and restricting implementation of copy protection. Why not employ methods similar to other companies who have employed dongles- requiring only periodic attachment of the dongle (e.g., time or use based)? This lets us use our software and hardware efficiently and without the burdensome and restrictive use of dongles.  This experience will make me think twice about any future Arturia purchases.

[rictheobscene]

If you use a desktop PC, you can add a USB card with as many as 8 ports to your machine for less than 80 dollars US. Some very good ADS cards are now around 30 dollars US. This is an inexpensive way to alleviate any port congestion you have on your rig.

The dongle is a far more palatable method of copy protection than challenge and response.

I use Prophet V with both of the hosts you mention on the PC platform without incident.

[m@l0cch10]

The reason you can't reauthorize your software is because you transferred the license to another Syncrosoft dongle, which renders your software completely useless, a fact that is not well documented.  I have just lost the use of Brass, Prophet V and Jupiter 8 for doing just that.  It is just stupid.  Making it impossible to transfer licenses doesn't protect Arturia from piracy, they just didn't go to the trouble to develop an effective system.

[Vincent T]

please m@l0cch10, stop flooding and send me a mail with the details of your problem. I'm trying to figure out how to solve it.

[m@l0cch10]

The first thing you should do is send me new software, so I am not further inconvenienced.  That should be your first priority, the preserving and enhancing the value of the support you provide your legitimate user base.  

The only hindrance to piracy is in the way you manage customer relations through support and updates.  Require a valid registration for updates. and for support.  These dongles are chipping away at your viable market.

At Philips we did a study and discovered that people who steal software don't belong to the viable market (i.e.: wouldn't buy it if they can't steal it).  Part of our discovery came after implementing some DRM on copyrighted materials.  We could not find any piracy of the materials online or elsewhere, and yet our unit sales did not go up.

You don't lose money as a result of piracy.