Ableton Forum

This makes me very nervous.

When I opened live on my desktop machine this afternoon, it asked me to enter registration information again.
I've been using this install (1.5 final) for over a week now with no problem. And then this.
Why? And what if it had been my laptop?

And what if it had happened at the club, 10 minutes before the gig?

Look, I completely understand Ableton's desire to protect its intellectual property. With an app this incredible, I would too. But please keep this in mind:

- no copy protection schemes work. None. Ever. Period. The crack for 1.5 final was released within several days of the legit release.

- with this in mind, is there really a point? Everyone who wants to steal it will. Everyone who wants to support it will.

But if your copy protection scheme only makes things more difficult for registered users and easier for pirates, then it's backwards, yes?

And if I'm asked for a registration code onstage and can't play my set, you'd better believe that I'll immediately leave the camp of users who wants to support it.

Final point - is there a way we can get some idea of what the schedule is for these random serial number checks, so that we don't get stuck onstage with an unusable app that we've purchased and have to turn our time slot over to the punk kid with the stolen copy?

Thanks,
Dennis DeSantis
http://www.dennisdesantis.com

Hi Dennis,

first, about your problem: Live should never ask for anything copy protection related after successfull unlocking. Let's find out why it did anyway. Did you trash the prefs before starting Live? Did it ask for a serial number, or for just for a response code? Do you know if the challenge was the original one?

Regarding your worries about what if this happens on tour: please keep your serial number and the response code somewhere in your notes so you don't have to go to the web site if the unlock is lost.

Last, about your general comments on copy protection: I totally agree that copy protection sucks. We would love to leave it out. Unfortuantely we must protect ourselves from piracy, or we will not be able to contiue improving our software, provide service, and to come up with new tools. Seriously: that's what it's about. We will improve our copy protection scheme just like all other parts of our software, to create as little nuissance as possible.

Thanks for your understanding, and, by the way, thanks for supporting our efforts with your purchase.

Gerhard
ableton

Gerhard,

Thanks for your reply.

I didn't trash prefs before starting. It did not ask for a serial number - only a response code and a word from the manual (which was new - I don't remember being asked for this when registering previously.) The challenge code was not the original one, nor was the new response, which meant that I DID need to go to the website to get the new information.
One thing did occur to me. I did unplug a CDrom drive yesterday. Could the hardware change have caused the registration problems?

"I totally agree that copy protection sucks. We would love to leave it out. Unfortuantely we must protect ourselves from piracy"

I understand the SENTIMENT behind your desire for copy protection. But as I'm sure you're aware, your copy protection scheme does not protect you from piracy, as multiple versions of Live are readily available online. In fact, I know of no single piece of audio software that is not available in a pirated version. There is simply not an effective copy protection mechanism in use anywhere by any company.

"Thanks for your understanding, and, by the way, thanks for supporting our efforts with your purchase."

Of course. And thank you for such an incredible program.

Sincerely,
Dennis DeSantis
http://www.dennisdesantis.com

Dennis,

thanks for your problem description. I'll discuss this with the develpers today to understand what's going on. We'll get back with more.

Gerhard
ableton

Hey Gerhard,
I've still got the same prob as mr. DeSantis, emailed you about that a couple of times already.
Live will ask for my respond code pretty frequently, no i didn't trash anything and i think i sent you my LOG before.
but hey, I've got my three (3!!!) codes in my head and stored somewhere i can check em quickly.

@Dennis DeSantis

In my case live doesn't ask for new resond codes,
just the old one's, but if there's a new one asked,
i just quit and start again. he'll ask for one of my numbers after that.

I know it sucks, but i can live with it. for now

If you have problems because of a recuring registration dialog, please mail to [email protected] to get in touch with us. This way we can decide individually what´s to do to fix this problem ...
Unfortunally we have no general solution for this kind of problem, but we can fix it if we know more about your computers hardwareconfiguration.

If you've changed a part of your computers hardware it is possible (depending on what you've changed) that your challange and therefore the response has changed. I this case you just have to go to the web and get a new respose.


Regards
Eduard Mueller
developer

Why needs Live different response codes for Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X? On the _same_ machine!!!!!

I would like to see a USB dongle, or better, a similar copy protection like Reason.

To be fair Reason's protection scheme isn't better. I would rather go to a website or look in a text file on my laptop than carry around the Reason cds for authentication. And dongles force you to hub everything which seems to render my midi/audio hardware useless. Maybe Ableton can set Live to prompt the user for the 10-day trial period as an option if this happens. I wouldn't mind that, enough time to play the show then get back to the website.

Reason has relatively laid back copy protection, once you copy CD soundbank files to your HD in C:\Program Files\Propellerhead\Reason\ you will not get a prompt for CDs ever again.

Gerhard,

I too had the software request the registration codes about two days after I had installed and registered it. Made me nervous enough to tape the reg code to my laptop and keep it in a file on the drive for a couple weeks until I was sure it wasn't going to ask again.

I figured it was a fluke and not a standard part of the copy protection. I was installing many applications those days, and figured maybe a setting got trashed somewhere.

Hexadecimal
www.freeside.com
P.S. Please don't ever go to a dongle or "please insert the CD" protection. I particularly think this would be poor for an app that is primarily used while traveling.

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but how does writing down the registration number and unlock key help when the unlock key always changes each time you register Live?

Am I missing something here?

It's just that I've never been able to enter the same key-response pair each time I've registered...

-Alex

I am having the same bug. just sent my *second* mail to Ableton, mueller or whoever this time. (I have yet to receive a reply from Ableton support to my first mails: They must wait until you send at least two before it becomes a 'problem' ).

to answer your question alex: the same challenge code is often issued multiple times from Live on the same computer. In my case, there are about 5 or so different challenge codes that I am getting. So I need the same # of responses. Where I am really fucked is if a new code comes out the day of a show (like Sat. Nov 9th @ cicero's in St. Louis) and I don't have a response.

If push comes to shove and they don't get back with me by Wednesay, I will be forced to use 'alternate means.' It is crying shame when legitimate users or software have to resort to warez to get what they paid for.