TheSteven

Thanks for the heads up.
I don't have one (a PS5) but my son does.

1 hour ago, Brian Walton said:

It is a mystery as it is clearly working for some companies.  

and some people can live off the land with no reliance with other sources of food/income - doesn't mean it's a viable model for everyone or even most.

1 hour ago, Brian Walton said:

(per my Drum Core 4 example above, unfortunately some plugins with ilok don't have a full blown offline installer one can backup)

Apples/Oranges.  That's not really a comment on iLok but on the installer tech (in this case Drum Core's); if their online installer broke and you needed to reinstall - it wouldn't matter if the software was protection free or not you're still SOL.

23 hours ago, Brian Walton said:

Honestly the only system I like is the one that treats the user as a law abiding citizen and doesn't have some sort of authorization method.

Yeah if only that system worked... 
The difference in profit loss unfortunately for many companies is the difference between staying in business or not.

What bothers me is when companies either

• get too restrictive - e.g. only one iLok installation, limited installation restrictions, etc..
  There's a line between being protective and paranoid. 
  or
• implement 1/2 @ssed badly implemented protection / installation systems.

Another thing I like about iLok is that even if the licensing plugin company goes under the plugin licensing still works.
As long as you have access to a working installer you can reinstall/activate the plugin (at least this was true last time I rebuilt my DAW computer).
With a company owned license server you're SOL when the website gets taken down unless the company released a self licensing version before going under. 

Respectfully,
My 2 cents; YMMV.

Too bad I already bought when they had it on sale last time.
Happy for everyone else though.

2 hours ago, Pluto Gabo said:

https://try.fender.com/play/leapday/?clickref=1101lyiM7ose&utm_source=futurepublishing&utm_medium=referral

Not sure how long this will be up.

Lessons for Guitar, Bass, Uke, etc.

Nice thing about the sale is that the renewal price will stay the same, or at least it did for me - I bought in a New Year's sale in '23.

1 hour ago, balinas said:

every time I delete the un-needed .aax files, the installer tells me AD2 needs to be 'repaired!'  Hopefully this is a different!

Assuming that you don't want any XLN .aax files:

• On the XLN Audio Online Installer click on the hamburger on the top right corner 
• then select "Change Installation Formats"
• then under the Formats tab uncheck AAX

Same tweak if you don't want to install VST2 or VST3 versions.

2 hours ago, jesse g said:

 How did you add it to your cart? 

That was an option earlier today, not now.
There must have been a limited # of orders allowed or they cancelled all orders.

"This promo has ended."

now on 'sale' for $29.99

Too bad (not really, but in this case) that I no longer own a desktop computer.

While not the first, it's a good reminder of a great deal!

Another free update to an already great product! 

4 hours ago, kitekrazy said:

 I have no idea what that is.

Ditto...
It sounds like NI has adopted a new installer technology for use with their Kontakt libraries and the Native Access app but just speculating as the only info I found on the web was the following:
 
Per Evil Dragon Community (native-instruments.com)
"It stands for Digital Content Package. All products will eventually move to this installer method."

On 2/22/2024 at 8:01 AM, kitekrazy said:

 What was updated in those? 

Analog Dreams & Ethereal Earth:
Version 2.1.1 2024-02-22
CHANGED New installation format (DCP)

Session Strings 2:
Version 1.0.4 2024-02-21
FIXED Snapshots not recalling Rhythm Animator settings correctly in newer versions of Kontakt

Checked it out...
While the results were quite sweet, didn't care for the development process.

• Interface is too busy
• Lack of creative freedom - all projects not approved by management are immediately killed
• Restrictive workspace - all new projects/creations take place in a 'cell' - an isolated development space created & maintained by employees

and

• Despite what seems like eons of constant development the system is buggy as hell!
   

Sorry my last off topic comment... 

Re Adobe...

On 2/20/2024 at 9:19 PM, mettelus said:

@TheSteven's point also includes that if you end the subscription you lose access to the program that created the files, so that can also end up being a do-loop if you cannot offload them into a format that another program can use. Fortunately, a lot of the end-point media formats are universal and can be re-worked in other applications but this is not always the case.

And there is the time lost in researching files converters and/or replacement platforms, getting up to speed with replacement programs (and with replacing Dreamweaver time spent verifying that everything still functioned correctly), and recreating things that could not be properly converted. It made doing small maintenance jobs on previous work unprofitable.   
   
Lesson learned, I'll never (assuming that I have the option) put myself in that position again.

10 hours ago, RSMcGuitar said:

The amount of fraud happening through Amazon, is pretty alarming. I'm not a fan of how some items come up through other sellers. Pretty shady, imo. It's like they don't vet anything at all.

There's little incentive for honesty, you may even get punished.  You don't get bonuses for the amount of business you turn away even if it's fraudulent and when the $$ is the only benchmark then we have issues.

Most of those companies will refund your money if you make a fuss, it's just the cost of doing business - for every return there's probably 5 to 10 that aren't and that is still a high profit margin.  

2 hours ago, Fleer said:

But it’s still a sub…

By my definition no.
Looking it up in theSteven's imaginary book of definitions - my definition of a sub is, for example Adobe, where you build no equity with your payments and regardless of when you quit subscribing you end up with nothing.
The OP's comment about rent to own is closer to the mark.
I guess anything that you have to regularly pay for updates or new versions could be considered subscriptions. In which case BitWig, Cubase, StudioOne and others are subscriptions. 

Still YM(or opinion)MV.

At this point I own MComplete but $16 per month I might have opted for this back when.
 

Nice update!

More info...

FIXED    Performance issues related to Kontakt’s Hardware
                    Connection Service detection on Mac, even if not installed
                    or Kontrol S Series MK3 not connected
FIXED Intermittent crash when Kontakt is hosted as VST plug-in

Any idea of changes/updates?

2 hours ago, kitekrazy said:

Looks like the update was removed.

2 hours ago, cclarry said:

My link goes directly to the download file and it's there.  I didn't try to download again....

Links is there and it works (just verified).

Correction:
Blue Cat Fader Hub is more like a DAW (as it can record as well) optimized for live streaming/collaboration with others. 
It can't be used directly as a plugin but can use plugins.
But if used with Blue Cat Connector (an affordable alternative to VSL's VEP)
https://www.bluecataudio.com/Products/Product_Connector/
then you can route tracks to any/all of your DAWs simultaneously.

Wave Stream has a couple of interesting features (such as sending 'live' audio to your phone) but as a collaboration tool it's a bit limited.
It is designed to send audio not simultaneously send & receive. So as their video says at 1:50 - you can send audio to other musicians so they can play along and then record their parts "locally in their DAW", no mention as to how you then get their parts back to your DAW. 

oh boy! another subscription service! ?

Has anyone checked out Blue Cat's Fader Hub
https://www.bluecataudio.com/Products/Product_FaderHub/
that does the same thing for a fixed price ($99 MSRP)?
 

4 hours ago, Sistine said:

Do you really think this is righteous? Because they just did some sort of hedge lawyer thing to skip the liabilities?

This has been discussed/agued/b1tched about so many times over the years that it's now as relevant as arguing whether 33 or 45 RPM records have better fidelity. 
But... this isn't a Bandlab's issue it's a Gibson issue - please log all complaints regarding lifetime licensing on one of their forums.  

BTW no offense intended but it does get tiring hearing/reading the same complaints over & over.
I too like many others got caught in this lifetime license scam and feel that legally Gibson should have been slapped for doing it.

"Note: Offline activation is currently only available for Sonar and Cakewalk by BandLab."
Need to wrap my head around what this applies to (Next?), but at the moment not an issue for me...

@User 905133
Companies update their websites all the time and many use such opportunities to upgrade their security systems (password databases, add captcha, etc.) and/or add new features to their web site(s).
For most companies this does not mean that they've been hacked, just that they are updating things. 

re:
"The "Forgot Password" option requires the use of the current password."
'Change Password' requires current password, 'Forgot Password' does not - perhaps you're choosing the wrong option?

If you're still having issues go to 
https://help.pluginboutique.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=8800811277844
and submit a ticket. 

I'm not affiliated with PluginBoutique, but was a web designer/programmer for many years.