Activation is very annoying

[Steven de Jong]

I'm annoyed.

Apparently Cakewalk requires reactivation. Why? It's free software and it's tied to my account. I don't have to reactivate my paid DAWs every year... The only software I need to reactivate is the virus scanner, it tries to sell me the paid version every year.

I decided not to activate Cakewalk and let the activation expire. Without ANY warning, Cakewalk then doesn't save your work anymore. You can see it if you happen to pay attention to the * behind the file name.

So, in order to save, I had to activate. I used my Google account on BandLab, so I click "Renew activation" and try to sign in with Google. That gives me an error message that the browser isn't secure.

Do you actually want people to keep using the software, or is activation meant to scare them away?

[scook]

This may answer some questions.

My BandLab account has it's own user ID and password.

Never had any issue with activation running on Win10.

I have no experience using alternate methods to access the account such as Google.

 

[Starship Krupa]

3 hours ago, Steven de Jong said:

I decided not to activate Cakewalk and let the activation expire.

So....you decided to try letting it expire and see what happened. You knew ahead of time that use of the program requires an activation that expires unless you refresh it, and you let it expire, and were totally surprised that there were negative consequences.

As far as there being no warning that saving is disabled once activation expires, that information is all over the forum that you've used to complain about it. If you start the program in non-activated mode, this is prominently indicated on the Tools Module, which is the most used Control Bar module other than the Transport. The current version of the software does start warning the user as the re-validation date approaches. Of course, you have to run the program to get the advance warning, you can't just install it, wait 7 months, then start it up and have it work without first connecting and re-activating.

Cakewalk is licensed under a free subscription, like Tape Op and other trade publications. You don't have to pay any money for it, but you do have to re-verify every so often. With Tape Op, it's a year. With Cakewalk, it's 6 months. It's not "free software," where you don't need to give any consideration at all in order to use it, you have to create an account with BandLab and at least every 6 months connect your system to the internet and log in to BandLab's site with a browser that's compatible with it.

If that is beyond what someone is willing or able to do, they should choose another program.

I have declined "free" software when I've decided that there are too many constraints or hoops to jump through. Not because I was "scared," but because there are many available options and everything has a cost:benefit ratio. Accept one of Waves' freebie licenses, you will be required to create an account with a valid email address, through which you will be bombarded to the end of days with offers to purchase more of their products, license extensions, subscriptions, etc. It's all in the game.

[Will.]

4 hours ago, Steven de Jong said:

I decided not to activate Cakewalk and let the activation expire.

 

50 minutes ago, Starship Krupa said:

So....you decided to try letting it expire and see what happened. You knew ahead of time that use of the program requires an activation that expires unless you refresh it, and you let it expire, and were totally surprised that there were negative consequences.

???? 

[Byron Dickens]

Where can I mail you a box of tissues?

[John Vere]

Seems a bad idea to log in with Google. There certainly a few people that have trouble with that system and have started threads here. 
So don’t use that system. 
 All you need is a email address. Just like 90% of the other free software I use.  And  Bandlab must be the only company I’ve given my address to that doesn’t bombard me with offers. 

You simply log on that first time and after that activation is more or less automatically done. For me this has been  by installing the updates. My DAW is often off line when I’m recording new tracks so I make sure to check for updates when I go back online for all my software. Cakewalk is nice enough to let me know and it takes only a few minutes to do this. 

They have made recent changes to the updates and activation process and it seems pretty together now.  

[iRelevant]

To me this looks like the definition of ingratitude.  To willfully ignore the terms of the free license, then complain about the known consequences.  

[Craig Anderton]

When I need to re-activate Cakewalk, I grumble for about 10 seconds, and then get on with my life

[Glenn Stanton]

3 hours ago, Craig Anderton said:

I grumble for about 10 seconds

since when do you have 10 seconds? ? 

[Starship Krupa]

14 minutes ago, Glenn Stanton said:

since when do you have 10 seconds? ? 

He didn't say that he stopped and grumbled. ?

[Noel Borthwick]

On 9/11/2021 at 1:24 PM, Craig Anderton said:

When I need to re-activate Cakewalk, I grumble for about 10 seconds, and then get on with my life

If you have logged into your BandLab account from within Cakewalk (and stay logged in), you should never need to manually reactivate even if you go past 6 months. As long as the PC is online it will automatically restore its activation whenever needed. Additionally if you ever install a new CbB update within a 6 month window it automatically restores activation. People complaining about this have been using an old version of CbB that didn't have these improvements. This was done back in April. Current CbB users will never see this message.

The bottom line is issues like this is why we want people to keep up to date. Otherwise they complain about things that have been fixed ages ago.

[Craig Anderton]

1 hour ago, Noel Borthwick said:

If you have logged into your BandLab account from within Cakewalk (and stay logged in), you should never need to manually reactivate even if you go past 6 months. As long as the PC is online it will automatically restore its activation whenever needed. Additionally if you ever install a new CbB update within a 6 month window it automatically restores activation. People complaining about this have been using an old version of CbB that didn't have these improvements. This was done back in April. Current CbB users will never see this message.

The bottom line is issues like this is why we want people to keep up to date. Otherwise they complain about things that have been fixed ages ago.

I was being humorous based on past experience, but...I never thought to log into BandLab from within Cakewalk, and I make it a practice not to stay logged in to web sites anyway. Do I need to be logged in to BandLab  whenever Cakewalk is open for this to happen, or is it just about logging into BandLab every now and then? Also, FWIW, it's not a Cakewalk problem but I tend to hold off on updating Cakewalk because then I have to reactivate all the Overloud stuff that was given codes for use in other programs when Gibson died. Back then I tried to use as much Sonar-related stuff as much as humanly possible, regardless of the host program, so I could come up with tips and such for Cakewalk and the writing I did around Sonar. I've pretty much avoided using those programs since then, because I felt if I wanted to use them, I should buy them...and I have enough plug-ins for now. But, when I pull up almost any older project, I get that "plug-in missing" message and have to go find my passwords, codes, re-activate the products on the Overloud website, etc. etc.

Also I have several computers, including some I don't update, specifically so I can test products with older operating systems and the like.  And, the computers I used for seminars and workshops have been doorstops since covid put an end to travel. Now every time I fire them up just to make sure the hard drive still spins, I have to go through a zillion updates for Windows, browsers, etc. etc. Cakewalk then becomes just One More Thing to Worry About, that I won't be able to use for workshops anyway. Again, not your fault, and I realize I'm not the typical user.

But based on what you've said, I guess it's time to go update/activate Cakewalk on all the different Windows machines, and grumble for a while so I won't have to grumble ever again  . At least I won't have to update the Mac Sonar version that's still sitting on my 2012 MacBook Pro (which can no longer go past Catalina, so I think it's not going anywhere for a while!).

[Noel Borthwick]

Being "logged into BandLab" from Cakewalk simply means we save a cookie that allow you to reach user specific BandLab services such as the BandLab library view to download from BandLab, and of course activation itself. Cakewalk doesn't actually send any data to BandLab based on being logged in, so there is really zero need to log out unless multiple people use the system and you don't want them looking at your songs

Regarding updating frequently if you don't use the program often that's really your call. Activation will still work automatically (if necessary) the next time you launch the program even if it's after a long time.

I've never heard of overloud plugins losing activation as a result of updating Cakewalk. There is no correlation. Maybe you are confusing it with command center.

[chris.r]

Who needs a cookie if one can have a Cake.

[John Vere]

Few things- Overloud was one of the nice companies that took pity on us when we got the boot from Gibson. Most of us regular forum members were paying attention and Overloud gave us a serial number. All we had to do was send them a screen shot of Splats about screen showing our serial number as well as creating a account with them. I still get e mails about Overloud stuff. In the end CCC still seems to activate TH 3 etc. but its nice to know I can use their stuff on any system. 

I have a laptop I don't use much anymore that has me logged in under a different account and has none of my Sonar stuff on it only Cakewalk. Everything is like what a new user would experience with only CbB and free VST's. Nothing on it was purchased but it is loaded with powerful software.  So every once in a while I fire it up and it most always needs Cakewalk updated. This now takes under 2 minutes. It's never actually asked me to re activate .  

If you go to the Help menu there is a " Refresh Activation" if you click on that in 1-2 second you'll have the blue toast notification telling you you are re-activated.  How hard is that? 

[Byron Dickens]

Some people just can't be happy unless they have something to be unhappy about....

[TracingArcs]

I have to say. I find posts such as this quite frustrating. There seems to be an expectation that if the software is free (seems most who post with similar complaints did not have to cough up the money in the past that many of us had to do), then every aspect should be as easy as possible after all, "its free".

Since we have had in app activation. I have never had to instigate an activation. Simply because at the rate the Bakers are working at. You will never get to 6 months before having to do so. At the current rate every couple of months just by updating you get an automatic activation. I have deleted the Bandlab app from my PC due to this (and no longer have issues updating).

Sorry for the rant. With nearly 50 years experience in music making from hobby to No1 International hit. Things have never been easier, better, convenient, affordable than they are now.

Again apologies ?

[Noel Borthwick]

4 hours ago, TracingArcs said:

I have to say. I find posts such as this quite frustrating. There seems to be an expectation that if the software is free (seems most who post with similar complaints did not have to cough up the money in the past that many of us had to do), then every aspect should be as easy as possible after all, "its free".

Since we have had in app activation. I have never had to instigate an activation. Simply because at the rate the Bakers are working at. You will never get to 6 months before having to do so. At the current rate every couple of months just by updating you get an automatic activation. I have deleted the Bandlab app from my PC due to this (and no longer have issues updating).

Sorry for the rant. With nearly 50 years experience in music making from hobby to No1 International hit. Things have never been easier, better, convenient, affordable than they are now.

Again apologies ?

Correct. Also every time the activation is refreshed you get a new lease. You can also do it manually via refresh activation for the obsessive compulsives 

[Craig Anderton]

13 hours ago, Noel Borthwick said:

Being "logged into BandLab" from Cakewalk simply means we save a cookie that allow you to reach user specific BandLab services such as the BandLab library view to download from BandLab, and of course activation itself. Cakewalk doesn't actually send any data to BandLab based on being logged in, so there is really zero need to log out unless multiple people use the system and you don't want them looking at your songs

I've never heard of overloud plugins losing activation as a result of updating Cakewalk. There is no correlation. Maybe you are confusing it with command center.

Thanks for the info about what "logging in" actually means in this context, that it's a one-way street of having a cookie, not something where the program has to constantly communicate. I've been told by someone who (I assume) knows more than I do that programs make frequent calls to hardware copy protection dongles...I thought maybe it was something like that.

As to the Overloud plug-ins, it's only the ones that were exclusive to Cakewalk, and then when Gibson folded, Overloud generously gave activation codes so that the plug-ins could be used in any program. After updating Cakewalk, the plug-ins go back to being exclusive to Cakewalk, and they no longer work in projects in other programs (e.g., Vegas). Calling up a project that uses them gives that program's "missing plug-in" error message, so I have to re-activate them. Maybe I'm missing something, but it happens every time I update. I'll update to 2021.06 #3 (been meaning to anyway), see what happens, and report back. Maybe the changes you've made have influenced that aspect as well. 

[Craig Anderton]

**Cool!** I just updated Cakewalk, and for whatever reason, the Overloud issue no longer happens - even when calling up old projects in other programs. I realize this may seem trivial, but I used the Cakewalk Breverb in a ton of video projects. Although I always appreciated Cakewalk's frequent updates, I'm doing a lot of video work these days, and it was a hassle to have to deal with the Overloud stuff. I'm glad it's working properly now. Now I can update Cakewalk without trepidation.

BTW Noel, as you know I also had problems calling up Cakewalk projects whose FX Chains used TH2, because they ended up not sounding anything like they were supposed to. I've now converted them all to TH3, and will eventually convert them to TH-U as well, so that's another solved issue.

I would certainly have no problem if BandLab wanted to make all my Sonar FX Chains available to users. I don't know if they fall in any legal gray area involving Gibson, but if not...feel free to include them with the program. Even if someone didn't have Sonar before and doesn't have access to what came with it, there were some sets of FX chains built exclusively around the Sonitus plug-ins, so they'd still be useful to new users. 

As always, thanks for all your efforts in keeping Cakewalk alive, and especially for the emphasis on making the program ever-more stable. These days I can call up older projects, and they pretty much load without any issues.