installation and licensing question

DataMeister wrote on 4/20/2004, 9:17 AM
Since we are dealing with a company here, I'm not sure how the copyright should work.

About 2 months ago I convinced my church to buy Screenblast Movie Studio to do a little bit of video editing. I tried to convince them to go with Vegas but it was too much money and they had a try the less for a while and see if it's needed.

Well, the week right before Easter I convinced them to purchase a copy of Vegas to do audio editing for some of the audio work in the musical.

Right now Vegas is installed on a computer in the sound booth of the worship center where the audio recording would need to happen. That computer isn't really powerful enough to handle video. Screenblast Movie Studio is installed on the Youth pastors computer which is the most powerful system in the church. Would it be against the license agreement to install Vegas on the youth pastors computer for him to use for video work?

90% of the time they wouldn't be used at the same time. However it is likely to be different users. The sound booth copy is likely to be used 4-5 times a year before the big musicals. But, there's no way to say that 100% of the time the use wouldn't overlap. Only that it isn't likely.

So, what's legal in this situation? Do I need to push them to buy another copy of Vegas some where down the road before they use it for Video? Or would it be ok to have it on both machines, even if the use might overlap a few days out of the year.

JBJones

Comments

DataMeister wrote on 4/20/2004, 1:46 PM
Wow. This made it to #58 in only 4 hours. There must be some Impressive traffic on the forums.

Bump.

JBJones
planders wrote on 4/20/2004, 2:51 PM
According to the license agreement and knowledge base, you can install it on all of your computers--but it can only be in use on one at a time. I very much doubt they'd have the cops at your door over the occasional overlap, though.
DataMeister wrote on 4/20/2004, 3:47 PM
Yeah. There's a lot of things that can be done without being caught. I was just wondering what the creators intent in this situation would be.

Because of the two uses it can't be on the same computer. The "sound" comptuer needs to be in the sound booth next to all the equipment. But that definitely is not a good location for a long video editng session. Nor does that sound computer have a good monitor or enough horse power to store and process lots of video. It's a P2-600 with about 10GB or disc.

However we needed to do sound editing and Vegas was close tot the same price as any of the other big name programs out there for audio. Plus, it has the best interface.

Like I said earlier, the sound projects will likely be around 3-4 per year and the video projects a good bit more. With so many people in a church and the fact that the Music Pastor would be using Vegas for the audio stuff, while the youth pastor is likely to be using it for the Video, there's no way to say for sure that the use won't overlap.

Hence, I figured it would be good to know what the owners of the software might require in this situation. Hopefully one of the Sony reps will reply here.

JBJones
rs170a wrote on 4/20/2004, 7:23 PM
" I figured it would be good to know what the owners of the software might require in this situation."

JB, I can tell you exactly what Sony says because it's in the knowledge base - Answer ID 455. I discovered this after I had already sent Customer Service an email.

"Question
Can I run my Sony Pictures Digital application on more than one PC?

Answer

Our licensing agreement permits you to install the software on as many machines as you own, as long as you are not running the programs at the same time. For instance, you can install the software on your home machine and on your laptop. You are not allowed to install the software on multiple machines if you are going to be using them simultaneously, such as in a home studio setting. If you are going to run the software concurrently on more than one machine, you would need to purchase a separate license for each computer.

Note that when you install the software on a different computer you will need to complete the registration process again. Register the software as you did the first time to unlock the program on each machine. You can register online directly within the software, via the phone, or on our website through our online form.


Mike
DataMeister wrote on 4/20/2004, 7:35 PM
See, acording to that answer, if you wanted to transfer a project over from the home desktop to the laptop and then wanted to open the project to make sure you got all the files, you would need to close Vegas on the home computer first before you opened the second.

Also you couldn't use the "home" CPU to render the first half of of a project while you were using the laptop CPU to render the second half. Even if you are a single user.

Technicaly that's what it says. Is that what they mean in those two situations?

Currently I'm telling this church that they can't install it on both machines. But, if Sony doesn't care in this situation, then that's awsome. It would allow us to do better video edting. Right now I bring stuff home and do it on my system when the video projects are to advanced for Screenblast Movie Studio.

JBJones
rs170a wrote on 4/20/2004, 8:02 PM
Maybe Sony will pop in to confirm this but as far as a file transfer is concerned, I don't think they'd really care that you had both copies open just to confirm file transfer - as long as you shut Vegas down right afterwards.

As far as using the "home" and "laptop" CPUs simultaneously, I'd say that does violate the terms of the agreement.

BTW, it was exactly the same back in the Sonic Foundry days when I was running Vegas Audio 2.0. I asked about having it on both my office and home computers and they said (paraphrasing here) "Sure, no problem. As long as both aren't running at the same time, go ahead". It's probably been in their EULA all along - unlike a lot of other software manufacturers that say very bluntly NO!!!

Mike