You are reading me wrong, I am not angry with sf or anyone here. I am not going to ask for charity or sympathy. Why I posted here was because I had a problem with VV, only to discover that what I was posting meant that I had illegal copy of the software. Someone then said "Chessmaster, just buy your damn software" which at the time confused me. Took a while to put two and two together, but I did.

May sound strange, but I do not care how good sf are, if they make an offer or not, I will not accept, not that I am even remotely thinking they would even consider.

My whole posting here is to simply say, I am not a thief, I do not steal software, and am a victim for which authorities in my country do not care, ebay does not care.

I sent of two emails to sf, one asking about the mpeg custom setting which seems to prove my copy is illegal, which was before I caught onto that fact, for which I am expecting an email stating something along the lines that my copy is illegal and will probably be then threatened with something, considering it seems most people download the software and use a software key-gen to use the product. And the second email was one outlining what I bought on ebay, which I will probably get another email stating whatever about the software not being legal either.

My post are not about, "oh what a poor guy" my posts are about not being called a software pirate user, and the rest of my posts are simply a matter of answering posts people write in response.

I expect nothing from sf, and really am not thinking to much about what they will say in the emails I may get from them.

By posting in this forum, does not mean I expect something from sf, I expected to get help for a problem from a community of users of a software product I thought I belonged too, but which I do not.

My first visit to this forum will be my last I am afraid.

It does not sound strange. I am not one to ask for help or charity which I do not deserve.

I am just waiting on the email response from sf when I asked about the problem which seemed to prove my software was illegal and before I realised that fact.

Once I get that email, I will be gone from this forum and look for other cheap retail software that I can use.

The only people I am angry at is ebay for not giving a crap. And the authorities in my country (not US) that said tough luck, now go away.

"...look for other cheap retail software that I can use."

In that case I suggest you look at Video Factory.
It's a Sonic Foundry product that you can get right here as a download. Look under the PRODUCTS section for info.
It's cheap, powerful enough for family use, and NO RISK OF FRAUD! You pay with your credit card, download it and SoFo sends you an activation code by e-mail.
You're up and running in minutes, and you get to participate in the Video Factory forums.

M

Check, mate.
Tor

nah, no more download, activiation crap. Will goto my local software store and buy some Ulead product that makes this kind of stuff. I want something in a box.

I have never seen sofo stuff in a store in my country, maybe if it was there, I would buy it, but this online activation of drivers or whatever. none of the ulead stuff that creates mpeg 1 or 2 require that. So hopefully no hassles.

Thanks for the info anyway.

See-ya all, was fun while it lasted. Got the email saying no help unless legit user. And that my problem was because I have a illegal copy of the software, so bugger off until you are a legit user.

The answer I was expecting.

Thanks for the people who made comments and suggestions in my case. Good luck with your software and creation.

Time for bed now, nightie night all.

Chessmaster is check-mated and finished :)

Sorry you had a bad experience. But thanks for alerting others to this scam. I think Ebay should be held more accountable for prodcuts sold thru their site, but I guess they can't police the world of consumer goods.

I would recommend Video Factory as a good, inexpensive alternative. Even with the online registration, it is one of the better video products available.

Dave T2

Hello,

When Chessmaster contacted Customer Service he was asked to send us the serial numbers he had for both Vegas 3.0 and Vegas 4.0 so we could determine if they were legitimate, as it appeared from his request he had both applications. He did not reply with those serial numbers, unfortunately, but from the sounds of it they would not have been legitimate. It does appear that Chessmaster has been the victim of fraud. Words of wisdom; if you are considering a purchase of an auctioned Sonic Foundry software title, contact us with the auction link and we'll research whether this is a legitimate reseller or not. We have faced these fraud perpetrators many many times and we are happy to help you determine legitimacy. It is in your best interest (and obviously ours) that you purchase legitimate copies of our software. As the old adage goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Chessmaster, if you are still out there, contact Ebay's support to see what they can do for you:http://pages.ebay.com/help/index_popup.html?policies=invalid-bid-retraction.html

I did not reply with the serials because as you can realise, they seem to be no good. I had contacted ebay, I am from Australia by the way, and it was the Australian arm of ebay, which has all the same rules and protection as normal US based ebay. And this user had not sold anything since the program was sold, which was nearly a year ago now, and his ratings were positive.

Ebay could really do nothing after all this time, even their protection scheme I cannot use now, and in most cases could have refunded the amount, but that is only for people who do not get any item they pay for, not for people that get an item.

So it's a matter of me losing and getting nothing in return other than grief, and the pirating authorities in Australia tell me that precisely.

Well, if I can jump in here, it sounds like Chessmaster has an original installation disk. I don't see how you can say that an original pressed CD is pirated (unless it's a counterfeit, which I guess this could be). I'm not arguing that this was not a bogus sale, the presence of the keygen shows that pretty clearly. But to my mind there's a big difference between having an original disk as opposed to a burned copy. I know that we're talking about a software license and not reselling a book, but my personal opinion is that SoFo should cut Chessmaster a little slack here, offer him a discount on a full VV3 or something if he sends them the original disc.

nolonemo, I basically agree with what you're saying. If you reread my previous posts, you'll see I made the same statement about SoFo offering VV3.
The thing is, Chessmaster SEEMS uncooperative as far as supplying serial numbers and "working something out" with SoFo. Why? I don't know.
Notice I wrote "SEEMS". We can't forget there are different nationalities on this forum that spans the earth. Alot of people speak different languages and when translated to english, their posts don't always reflect what they were trying to say or the tone might be off.
I think he should supply whatever info SoFo requires. If SoFo sees that he really did want to be a legit Vegas user, they MIGHT help out(they're under no obligation, but they might). If SoFo can't establish that Chessmaster's claim is on the up-and-up, well then they can't help. No?

M

I am Australian by the way and understand fully what is going on. The reason I supplied no serial because it is pretty clear that it is a key generated illegal one.

Anyway I rocked up today at one of computer superstores we have here and had a look around.

There was a few sofo products, but only for music. But there was a software package which I was told is the industry leader, and I was told because of the kids and since it was not for making money, I could get the academic price, which was also on heavy discount.

Pinnacle Studio is the name of the software, have not installed it yet because I am at work. But it looks pretty good on the back of the box. I hope it will be easy to use.

There is no on-line validation of anything, not for mpeg or mp3 drivers, just install and away you go.

The reason I am against online validation is years down the line if the company goes bust, then you have a useless program because no one is there to validate anything anymore.

Vegas Video is and was a great program for me to use, hopefully this new one will also make me happy again.

One thing I cannot understand, sofo says registering the mpeg drivers, mp3's, etc, is to get the numbers required for licensing. But would you not get the numbers from who ever buys the software? Basically you cannot use mpeg, etc useless you buy the software then validate it. So whoever buys the software will give sofo the numbers they need. Why then the need to validate the codes again?

Anyway it matters little now and was just of interest.

Let me see how good Pinnacle is.

I think the thing that most people keep forgetting when dealing with purchased software, is that you aren't paying that $300 to cover the cost of an original disc. I mean, in the case of Sonic Foundry, you can download the entire software program from the internet. What you are paying for is a license to use the software. Apparently the guy that Chessmaster purchased from kept the license for Vegas 3 and just sent the original media which he didn't need.

And by the way, my box when it was new, wasn't shrink wrapped. They were taped with a big plastic seal on top and bottom. Both Vegas 3 and SoundForge 6 boxes have those flaps that open up with extra information. Shrink wrap would have kept that closed.

JBJones

I agree about the problem with companies going bust and not being able to register. I don't think SoFo will go bust any time soon (Sound Forge is too popular), but *IF* it did happen, I'm sure SoFo would take care of us and supply the software/patches so we wouldn't need to register to use the mpeg stuff. The Blender 3d (www.blender3d.org) owners went bust and the keylock file that was only for registered users was released to the public.

Of course, years down the line SoFo could be gone, but probely Vegas Video would be under someone elses name (like when 3dFX went bust: NVida bought them and still has a link to 3dFX drivers). Also, with the way technology is moving, all the video editing software we have today will be completely obeselete as the TV/Movie industry goes HD and what not.

You seem to mis understand the situation

I am told that it does not matter whether the disk is original or not, an original disk is nothing, that is the same as the down-loadable software. What you pay for is the license to use the software, which is in the form of a legal serial in which you register and are supplied when you buy a legit version.

I already know that the serials are illegal, because they were packaged on a bogus registration disk with key generators in order to obtain the serials.

What does it matter if I can supply the original disk, I cannot supply any legit serials which is the point.

I sent am email saying I could supply a long list of serials from the key generators, and I have heard back nothing, which is pretty understandable, because it is pointless.

You talk about buying second hand software, the whole point was this was advertised, NEW, Shrink wrapped, never used.

That was a lie, what I got was illegal crap passed off in a way that made it look legit. And the bogus registration disk I never picked up on because I thought that you have various ways to register the product, but when you buy it not on-line, you usually do not have to be on-line to register the software, all the registration processes were there before me so I did not have to be on-line to register it.

How can one know what the right process is if they have never seen or installed the software before?

"I already know that the serials are illegal, because they were packaged on a bogus registration disk with key generators in order to obtain the serials"

and the reason you didnt know this when you bought it from ebay was??

As you said, "you knew the serials are illegal, because they were packaged on a bogus registration disk " why didnt you complain about the ebay seller then??
regards
Simon

Simon, I really think this guy was had by the seller. If you read from the top you'll see he discovered the disks were bogus on this thread. He didn't know about the SoFo registration procedure and the material LOOKED authentic.
We can't assume every user knows all about registration procedures.
Think about it...If you're BRAND NEW to software, wouldn't a key generator actually make sense?
We've gotten smarter about these things through years of software use/registration and what we find out through forums, etc.
I hope he finds what he's looking for. But I still highly recommend he gives SoFo products a try. They're about as new-user friendly as powerful editing software can be.

M

jbjones: my point about the original disc only that it means that someone, sometime, did pay for it, and therefore did pay for a legitimate reg code. I know that what you're paying for is the right to run the code and not the disk it's on. This doesn't seem to be the case where someone has a copy of SW that was pirated from the getgo.

Buying the boxed version still doesn't get you out of downloading the software later.
The boxed version is always the software BEFORE any updates are released. You'll still need to download the updated versions from the web if you want any bug fixes.
And I believe you're still limited if you only insert your serial number but don't register the software.

M

My point exactly, you think when you buy a product that comes with an original manual and a professional fake printed disk, you think you are on a winner.

Maybe people need to think about all the software they have and all the different ways to register it. I have bought some great programs from the stores with very annoying registration procedure.

One program required loading from a key disk.

From my research since, what is then to stop someone using a crack called a loading file, used instead of the real file which makes loading through this cracked file making the program work 100%.

On face value you would think it was a great hassle, but then think that it was a good security measure, especially if you spent a couple of hundred dollars on it.

Unless you already know the software, who's to say you were doing anything wrong or being had ??

I suggest people realise that specialised business or science software have the most annoying registration and security measures in the world. Most you do not buy in a store or even can download offline.

I registration disk is nothing new one should know.

I'm not sure what the point is of call-in registration procedures like MS and SoFo have. There was a keygen for V4 floating around the net a week after it was released. How much more protection did that give SoFo compared to Adobe's plain serial number? There are cracks for XP, and cracks for dongle-protected software. As far as I know, virtually every CD copy protection scheme has been broken. The only copy protection scheme I know of that works really well is the one used by Blizzard software for their games. There are keygens for the games, but in order to play online (which is what a lot of the owners really want to do), you have to have a legitimate key -- because it is matched against a list of legitimate keys on the server or is checked by a algorithm on the server (not sure which) which can't be accessed by hackers to reverse engineer. Is this what we're coming to, that you'll only be able to user your app while logged onto somebody's security server? I'm rambling. What a world.

Some web programs like re-get which is a download manager has its own database and checks every-time you are on the net downloading to see if you have a valid copy with the main server.

I am not totally warez stupid. because I have seen a crack that has disabled that protection, in my research in my case.

I do not see the point when the program can be used freeware anyway.

In the end no program is safe, I use Kazza lite, for MP3 files that I like and want to listen to. I have already noticed that VV3 is available for download with key-gens included, as too VV4, and sound forge.

What some people here seem to forget when accusing me of things. Is that I used it for personal use, when found I had an illegal copy, contacted sofo for advice.

When what I could have done, and what I would estimate 20% of the people here are doing, using an illegal copy was to shut up and say nothing.

But why should I have to hide when I bought in good faith and was using the program in good faith till I found out it was not legit.

People that want to talk the loudest against me for being honest and still accuse me of wrong doing I suspect are using illegal copies, they do it because they think they are then seen as a legit user.